# Guidance from Ames on Singing Imprecatory Psalms



## dannyhyde (Jun 16, 2009)

http://www.oceansideurc.org/ - Pilgrims & Parish (Danny Hyde) - - Guidance from Ames on Singing ImprecatoryPsalms


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## Backwoods Presbyterian (Jun 16, 2009)

to Ames. We need not apologize for the Word of God.


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## toddpedlar (Jun 16, 2009)

dannyhyde said:


> http://www.oceansideurc.org/ - Pilgrims & Parish (Danny Hyde) - - Guidance from Ames on Singing ImprecatoryPsalms



I'm curious where you got your copy of Ames - is it the Scholarly Reprints reprint, or another? I do wish SOMEONE would republish that important work.


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## dannyhyde (Jun 16, 2009)

toddpedlar said:


> dannyhyde said:
> 
> 
> > http://www.oceansideurc.org/ - Pilgrims & Parish (Danny Hyde) - - Guidance from Ames on Singing ImprecatoryPsalms
> ...



Hi Todd,

When I was in Grand Rapids in May I asked Joel Beeke where to find a copy. Of course, it only exists in rare form, which is very expensive. So I bought a reprint from Still Waters.


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## JBaldwin (Jun 16, 2009)

Thanks for the post. I remember listening to Michael Card talking about the imprecatory Psalms and his struggle with praying and singing them. His struggle, he said, was reconciling praying for our enemies and what is expressed in the imprecatory Psalms. He finally came to a pretty much the same conclusion as Ames has expressed here. I think that talk I heard from Card was the only time I've ever heard the topic addressed publically.


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## dannyhyde (Jun 16, 2009)

JBaldwin said:


> Thanks for the post. I remember listening to Michael Card talking about the imprecatory Psalms and his struggle with praying and singing them. His struggle, he said, was reconciling praying for our enemies and what is expressed in the imprecatory Psalms. He finally came to a pretty much the same conclusion as Ames has expressed here. I think that talk I heard from Card was the only time I've ever heard the topic addressed publically.



You are right, not many talk about this. Since we sing through the Psalms in our evening service (currently on our 5th time through), I try to give a word or two of explanation for every Psalm we sing. For example, one of the Psalms we sang this past week was Psalm 79, and of it I said, "We sing here of Israel's exile and the temple's destruction, and we sing it tonight as the church is constantly assaulted by the world and the devil. May we pray the Lord keeps his promise that the gates of hell shall not prevail against his church and that the Lord would revive and reform his church from its ruins in our day.'


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## Tim (Jun 16, 2009)

This is a very worthwhile thread.


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