Are Imprecatory Prayers Permitted In the New Testament Era?

There is a special class of prayer, called imprecations, where saints ask God to take vengeance on His enemies. There are many examples in the book of Psalms that call upon God to enact justice, judge wickedness, vindicate His name, and repay persistent, unrepentant evil.

Many pastors and prayer leaders have abandoned these types of prayers, saying things like:

“We don’t pray that way anymore.”
“That was Old Testament.”
“Jesus corrected that.”
“We’re under grace now.”

Only recently, a FE pastor suggested that imprecatory prayers are not fitting or supported in the New Testament.

I suspect that these things are said with good intentions. But what is the assumption beneath those statements? Are certain inspired prayers no longer proper for Christians?

If we are honest, it could sound as though Christians are trying to be softer on evil than God Himself. In reality, the true enemies of Christ are not flesh and blood alone. We are fighting spiritual enemies in high places and our weapons are not carnal, but are mighty through God. One of those mighty weapons is imprecatory prayer.

When someone says, “We don’t pray like that anymore,” or even forbids their congregation from doing so, they are limiting the means to fight against the true enemy. If they appeal to the grace of the gospel, they imply that portions of Scripture are no longer valid and somehow contrary to Christ — that grace has replaced justice, or that love requires silence about judgment.

But the same Jesus who told us to love our enemies also pronounced woes upon unrepentant cities. The same Lord who rebuked personal retaliation also spoke of fiery judgment. The New Testament does not soften God’s justice; it clarifies it and reiterates the fact that vengeance belongs to Him alone.

And here is what makes the issue unavoidable for faithful Christians: We are commanded in the New Testament to recite the Psalms.

Ephesians 5:19 tells us to speak to one another in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs. Colossians 3:16 commands us to let the word of Christ dwell in us richly, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs. There is no disclaimer attached. The Scriptures never tell us to edit the inspired word of God before we sing or pray the Psalms.

If the Spirit commands the Church to sing Psalms — and those Psalms contain prayers calling upon God’s justice — then dismissing that category of spiritual warfare altogether is not humility. It is disobedience.

I’m not trying to be harsh. But neither do I want to be softer than Christ. Mercy and justice are not enemies in Scripture. They meet in the character of God.

So before we staunchly retire imprecatory prayer in the name of grace, we should be very sure we are not correcting Scripture to make it more palatable to ourselves and others. “The fear of man brings a snare, but He who trusts in the Lord shall be safe” (Proverbs 29:25).

I will present evidence from the New Testament that shows that imprecatory prayers are part and parcel of the Gospel of Christ. If you have come to reject imprecatory prayers due to the teaching of others, even your beloved pastor, I hope that you will allow Scripture to renew your mind. 

Imprecatory prayers are the Church’s nuclear weapons1 to destroy the enemies of Christ. And as my favorite pastor says, God can destroy His enemies in two ways: 1) He can remove them altogether; or 2) He can convert them. Each one of us was once an enemy of Christ. Now, in Christ, we are called friends, servants, and heirs with Him.

When we ask God to take vengeance, we can trust Him to faithfully place that judgment on the cross of Christ or on the reprobate heading to hell.

But don’t take my word that the New Testament uses, supports, and promotes imprecatory prayers. Let’s look at some passages that prove imprecatory prayers are not contrary to God’s grace.

Revelation 6:9–11: When He opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the testimony which they held. And they cried with a loud voice, saying, “How long, O Lord, holy and true, until You judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?” Then a white robe was given to each of them; and it was said to them that they should rest a little while longer, until both the number of their fellow servants and their brethren, who would be killed as they were, was completed.

Function: Direct imprecatory prayer of perfected saints asking God to judge and avenge.

1 Corinthians 16:22: If anyone does not love the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be accursed. O Lord, come!

Function: Apostolic anathema (formal curse) upon all Christ-rejecters. In the original languages, this phrase reads: Anathema. Maranatha. Literally, “Let him be accursed. Come and judge.”

Galatians 1:8–9: But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so now I say again, if anyone preaches any other gospel to you than what you have received, let him be accursed.

Function: Repeated covenant curse against all false gospel teachers.

