WASHINGTON, June 10 (UPI) -- Georgia Sen. David Perdue said Friday people should pray for President Barack Obama, then recited a Bible verse about death, praying "let his days be few."
Perdue, a Republican, speaking to an evangelical conference in Washington, said Christians should be "very specific about how we pray" for Obama.
He then quoted the beginning of Psalms 109:8: "Let his days be few, and may another have his office."
Perdue stopped short of reciting the whole the verse, in which the next two lines are: "Let his children be fatherless, and his wife a widow. Let his children be continually vagabonds, and beg: let them seek their bread also out of their desolate places."
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When Perdue delivered the remark to the Faith and Freedom Conference of religious conservatives, those in attendance laughed and clapped. Perdue said he picked the Bible verse for levity and did not seriously imply people should pray for Obama's death.
"It was a little humor and I said it in a way that we were talking about his days as president," Perdue said. "So I said 'May his days be few,' and that's a direct quote from the Scripture. And I set it up by saying, in relation to his being in the office of the presidency."
Purdue told Politico he does not regret the remarks because he was quoting Scripture.
His spokeswoman, Megan Whittemore, released a statement after the speech, saying Perdue "in no way wishes harm towards our president and everyone in the room understood that."
"However, we should add the media to our prayer list because they are pushing a narrative to create controversy and that is exactly what the American people are tired of."
Several other Republicans members of Congress and former Republican presidential candidates were also scheduled to address the conference and presumptive GOP nominee Donald Trump was scheduled to be the keynote speaker.
