Context and violence in individual prayers for protection'

The individual prayers fo r protection within the Psalter are marked by a consistency in terms o f the context supposed and the nature o f violence experienced by the psalmists. Consistently, these psalms also assert that the right to retributive violence against the enemies belongs to Yahweh alone. Such a consistent pattern indicates that those responsible fo r assembling the Book o f Psalms intended to model this as the appropriate response fo r the faithful.