节选自 John Brug 大众圣经–诗篇注释
Imprecatory Psalms
诅咒诗
We use the term imprecatory psalms to describe those psalms that contain curses or prayers for the punishment of the psalmist’s enemies. We will study each of these curses in our commentary of the psalms in which they occur, but here we would like to summarize some of the general principles that apply to all of them.
我们使用诅咒诗这一术语来描述那些包含诅咒或祈求惩罚诗篇作者之敌的篇章。我们将在本评注中逐一研读诗篇中出现的这些诅咒篇章，然而我们在这里要概述适用于所有这些篇章的一些普遍原则。
People are often shocked by some of the prayers in the psalms. One of the harshest is the prayer against the Babylonians in Psalm 137: “O Daughter of Babylon, doomed to destruction, happy is he who repays you for what you have done to us—he who seizes your infants and dashes them against the rocks” (verses 8, 9). Similar prayers are contained in Psalms 55, 56, 58, 69, 109, and others.
人们常常惊异于诗篇中的祷告。最严厉的一篇是第一百三十七篇针对巴比伦的祷告：“将要被灭的巴比伦城啊，报复你象你待我们的，那人便为有福。拿你的婴孩摔在磐石上的，那人便为有福”（第8, 9节）。类似的祷告见于第五十五，五十六，五十八，六十九和一百零九篇，以及其它诸篇。
Many commentators dismiss these prayers as remnants of a less developed stage of religion, which we have now outgrown. They claim that such prayers are no longer valid in New Testament times, since we are now told to love our enemies and not to take revenge (Matthew 5:38–44). Such claims, however, are not supported by a careful study of these psalms or of the rest of Scripture. These prayers, harsh as they sound, were proper prayers when they were first uttered, and they are still proper today.
许多评注者不理会这些祷告，将之视为信仰欠发达阶段的遗迹。他们宣称，这类祷告在新约时代已不再有效，因为我们被告知要爱我们的仇敌，不可报复（马太福音5:38–44）。然而，认真研读这些篇章或者圣经的其它部分，就会发现这类宣称是站不住脚的。这些听起来严酷的祷告在它们当初出现之时为合宜的祷告，在当今仍然是合宜的祷告。
These curses are part of God’s inspired Word. It is true that Scripture sometimes reports improper statements made by believers in moments of distress. For example, not all of the statements made by Job and his friends in the book of Job were proper. However, the curses in the psalms do not fall into this category because Scripture itself shows that they were proper prayers. Several of these curses occur in messianic psalms as the words of Christ himself. For example, one of the strongest curses is recorded in Psalm 69, a messianic psalm quoted in the New Testament: “May they be blotted out of the book of life and not be listed with the righteous” (verse 28). Curses found in Psalms 69 and 109 are quoted by Peter in Acts 1:20 as finding their fulfillment in God’s judgment on Judas.
这些诅咒是神所启示的话语的一部分。圣经有时候记录了信徒们在危难之时的一些不适当的陈述，确实如此。例如，约伯记中约伯和他朋友的陈述并非全部恰当。然而，诗篇中的诅咒不属于这个范畴，因为圣经自己表明它们是合宜的祷告。有几个诅咒出现在弥赛亚的诗篇中，是基督自己的言语。例如，最强烈的诅咒之一记录在第六十九篇中，这首弥赛亚诗篇在新约圣经中被引用：“愿他们从生命册上被涂抹，不得记录在义人之中”（第28节）。彼得引用第六十九篇和第一百零九篇的诅咒——神对犹大的惩罚，就是这些诅咒的应验（使徒行传1:20）。
These curses can hardly be explained away as due to a bloodthirsty, vengeful spirit on the part of David. On the contrary, David was an example of patience, who on more than one occasion refused to avenge himself on his persecutor Saul (1 Samuel 24, 26). If David had a weakness in this regard, it was being too lenient with offenders such as Shimei, who cursed him (2 Samuel 16), and his son Absalom, who rebelled against him (2 Samuel 18, 19). David refused to seek personal vengeance on his enemies, but he could hardly pray that Saul should win or that God’s promise to David, which included the promise of the Savior, should be overthrown by Saul or Absalom. He very properly opposed their schemes with prayer.
