Lamentations 3:66
in Lamentations 3You will pursue them in anger and exterminate them from under Your heavens, O LORD.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Thou wilt pursue them in anger, and destroy them from under the heavens of Jehovah.
KJV
Persecute and destroy them in anger from under the heavens of the Lord.
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This verse in Lamentations 3
Commentary
3 notes on this versePersecute and destroy them in anger,.... As they have persecuted the people of God, do thou persecute them; and never leave pursuing them untie thou hast made a full end of them, as the effect of vindictive wrath and vengeance: from under the heavens of the Lord; which are made by him, and in which he dwells; let them not have the benefit of them, nor so much as the sight of them; but let them perish from under them, Jer 10:11.
This site's exposition
O Lord, thou hast seen my wrong: judge thou my cause
on Lamentations 3:59-66
O Lord, thou hast seen my wrong: judge thou my cause turns the chapter's last unit toward the enemies who chased and mocked the sufferer, the case brought to the Judge rather than settled by the sufferer himself. Thou hast heard their reproach and their imaginations against me, the lips of those that rose up against me, and their device against me all the day, catalogues the hostility in detail before the closing plea. Render unto them a recompence, O Lord, according to the work of their hands asks for exact justice rather than excess, and persecute and destroy them in anger from under the heavens of the Lord closes the chapter on the same imprecatory note that closed chapter 1, the bench reading these prayers as appeals to God's own justice rather than private vengeance, the sufferer's case handed over rather than taken into his own hands.
The record, by era
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
Persecute and destroy them - Thou wilt pursue them with destruction. These are all declaratory, not imprecatory. From under the heavens of the Lord - This verse seems to allude to the Chaldaic prediction, in Jer 10:11. By their conduct they will bring on themselves the curse denounced against their enemies. The Septuagint and Vulgate seem to have read “From under heaven, O Jehovah:” and the Syriac reads, “Thy heavens, O Jehovah!” None of these makes any material change in the meaning of the words.
The words behind it
6 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| תִּרְדֹּ֤ף | tirdof | you will pursue [them] | H7291 → | 143 times |
| בְּאַף֙ | beaf | in anger | H639 → | 276 times |
| וְתַשְׁמִידֵ֔ם | vetashmidem | and you will destroy them | H8045 → | |
| מִתַּ֖חַת | mitachat | from under | H8478 → | |
| שְׁמֵ֥י | shemei | [the] heavens of | H8064 → | 421 times |
| יְהוָֽה׃ פ | yahweh | Yahweh | H3068 → | 6520 times |
תִּרְדֹּ֤ףyou will pursue [them]
tirdofH7291 →143 times
בְּאַף֙in anger
beafH639 →276 times
וְתַשְׁמִידֵ֔םand you will destroy them
vetashmidemH8045 →
מִתַּ֖חַתfrom under
mitachatH8478 →
שְׁמֵ֥י[the] heavens of
shemeiH8064 →421 times
יְהוָֽה׃ פYahweh
yahwehH3068 →6520 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Psalms 115:16The highest heavens belong to the LORD, but the earth He has given to mankind.
it leads to
- Psalms 89:11
The heavens are Yours, and also the earth. The earth and its fullness You founded.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Psalms 8:6
You made him ruler of the works of Your hands; You have placed everything under his feet:
- Genesis 1:28–30
God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and every creature…
- Jeremiah 27:5–6
By My great power and outstretched arm, I made the earth and the men and beasts on the face of it, and I give it to whom I please.
- Psalms 89:11
Through
Psalms 8:3When I behold Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, the moon and the stars, which You have set in place—
it leads to
- Genesis 1:1
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
- Psalms 33:6
By the word of the LORD the heavens were made, and all the stars by the breath of His mouth.
- Psalms 111:2
Great are the works of the LORD; they are pondered by all who delight in them.
- Psalms 104:19
He made the moon to mark the seasons; the sun knows when to set.
- Genesis 1:1
Where this verse is studied
No study on the site is anchored to this verse yet.
Also on Lamentations 3: 6 studies that walk through this chapter ▾
- Acrostics: From Aleph to Taw
- The Fruit of the SpiritGalatians 5:22–23 names a singular fruit (karpos, not fruits) with nine visible facets. Gifts are distributed; fruit is unified. Every believer bears the whole fruit. The grammar is the theology.
- Great Is Thy Faithfulness: Lamentations 3:22–24 · MannaFest
- Lamentations — the Study Guide
- The Weeping Prophet — the Confessions of Jeremiah
- The Yoke
About Lamentations
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes on the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament.