Lamentations 5:17

17 Because of all this we're heartsick; we can't see through the tears.

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 All the joy is gone from our hearts. Our dances have turned into dirges.

16 The crown of glory has toppled from our head. Woe! Woe! Would that we'd never sinned!

17 Because of all this we're heartsick; we can't see through the tears.

18 On Mount Zion, wrecked and ruined, jackals pace and prowl.

19 And yet, God, you're sovereign still, your throne intact and eternal.