Wednesday Bible Study: Imprecatory prayer for terrorism

In Psalm 69, the protagonist has for unspecified reasons become an outcast, so he begs God to destroy his enemies. Check out verse 22 et seq. While this is attributed to David, there isn't really any point in David's story that would correspond to this situation. But petitioning God to commit mass violence is a common theme in the psalms.

To the choirmaster: according to Lilies. A Psalm of David.

69 Save me, O God!
For the waters have come up to my neck.
² I sink in deep mire,
    where there is no foothold;
I have come into deep waters,
    and the flood sweeps over me.
³ I am weary with my crying;
    my throat is parched.
My eyes grow dim
    with waiting for my God.

⁴ More in number than the hairs of my head
    are those who hate me without cause;
mighty are those who would destroy me,
    those who attack me with lies.
What I did not steal
    must I now restore?
⁵ O God, thou knowest my folly;
    the wrongs I have done are not hidden from thee.

⁶ Let not those who hope in thee be put to shame through me,
    O Lord God of hosts;
let not those who seek thee be brought to dishonor through me,
    O God of Israel.
⁷ For it is for thy sake that I have borne reproach,
    that shame has covered my face.
⁸ I have become a stranger to my brethren,
    an alien to my mother’s sons.

⁹ For zeal for thy house has consumed me,
    and the insults of those who insult thee have fallen on me.
¹⁰ When I humbled^[a] my soul with fasting,
    it became my reproach.
¹¹ When I made sackcloth my clothing,
    I became a byword to them.
¹² I am the talk of those who sit in the gate,
    and the drunkards make songs about me.

¹³ But as for me, my prayer is to thee, O Lord.
    At an acceptable time, O God,
    in the abundance of thy steadfast love answer me.
With thy faithful help ¹⁴ rescue me
    from sinking in the mire;
let me be delivered from my enemies
    and from the deep waters.
¹⁵ Let not the flood sweep over me,
    or the deep swallow me up,
    or the pit close its mouth over me.

¹⁶ Answer me, O Lord, for thy steadfast love is good;
    according to thy abundant mercy, turn to me.
¹⁷ Hide not thy face from thy servant;
    for I am in distress, make haste to answer me.
¹⁸ Draw near to me, redeem me,
    set me free because of my enemies!

¹⁹ Thou knowest my reproach,
    and my shame and my dishonor;
    my foes are all known to thee.
²⁰ Insults have broken my heart,
    so that I am in despair.
I looked for pity, but there was none;
    and for comforters, but I found none.
²¹ They gave me poison for food,
    and for my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.

²² Let their own table before them become a snare;
    let their sacrificial feasts^[b] be a trap.
²³ Let their eyes be darkened, so that they cannot see;
    and make their loins tremble continually.
²⁴ Pour out thy indignation upon them,
    and let thy burning anger overtake them.
²⁵ May their camp be a desolation,
    let no one dwell in their tents.
²⁶ For they persecute him whom thou hast smitten,
    and him^[c] whom thou hast wounded, they afflict still more.^[d]
27 Add to them punishment upon punishment;
    may they have no acquittal from thee.
²⁸ Let them be blotted out of the book of the living;
    let them not be enrolled among the righteous.

²⁹ But I am afflicted and in pain;
    let thy salvation, O God, set me on high!

³⁰ I will praise the name of God with a song;
    I will magnify him with thanksgiving.
³¹ This will please the Lord more than an ox
    or a bull with horns and hoofs.
³² Let the oppressed see it and be glad;
    you who seek God, let your hearts revive.
³³ For the Lord hears the needy,
    and does not despise his own that are in bonds.

³⁴ Let heaven and earth praise him,
    the seas and everything that moves therein.
³⁵ For God will save Zion
    and rebuild the cities of Judah;
and his servants shall dwell^[e] there and possess it;
³⁶     the children of his servants shall inherit it,
    and those who love his name shall dwell in it.

Footnotes

1. Psalm 69:10 Gk Syr: Heb I wept with fasting my soul or I made my soul mourn with fasting
2. Psalm 69:22 Tg: Heb for security
3. Psalm 69:26 One Ms Tg Compare Syr: Heb those
4. Psalm 69:26 Gk Syr: Heb recount the pain of
5. Psalm 69:35 Syr: Heb and they shall dwell