Should Christians Pray Imprecations?

By Jason Hutchcraft, M.Div.

Imprecations, or prayers in the Psalms against the enemies of God and His people, are some of the most difficult passages in Scripture. My own position is that we may pray something like an imprecation against those who oppose the Lord. However, we must use some wisdom and caution and we must also make sure we are balanced in our understanding of the Scriptures on this matter.

There are many people out there who are very uncomfortable with praying for the actual demise of people or that they will be condemned. Is this in harmony with the spirit of the Gospel, which seeks to reconcile men to God? The answer is, I think, that it depends on the spiritual condition of the people in question and what they have done. There are certainly people for whom we should not pray at all, who have committed a sin leading to death, and are beyond hope of recovery. So, if we know that a person, or group of people, have committed a sin from which they cannot be saved it may be appropriate to either not pray for them at all, or to even pray against them.

Imprecations are found in Psalms 55, 58, 69, 109, and 137. Paul quotes from Psalm 69 in Romans 11 and again in Romans 15. There are other examples of imprecations in the New Testament Scriptures:

•Matthew 23:13 But woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men: for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in.
•Matthew 26:23-24 And he answered and said, He that dippeth his hand with me in the dish, the same shall betray me. 24 The Son of man goeth as it is written of him: but woe unto that man by whom the Son of man is betrayed! it had been good for that man if he had not been born.
•1 Corinthians 16:22 If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be Anathema Maranatha.
•Galatians 1:8-9 But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. 9 As we said before, so say I now again, If any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed.
•Galatians 5:12 I would they were even cut off which trouble you.
•2 Timothy 4:14 Alexander the coppersmith did me much evil: the Lord reward him according to his works:
•Revelation 6:10 And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?

When we read the imprecations in the Psalms we must realize that these are prayers to God asking that He deal with the wicked. The Psalmist is not giving us permission to take vengeance for ourselves. This fits with how we are taught in the New Testament Scriptures to turn the other cheek and to leave room for the wrath of God. It is always better to turn your enemies over to God instead of dealing with them yourself.

It seems to me there were some ideal times for imprecations to be spoken, but there was no such prayer. James and John, those Sons of Thunder, wanted to call fire down on the Samaritans when they refused to give hospitality. But Jesus rebuked them soundly for this. As Jesus was being nailed to the cross He prayed that God would forgive those crucifying Him. Stephen prayed a similar prayer when he was being stoned. In His prayer Jesus added that those crucifying Him did not really know what they were doing. We might learn from this that those who do things in ignorance probably don’t deserve an imprecation prayed against them. But it could be argued that the people stoning Stephen knew what they were doing. Stephen could have prayed against them and it seems that would have been appropriate. However, those who stoned Stephen laid their cloaks at the feet of a young man named Saul. We never know that someone who is an enemy now might be a friend later. It is possible that those persecuting me might come around and change their minds. We are to bless those who curse us and pray for those who persecute us. This is a clear command and must be acknowledged and obeyed without question.

Having said this, there may be times when these prayers for blessing must come to an end. We cannot in good conscience pray for the blessing of those who continually try to sabotage the work of God. I can’t pray that God would bless the agenda or the cause of wicked men. I must pray against the success of wickedness, leaving open the possibility of God simply removing those doing the wicked deeds, as God did with King Herod after he attacked the Church – killing James and imprisoning Peter. (In Acts 4 the Church prayed that God would consider the threats of Herod and the Jews, quoting from Psalm 2 in their prayer. The next thing you know, Peter is out of prison and then Herod was dead and eaten by worms!) I cannot love those who hate God. An imprecation should be prayed against the cause of the wicked, leaving room for God to decide how to deal with the wicked themselves. If God simply takes them out, then so be it.

I do not want to ignore imprecations in the Scriptures. I think there are times when these kinds of prayers should be prayed. But this should be done with discernment, maturity, balance, and wisdom. I don’t think we should pray imprecations while angry and in the Flesh. We should not be simplistic in our understanding of the Scriptures and in our assessment of people. To immediately start praying imprecations against everyone who makes us mad is to be simplistic in our understanding. But there is a time when we can ask God to “break the teeth of the wicked.”