John Calvin Commentary Lamentations 3:60

"Thou hast seen all their vengeance and all their devices against me." — Lamentations 3:60 (ASV)

This mode of speaking was often used by the saints, because God, when it pleased Him to look on their miseries, was always ready to bring them help. Nor were these words without meaning when the faithful said, O Lord, you have seen; for they said this for their own sake, so that they might shake off all unbelief. For as soon as any trial assails us, we imagine that God has turned away from us, and thus our flesh tempts us to despair.

Therefore, it is necessary that the faithful should, in this respect, struggle with themselves and feel assured that God has seen them. Though human reason may say that God does not see, but neglects and disregards His people, yet on the other hand, this doctrine ought to sustain them, it being certain that God does see them. This is the reason why David so often uses this mode of expression.

You, Jehovah, he says, have seen all their vengeances. By 'vengeances' here he means acts of violence, according to what we find in Psalm 8:2, where God is said to put to flight the enemy and the avenger. By 'the avenger' there, he simply means not those who retaliate wrongs, but cruel and violent men. So also, in this place, by 'vengeances,' he means all kinds of cruelty, and by 'thoughts,' he means wicked counsels by which the ungodly sought to oppress the miserable and the innocent. He again repeats the same thing—