Psalms for Skeptics

The thing that stands out about the psalms is how violent, vengeful, and vindictive they are.

Break their teeth, O God, in their mouth ... let them be cut pieces.

Such prayers fill the psalms along with statements like this:

The righteous shall rejoice when he seeth the vengeance: he shall wash his feet in the blood of the wicked.

Here are some highlights:

• "My God ... thou hast broken the teeth of the ungodly." 3:7
• God hates sinners. 5:5
• Dead people neither remember God nor give him thanks. 6:5
• "God will whet his sword; he hath bent his bow ... He hath ... prepared ... the instruments of death." 7:11-13
• "Thou hast destroyed cities." 9:6
• God hides from those who need him the most. 10:1
• "His eyelids try the children of men." 11:4
• God will rain fire and brimstone upon "wicked" people. 11:6
• Atheists are fools who never do anything good. 14:1, 53:1
• "At thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore." 16:11
• Smoke comes out of God's nose and fire comes out of his mouth. 18:8
• God rides upon cherubs and can fly. 18:10
• The God of Peace teaches us to kill our neighbors in war. 18:34, 144:1
• God helps believers kill and enslave their enemies. 18:40-43
• If you make God angry, he'll burn you and your children to death and shoot you in the back with his arrows. 21:9-12
• Hate people, but trust in God. 31:6
• Those who are poor or hungry just aren't seeking God enough. 34:9, 37:3
• God laughs at those he will later torment. 37:13
• "My loins are filled with a loathsome disease." 38:7
• God's clothes smell like myrrh, aloes, and cassia. 45:8
• If you forget God, he will tear you in pieces. 50:22
• If you don't trust God, he'll kill you, and while you're dying the "righteous" will laugh at you. 52:5-6
• Bad people are bad from birth -- God made them that way. 58:3
• "Break their teeth, O God, in their mouth, ... let them be cut pieces." 58:6-8
• "The righteous" will rejoice when they see "the wicked" being dismembered by God. They'll "wash their feet in the blood of the wicked." 58:10
• The heathen "make a noise like a dog ... Behold, they belch out with their mouths." 59:5-7
• God will "wound the head of his enemies" and the righteous will dip their feet in their blood. 68:21-23
• "Let their eyes be darkened ... and make their loins continually to shake." 69:23
• The earth is stationary and does not move. 93:1, 104:5
• God heals all diseases. Medical science is unnecessary. 103:2-3
• God will "fill the places with dead bodies." 110:6
• "The dead praise not the Lord." 115:17
• God is praised for slaughtering little babies. 135:8
• "To him that smote Egypt in their first born: for his mercy endures forever." 136:10
• Happiness is smashing your little children against rocks. 137:9
• "If I make my bed in hell, behold thou art there." 139:8
• "Do not I hate them, O Lord? ... I hate them with a perfect hatred." 139:19-22
• A prayer that God will burn people to death. 140:10
• "Praise the LORD ... ye dragons." 148:7