John Calvin Commentary Lamentations 3:66

"Thou wilt pursue them in anger, and destroy them from under the heavens of Jehovah." — Lamentations 3:66 (ASV)

He first asks God to persecute them in wrath, that is, to be implacable toward them. For persecution occurs when God not only chastises the wicked for a short time, but when he adds evils to evils, and accumulates them until they perish. He then adds, and prays God to destroy them from under the heavens of Jehovah. This phrase is emphatic. Those who render it as, “that God himself would destroy the ungodly from the earth,” diminish the gravity of the sentence. For the Prophet does not mention the heavens of Jehovah without reason, as if he were saying that although God is hidden from us while we live in the world, he nevertheless dwells in heaven, for heaven is often called the throne of God—

The heaven is my throne (Isaiah 66:1).

O God, who dwellest in the sanctuary (Psalms 22:4; Psalms 77:14).

God’s sanctuary is often understood to mean heaven. For this reason, then, the Prophet asked here that the ungodly should be destroyed from under the heaven of Jehovah; that is, that their destruction might testify that he sits in heaven and is the judge of the world, and that things are not in such confusion, but that the ungodly must finally render an account before the celestial judge, whom they have long neglected. This is the end of the chapter.

Prayer:

Grant, Almighty God, that as in these times ungodly and wholly reprobate men so arrogantly rise up against Your Church, we may learn to flee to You, and to hide ourselves under the shadow of Your wings, and to fully hope for Your salvation; and that, however disturbed circumstances may be, we may still never doubt that You will be gracious to us, since we have so often found You to be our deliverer; and that we may thus persevere in confidence of Your grace and mercy, and also be roused by this incentive to pray to You, until, having passed through all our miseries, we will at last enjoy that blessed rest which You have promised to us through Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.