2 Timothy 4:14: Alexander the coppersmith did me much harm. May the Lord repay him according to his works.

Function: Explicit appeal for divine recompense on a particular person by name.

Romans 11:9–10: And David says: “Let their table become a snare and a trap, A stumbling block and a recompense to them. Let their eyes be darkened, so that they do not see, And bow down their back always.”

Function: Application of Psalm 69 imprecation to hardened unbelief.

Acts 8:20: But Peter said to him, “Your money perish with you, because you thought that the gift of God could be purchased with money!”

Function: Apostolic pronouncement of destruction on a particular person.

Acts 13:10–11: and said, “O full of all deceit and all fraud, you son of the devil, you enemy of all righteousness, will you not cease perverting the straight ways of the Lord? And now, indeed, the hand of the Lord is upon you, and you shall be blind, not seeing the sun for a time.” And immediately a dark mist fell on him, and he went around seeking someone to lead him by the hand.

Function: Judicial sentence invoking divine judgment on an individual.

Romans 12:19: Beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to wrath; for it is written, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” says the Lord.

Function: Establishes God’s exclusive right to avenge — foundation for imprecatory appeal.

2 Thessalonians 1:6–10: since it is a righteous thing with God to repay with tribulation those who trouble you, and to give you who are troubled rest with us when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with His mighty angels, in flaming fire taking vengeance on those who do not know God, and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. These shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power, when He comes, in that Day, to be glorified in His saints and to be admired among all those who believe, because our testimony among you was believed.

Function: Teaches that God righteously repays persecutors with vengeance.

James 5:17–18: Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain; and it did not rain on the land for three years and six months. And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth produced its fruit.

Function: Shows that a believer “like us” prayed and God sent covenantal judgment, demonstrating the legitimacy of us praying likewise.

These verses are merely a sampling of imprecatory prayer/language in the New Testament. If you are on the fence, remember that the apostle Paul prayed imprecatory prayers by name (2 Timothy 4:14), and he asks us to mimic him (see 1 Corinthians 4:16; 11:1; Philippians 3:17; 4:9; 2 Thessalonians 3:7–9).

If we willingly resist imprecatory prayer — believing that asking God to judge wickedness is somehow beneath New Testament grace — then we should not be surprised when evil flourishes without resistance in our day.

We live in a time when corruption is being exposed at the highest levels. The Epstein files alone reveal a world of exploitation, trafficking, and elite depravity that most ordinary citizens would never have imagined. These are not abstract theological enemies. These are real crimes, with real victims. Real wickedness is protected by devilish power, while the innocent suffer.

And what is the Church to do? Smile politely? Whisper only about personal piety? Pray exclusively for comfort while refusing to ask God to act in justice?

If we do not ask the righteous Judge to judge, who exactly are we protecting?

Imprecatory prayer is not rage. It is not taking vengeance into our own hands. It is the Church saying, “Lord, You see. Lord, You judge. Lord, act.” It is refusing apathy. It is refusing neutrality. It is refusing to pretend that evil is merely unfortunate rather than defiant rebellion against a holy God.

When the martyrs cried, “How long, O Lord?” God did not rebuke them. They were given white robes and told that justice was coming.

If we never pray against the enemies of Christ — against systems of exploitation, against unrepentant predators, against those who devour the innocent — we may not be actively committing those crimes. Still, we risk complicity in the crimes by failing to ask for God’s justice on the perpetrators.

Praying for justice doesn’t cut off mercy. It leaves it in God’s hands. Repentance remains possible. God can destroy His enemies by converting them — every one of us is proof of that. But if men harden themselves and persist in evil, Scripture does not instruct the Church to blush at justice or turn a blind eye.

It instructs us to appeal to the Judge and trust Him with the results.

If we believe that vengeance belongs to Him, then asking Him to exercise it is not unchristian. It is faith.

And perhaps this age is so dark with evil precisely because the Church has neglected this kind of prayer.

If you are not sure where to start, begin praying through the Psalms. If you can, find one or more persons to pray alongside you in faith. Our desire should be to see and pray for God’s will to be done on earth as it is in heaven — perfect righteousness on earth.

“He loves righteousness and justice; The earth is full of the goodness of the Lord” (Psalm 33:5).