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

LAMENTATIONS 5:17KJV
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Lamentations 5:17 (KJV)

What does Lamentations 5:17 mean?

Lamentations 5:17 describes deep sorrow and exhaustion: the people’s hearts are weak and overwhelmed, and their eyes are dim with grief. The verse expresses how suffering has drained both their inner strength and their ability to see hope.

The speaker is the community of Jerusalem, mourning after the city’s destruction and the hardships that followed. This verse is part of a prayer describing the emotional and physical toll of their suffering, showing how loss and devastation have left them weary and unable to find comfort.

The Hebrew behind Lamentations 5:17

  • heart (לֵבָב, levav): This word often refers to the center of a person’s inner life—thoughts, emotions, and will. Here, it highlights that the people’s deepest selves are affected, not just their outward circumstances.
  • faint (דָּוֶה, daveh): This word means “weak,” “sick,” or “faint.” It suggests more than tiredness; it carries the sense of being worn down to the point of despair.
  • eyes (עַיִן, ayin): In Hebrew thought, the eyes can represent perception or hope. Dim eyes (see next bullet) suggest not just physical exhaustion but also a fading of vision or hope.
  • dim (חָשַׁךְ, chashakh): This word means “darkened” or “growing faint.” It paints a picture of eyes clouded by tears or sorrow, unable to see clearly—symbolizing deep grief.

Why Lamentations 5:17 matters

  • Lamentations 5:17 shows that grief can affect both the heart (inner life) and the eyes (outlook or hope), not just the body.
  • The verse connects personal suffering with the wider destruction of Jerusalem, making the pain communal and deeply felt.
  • This verse helps readers understand the depth of despair in Lamentations, where sorrow is not just a feeling but a total experience affecting every part of life.

Where else these words appear

“faint” Hebrew H1739 · used in 5 verses

  • Leviticus 15:33 And of her that is sick of her flowers, and of him that hath an issue, of the man, and of the woman, and of him that lieth with her that is unclean.
  • Leviticus 20:18 And if a man shall lie with a woman having her sickness, and shall uncover her nakedness; he hath discovered her fountain, and she hath uncovered the fountain of her blood: and both of them shall be cut off from among their people.
  • Isaiah 30:22 Ye shall defile also the covering of thy graven images of silver, and the ornament of thy molten images of gold: thou shalt cast them away as a menstruous cloth; thou shalt say unto it, Get thee hence.

“dim” Hebrew H2821 · used in 18 verses

  • Exodus 10:15 For they covered the face of the whole earth, so that the land was darkened; and they did eat every herb of the land, and all the fruit of the trees which the hail had left: and there remained not any green thing in the trees, or in the herbs of the field, through all the land of Egypt.
  • Psalms 105:28 He sent darkness, and made it dark; and they rebelled not against his word.
  • Jeremiah 13:16 Give glory to the LORD your God, before he cause darkness, and before your feet stumble upon the dark mountains, and, while ye look for light, he turn it into the shadow of death, and make it gross darkness.