Because of this our heart is faint, Because of these things our eyes are dim;
Parallel translations
- WEB For this our heart is faint; For these things our eyes are dim;
- KJV For this our heart is faint; for these things our eyes are dim.
- BSB Because of this, our hearts are faint; because of these, our eyes grow dim—
- NKJV Because of this our heart is faint; Because of these things our eyes grow dim;
- NLT Our hearts are sick and weary, and our eyes grow dim with tears.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Because of all this their hearts are faint and their eyes grow dim with sorrow. The weight of grief overwhelms them inwardly.
Overview
The poet describes a heart sickened and eyes dimmed by ceaseless weeping over Zion's ruin—the inner exhaustion that accompanies prolonged suffering. This honest expression of despair is voiced not away from God but toward Him. It models how faith can bring even its faintness to the Lord, who is near to the brokenhearted (Psalm 34:18).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 16
- Isa 1:5Why should you be beaten more, that you revolt more and more? The whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint.
- Ps 6:7My eye wastes away because of grief. It grows old because of all my adversaries.
- Job 17:7My eye also is dim by reason of sorrow. All my members are as a shadow.
- Lam 2:11My eyes fail with tears, my heart is troubled; My liver is poured on the earth, because of the destruction of the daughter of my people, Because the young children and the infants swoon in the streets of the city.
- Isa 38:14I chattered like a swallow or a crane. I moaned like a dove. My eyes weaken looking upward. Lord, I am oppressed. Be my security.”
- Mic 6:13Therefore I also have struck you with a grievous wound. I have made you desolate because of your sins.
- Lam 1:22“Let all their wickedness come before you; Do to them as you have done to me for all my transgressions. For my sighs are many, and my heart is faint.
- Deut 28:65Among these nations you will find no ease, and there will be no rest for the sole of your foot; but Yahweh will give you there a trembling heart, failing of eyes, and pining of soul.
- Ezek 21:15I have set the threatening sword against all their gates, that their heart may melt, and their stumblings be multiplied. Ah! It is made as lightning. It is pointed for slaughter.
- Lev 26:36“‘As for those of you who are left, I will send a faintness into their hearts in the lands of their enemies. The sound of a driven leaf will put them to flight; and they shall flee, as one flees from the sword. They will fall when no one pursues.
- Ps 31:9Have mercy on me, Yahweh, for I am in distress. My eye, my soul, and my body waste away with grief.
- Ezek 21:7It shall be, when they ask you, ‘Why do you sigh?’ that you shall say, ‘Because of the news, for it comes! Every heart will melt, all hands will be feeble, every spirit will faint, and all knees will be weak as water. Behold, it comes, and it shall be done, says the Lord Yahweh.’”
- Ps 69:3I am weary with my crying. My throat is dry. My eyes fail, looking for my God.
- Jer 8:18Oh that I could comfort myself against sorrow! My heart is faint within me.
- Lam 1:13“From on high has he sent fire into my bones, and it prevails against them; He has spread a net for my feet. He has turned me back. He has made me desolate and faint all day long.
- Jer 46:5Why have I seen it? They are dismayed and are turned backward. Their mighty ones are beaten down, have fled in haste, and don’t look back. Terror is on every side,” says Yahweh.
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Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
The weeping over a ruined city and the steadfast mercies that are new every morning point to the man of sorrows who wept over Jerusalem and whose mercy rises new from the grave.
How Lamentations 5:17 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.