Lamentations 5:17

17 This is why we feel sick. This is why our eyes see less and less.

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 There is no joy left in our hearts. Our dancing has turned into mourning.

16 The crown has fallen from our head. Because we have sinned, it has been disastrous for us.

17 This is why we feel sick. This is why our eyes see less and less.

18 Foxes roam around on Mount Zion, which lies in ruins.

19 "But you, O LORD, sit enthroned forever, and your reign continues throughout every generation.