What Does Lamentations 3:66 Mean in the King James?
Persecute and destroy them in anger from under the heavens of the LORD.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
The prayer asks God not merely to stop the pursuers, but to chase them down until they are destroyed.
THE MEANING
The reader meets a live cry for God to pursue and destroy “them” in anger, until they are removed from beneath the heavens of the LORD. The paired verbs leave the requested violence in plain view: pursuit ends in destruction.
THE ROOT
רָדַף
rādaph
GROWS FROM
רדף
To pursue, chase, or press after.
The Hebrew verb keeps the image of a pursuer closing in beneath the English word “persecute.” Here, that pursuit is joined directly to the request to destroy, so the prayer asks for judgment that does not stop at restraint.
ALSO GROWS
radaph: Pursue; in Exodus 14:9, the Egyptians pursue Israel.
רָדַף
The same verb shows the physical chase contained in “persecute.”
radaph: Persecute; in Psalm 7:1, the speaker asks to be delivered from those who persecute him.
רָדַף
English uses “persecute” here too, while the Hebrew keeps the same pursuing force.
וְתַשְׁמִידֵם
wətašmîdēm
GROWS FROM
שמד
To destroy or annihilate.
“Destroy” in this verse is wətašmîdēm. The verb names an outcome beyond stopping the enemy: their destruction. Following רדף (radaph, pursue), it makes the plea a sequence of pursuit ending in annihilation.
ALSO GROWS
hishmîd: Cause to be destroyed; a causative form of the root.
הִשְׁמִיד
It makes clear that the root can describe bringing destruction upon someone.
nishmad: Be destroyed; a passive form of the root.
נִשְׁמַד
The same root also describes the state of being destroyed, completing the movement from pursuit to its requested end.
THE PATTERN
Scripture gives persecuted people a plain cry for judgment while locating vengeance in God’s hands.
Let their way be dark and slippery: and let the angel of the LORD persecute them.And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord.THE THREAD
Let their way be dark and slippery: and let the angel of the LORD persecute them.Psalm 35:6 uses the same Hebrew verb רָדַף (radaph, pursue) in a parallel cry for the LORD’s messenger to pursue the enemy. The shared root reveals the image beneath “persecute”: relentless pursuit ending in judgment.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us