The Imprecatory Psalms
Psalm 12
To the Chief Musician. On an eight-stringed harp. A Psalm of David.
12 Help, Lord, for the godly man ceases!
For the faithful disappear from among the sons of men.
2 They speak idly everyone with his neighbor;
With flattering lips and a double heart they speak.
3 May the Lord cut off all flattering lips,
And the tongue that speaks proud things,
4 Who have said,
“With our tongue we will prevail;
Our lips are our own;
Who is lord over us?”
5 “For the oppression of the poor, for the sighing of the needy,
Now I will arise,” says the Lord;
“I will set him in the safety for which he yearns.”
6 The words of the Lord are pure words,
Like silver tried in a furnace of earth,
Purified seven times.
7 You shall keep them, O Lord,
You shall preserve them from this generation forever.
8 The wicked prowl on every side,
When vileness is exalted among the sons of men.
What is wrong? 
Liars on every side, no faithful men to be found, people using powerful and clever words to achieve their own ends. Sounds like a normal day at the White House or in the Kremlin. Or for that matter in the Dail.
What is the curse?
May the LORD cut off all flattering lips and every boastful tongue. V.3
Application
The wicked freely strut about when what is vile is honoured among men. There needs to be honesty and truth in all our dealings with each other. If a man says he will do something, he should do it. Bluffers and wafflers need to be shown up, not honoured. The “cute whore” nod-nod, wink –wink, mentality that pervaded Irish life and politics and was honoured in certain political parties led to the wicked freely having their way in corruption and theft. It would have been better if some specific prayer similar to verse 3 was sent up to God about some of these men. We might have been saved a lot of trouble.
Psalm 35
What is wrong?
The author is under attack. Some are seeking to kill him or ruin him, others to repay him evil for the good he has done them. And others are gloating over his distress.
What is the curse?
LORD, do unto them as they would do unto me. Put them to shame and confusion.
Application
I don’t think many of us have human enemies of the sort David did at the time he wrote this psalm. However we all have spiritual enemies who would seek to do same things as described in this psalm. They should be cursed in the same way, i.e. by calling upon God to judge them (cf. Jude 8-10).
Psalm 58
To the Chief Musician. Set to “Do Not Destroy.” A Michtam of David.
58 Do you indeed speak righteousness, you silent ones?
Do you judge uprightly, you sons of men?
2 No, in heart you work wickedness;
You weigh out the violence of your hands in the earth.
3 The wicked are estranged from the womb;
They go astray as soon as they are born, speaking lies.
4 Their poison is like the poison of a serpent;
They are like the deaf cobra that stops its ear,
5 Which will not heed the voice of charmers,
Charming ever so skillfully.
6 Break their teeth in their mouth, O God!
Break out the fangs of the young lions, O Lord!
7 Let them flow away as waters which run continually;
When he bends his bow,
Let his arrows be as if cut in pieces.
8 Let them be like a snail which melts away as it goes,
Like a stillborn child of a woman, that they may not see the sun.
9 Before your pots can feel the burning thorns,
He shall take them away as with a whirlwind,
As in His living and burning wrath.
10 The righteous shall rejoice when he sees the vengeance;
He shall wash his feet in the blood of the wicked,
11 So that men will say,
“Surely there is a reward for the righteous;
Surely He is God who judges in the earth.”
What is wrong?
Wicked rulers.
What is the curse?
LORD, destroy their power and get rid of them.
Application
We all know dictators that it would be good to curse in this way even now never mind Genghis Khan, Hitler, Stalin, Pol Phot and the list of other despots that there have been through the ages. The amount of misery such men can inflict makes these curses wholly appropriate.
Psalm 59
What is wrong?
The author is under attack from a group of men who besiege him and are out to slander and kill him (probably Saul’s men according to the heading).
What is the curse?
LORD, punish them, show no mercy, but don’t just kill them, make them wander about and let them be caught first and then consume them in wrath and destroy them utterly. I don’t know why David said not to just kill them, he could have saved himself many years of running around the mountains.
Application
I don’t think many of us have human enemies of the sort David did at the time he wrote this psalm but it can happen. David had a long on-going battle with Saul and his forces – perhaps we need to be careful how we curse!!!
Psalm 69
What is wrong?
The author is in despair because as he seeks the Lord people begin to hate him without reason, scorn him and alienate him – including his own family members. When people insult God he feels it personally (v. 9). Scorn has broken his heart and left him helpless and there is no one to comfort him, in fact they do the opposite.
What is the curse?
May the table set before them become a snare;
may it become retribution and a trap.
23 May their eyes be darkened so they cannot see,
and their backs be bent forever.
24 Pour out your wrath on them;
let your fierce anger overtake them.
25 May their place be deserted;
let there be no one to dwell in their tents.
26 For they persecute those you wound
and talk about the pain of those you hurt.
27 Charge them with crime upon crime;
do not let them share in your salvation.
28 May they be blotted out of the book of life
and not be listed with the righteous.
Application
This psalm is full of prophetic statements that the NT writers use in relation to the life and death of Jesus. In John 15:25, the Lord quoted Psalm 69:4 in reference to His mistreatment by the Jews, “They hated Me without cause.” The Apostle Paul quotes verses 22 and 23 in Romans 11:9-10. The first part of verse 9 is fulfilled when the Lord cast the money changers out of the Temple (John 2:17). The last part is quoted in Romans 15:3.
Yikes!
faithfulwon 