这些诅咒不可被诠释为大卫有着嗜血成性、怀恨复仇的心。相反，大卫是一个心存忍耐的榜样，不止在一种情形下，他拒绝对逼迫他的人——扫罗——复仇（撒母耳记上第24, 26章）。大卫若在这一点上有欠缺，那么就不可能对诅咒他的示每宽宏大量（撒母耳记下第16章），也不会对背叛他的人——他的儿子押沙龙心怀仁慈（撒母耳记下第18, 19章）。大卫拒绝在他的敌人身上报私仇，然而，他也不可能祈求：扫罗得逞，或神对大卫的应许——包括救主的应许——被扫罗或押沙龙废除。他恰如其分地以祷告来反对他们的阴谋。
Luther once commented that we cannot pray the Lord’s Prayer without cursing. Every time we pray “Hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done,” we are praying that the plans of Satan and all who serve him will fail and that they will receive the judgment that they deserve. We should indeed pray that God will lead our enemies to repentance and forgiveness as Christ and Stephen did, but we must also pray that all who continue to defy God will receive the justice they deserve.
路德曾评注道，我们祷告主祷文时必然伴随着诅咒。每当我们祷告：“愿人都尊你的名为圣，愿你的国降临，愿你的旨意……”时，我们就是在祷告撒旦及其走狗的计划破产，他们将得到应有的审判。我们确实应该祷告，求神带领我们的敌人悔改、得宽恕，正如基督和司提反所做的，但我们也要祷告：一切持续藐视神的人都将得到应有的公义审判。
God is a God of absolute holiness. It is in harmony with God’s character and his attributes revealed in Scripture when the psalmist prays, “If only you would slay the wicked, O God!… Do I not hate those who hate you, O Lord, and abhor those who rise up against you?” (Psalm 139:19, 21) When the psalmist uttered such prayers, his concern was for God’s glory and for the success of God’s plans.
神是一个绝对圣洁的神。当诗篇作者祷告：“神啊，你必要杀戮恶人。耶和华啊，恨恶你的，我岂不恨恶他们吗？攻击你的，我岂不憎嫌他们吗？”（诗篇139:19, 21）时，就与圣经中所显明的神的特质和属性相一致。当诗篇作者发出这样的祷告时，他所考虑的是神的荣耀，是神之计划的成功实现。
The psalmist (or in some cases the Messiah, who was speaking through him) was being persecuted without cause, since the attacks on him were not because of anything he had done but because of his role in God’s plans (Psalms 35:19; 69:4, 7, 9; 109:3). Even when the psalmist prayed such prayers, he still hoped God’s judgments would serve as a warning that would lead at least some of the wicked to repentance. “Cover their faces with shame so that men will seek your name, O Lord” (Psalm 83:16).
诗篇作者（有时是借诗篇作者讲话的弥赛亚）无故遭逼迫，对他的攻击不是因他的所为，而是因他在神之计划中的角色（诗篇35:19; 69:4, 7, 9; 109:3）。诗篇作者虽然发出这样的祷告，但他仍盼望神的审判起到警告作用，带领（至少某些）恶人悔改。“愿你使他们满面羞耻，好叫他们寻求你耶和华的名。”（诗篇83:16）
Similar prayers for God to display his justice occur in the New Testament. Paul prayed for God’s judgment against those who opposed his preaching of the gospel (Galatians 1:8; 2 Timothy 4:14). Even the saints in heaven pray, “How long, Sovereign Lord, holy and true, until you judge the inhabitants of the earth and avenge our blood?” (Revelation 6:10).
求神展示他公义的类似祷告出现在新约中。保罗祷告，求神以公义对待那些对抗他传讲福音的人（加拉太书1:8；提摩太后书4:14）。甚至，天上的圣徒也祷告：“圣洁真实的主啊，你不审判住在地上的人给我们伸流血的冤，要等到几时呢？”（启示录6:10）
Scripture delivers strong warnings against taking personal vengeance on our enemies, but it also promises us that the just God will repay the wicked. “Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: ‘It is mine to avenge; I will repay,’ says the Lord” (Romans 12:19). To punish the ungodly with force is the duty of God and of government as the servant of God, so we should oppose the enemies of God with prayer.
圣经强令禁止个人复仇，但圣经也向我们承诺，公义的神会叫恶人遭报应：“亲爱的弟兄，不要自己伸冤，宁可让步，听凭主怒。因为经上记着，主说，伸冤在我。我必报应”（罗马书12:19）。付诸武力惩罚恶人是神的事，是政府——神的仆人——的职责。