Devine Scripture

Lamentations 5:17

What does Lamentations 5:17 mean?

A plain-English look at Lamentations 5:17 in WEB alongside six other public-domain English translations, with cross-references and chapter context.

What Lamentations 5:17 means

Their hearts faint and eyes grow dim because of the enormity of what has happened. Grief weakens resolve and clouds vision; they are disoriented and drained. This is not unbelief but the honest physiology of sorrow. Faith here does not negate feeling; it brings it to God. The verse bridges confession and observation: having admitted sin, they describe the inner collapse that accompanies outer ruin. They do not ask for stoic strength; they want God to notice their frailty and renew them. It prepares for the next line, where the scene causing this weakness is named plainly: Zion’s mountain lies desolate.

Parallel translations

WEB

World English Bible · 2000

For this our heart is faint; For these things our eyes are dim;

KJV

King James Version · 1611

For this our heart is faint; for these things our eyes are dim.

ASV

American Standard Version · 1901

For this our heart is faint; For these things our eyes are dim;

BBE

Bible in Basic English · 1949

Because of this our hearts are feeble; for these things our eyes are dark;

YLT

Young's Literal Translation · 1862

For this hath our heart been sick, For these have our eyes been dim.

DRA

Douay-Rheims (Challoner) · 1752

Therefore is our heart sorrowful, therefore are our eyes become dim.

DBY

Darby Bible · 1890

For this our heart is faint; for these things our eyes have grown dim,

Context

Following the confession of sin, verse 17 turns to the internal consequences—faintness and dimness. It sets up the specific cause in verse 18, the devastation of Zion itself. By pairing inner collapse with outer desolation, the prayer shows how comprehensive the wound is. This makes the forthcoming contrast with God’s unshaken throne in verse 19 more striking and hope-giving.

v.16The crown is fallen from our head: Woe unto us! for we have sinned.

v.17This passage

v.18For the mountain of Zion, which is desolate: The foxes walk upon it.

Cross references

Related passages from across Scripture, drawn from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge.

  • Lamentations 2:11

    Mine eyes do fail with tears, my heart is troubled; My liver is poured upon the earth, because of the destruction of the daughter of my people, Because the young children and the sucklings swoon in the streets of the city.

  • Lamentations 1:13

    From on high hath he sent fire into my bones, and it prevaileth against them; He hath spread a net for my feet, he hath turned me back: He hath made me desolate and faint all the day.

  • Isaiah 38:14

    Like a swallowora crane, so did I chatter; I did moan as a dove; mine eyes fail with looking upward: O Lord, I am oppressed, be thou my surety.

  • Deuteronomy 28:65

    And among these nations shalt thou find no ease, and there shall be no rest for the sole of thy foot: but Jehovah will give thee there a trembling heart, and failing of eyes, and pining of soul;

  • Job 17:7

    Mine eye also is dim by reason of sorrow, And all my members are as a shadow.

  • Ezekiel 21:7

    And it shall be, when they say unto thee, Wherefore sighest thou? that thou shalt say, Because of the tidings, for it cometh; and every heart shall melt, and all hands shall be feeble, and every spirit shall faint, and all knees shall be weak as water: behold, it cometh, and it shall be done, saith the Lord Jehovah.

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