What is the meaning of Lamentations 5:17?

Because of this

Jeremiah is pointing back to the ruins, famine, and humiliation described in Lamentations 5:1–16.

• The “this” covers burned gates (5:10), ravaged women (5:11), disgraced elders (5:12), and orphaned children (5:3).

• God had warned that covenant disobedience would bring exactly these curses (Deuteronomy 28:15–68), and now every warning has come true.

• Seeing prophecy fulfilled in judgment reminds us that the Lord’s word stands unchanged, just as Isaiah 40:8 and Matthew 24:35 affirm.

---

our hearts are faint

• “Faint” pictures inner collapse—courage drained, resolve gone (Psalm 61:2; Ezekiel 21:7).

• Sin has emotional consequences; when fellowship with the Lord is broken, spiritual vitality withers (Psalm 32:3–4).

• Yet even here there is a hint of hope: God notices crushed hearts (Psalm 34:18) and revives the contrite (Isaiah 57:15).

---

because of these

• The plural shifts attention from one specific loss to a pileup of sorrows—ruined land, enemy scorn, and God-withdrawn glory (Lamentations 2:15; 4:1).

• Repetition underscores accountability: Judah cannot blame chance or fate; “these” are covenant outcomes (Leviticus 26:27–39).

• The phrase invites honest inventory of personal sins that produce corporate pain, echoing Daniel 9:5–13.

---

our eyes grow dim—

• Dim eyes portray grief so deep it clouds sight (Psalm 6:7; Job 17:7).

• Tears mingle with shock at the temple’s desolation (Lamentations 2:11, 18; 5:18), and eyesight weakens from hunger and sorrow (1 Samuel 14:29).

• In Scripture, darkened vision can also signal spiritual dullness (Isaiah 6:10), yet God promises renewed sight when repentance comes (Isaiah 35:5).

---

summary

Lamentations 5:17 captures the cause-and-effect rhythm of covenant life: disobedience ushers in devastation, and devastation drains both heart and sight. The verse traces a straight line from sin-produced calamity (“because of this/these”) to personal collapse (“our hearts are faint…our eyes grow dim”). Even so, the God who fulfilled His warnings invites the faint-hearted and dim-eyed back to Himself, ready to restore those who return in humble repentance.