The paper explores how violence against the enemies is framed within the Psalms and how that violence complicates using the Psalms as a source for ethical reflection and guidance. The paper evaluates the proposal that the Psalms largely reflect lex talionis, i.e., the violence that the psalmist imagines for the enemies is a measured, equitable response to the suffering that he/she is undergoing. The paper inquires whether this view effectively baptizes psalmic violence by placing the accent on its measuredness and appropriateness, and whether individual psalms (e.g., Pss 17, 18) and the entire book of Psalms actively resist this sort baptism. I will also engage the idea that by situating calls for violence in the context of prayer, the psalmist is arguing implicitly that God is the only one able to mete out retribution and that, therefore, the psalmist is actually advocating a position of “radical nonviolence.” God is the one whom the psalmist calls to action. Yet praying for violent outcomes may not so neatly erase one’s inclination to act violently if one gets the chance. Indeed, such prayers might ultimately encourage such violent actions (just as praying for the satiation of the hungry may ultimately encourage one to feed them!). The paper concludes with a brief comparative component, in which I analyze the violence pictured in Israelite prayers in light of ANE literature and art. This aspect of the study determines whether psalmic violence is indeed of a different sort than that which appears among Israel’s neighbors. So, while this paper does not seek to erase the ethical problems raised by psalmic violence, it does, however, seek to place the violent language and imagery firmly in its historical and cultural context.