Lamentations 5:17

17 This is why our hearts are sick; this is why our eyes grow dim -

Lamentations 5:17 Meaning and Commentary

Lamentations 5:17

For this our heart is faint
Our spirits sink; we are ready to swoon and die away; either for this, that we have sinned; because of our sins, they are so many, so great, and so aggravated; or for those distresses and calamities they have brought upon us before mentioned; or for the desolation of Zion, more especially, after expressed; and so the Targum,

``for this house of the sanctuary, which is desolate, our heart is weak:''

for these [things] our eyes are dim;
or "darkened" ^F2 almost blinded with weeping; can scarcely see out of them; or as persons in a swoon; for dimness of sight usually attends faintness of spirit.

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FOOTNOTES:

F2 (wkvx) "contenebrati sunt", V. L. "obtenebrati", Pagninus, Montanus, Calvin, Cocceius.

Lamentations 5:17 In-Context

15 Joy has vanished from our hearts, our dancing has turned into mourning.

16 The crown has fallen from our heads. Woe to us! for we have sinned.

17 This is why our hearts are sick; this is why our eyes grow dim -

18 it's because of Mount Tziyon, so wasted that jackals have overrun it.

19 You, ADONAI, reign forever; your throne endures through all generations.