Lamentations 5:17

17 We are sick at our very hearts and can hardly see through our 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 Happiness has gone out of our lives; grief has taken the place of our dances.

16 Nothing is left of all we were proud of. We sinned, and now we are doomed.

17 We are sick at our very hearts and can hardly see through our tears,

18 because Mount Zion lies lonely and deserted, and wild jackals prowl through its ruins.

19 But you, O Lord, are king forever and will rule to the end of time.