The above verse is one that was brought to my attention recently by a skeptic on Twitter. Though I have read this passage before, I hadn’t spend much time or research studying it. One of my former friends -who was leaving the faith- mentioned this to me as well; acting like it was a deathblow to the Bible and its inspiration. Though I will admit that such a passage at face value seems hard to reconcile -and incites appeals to emotion- but upon further investigation there are factors and context which give us the clarity, that a surface reading won’t do. First, we must remember that the psalmist is a Jewish writer (not sure who as it does not say) who is embittered towards Babylon as the Babylonians ransacked the civilization of the Jewish people -taking them into captivity- and destroyed their once glorious temple. He may very well be hoping for the “eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth” scenario.