They wandered blind in the streets, defiled by this blood, so that no one dared to touch their garments.
They who simply read, that the blind had wandered, deduce this meaning, that the blind were polluted in the streets, even because there was filth everywhere. They, indeed, come near to the meaning of the Prophet, but they do not clearly explain what he intended. I regard it therefore beyond dispute, that the people are here compared to the blind, but it does not yet appear for what purpose.
We have here, I. The sins they were charged with, for which God brought this destruction upon them, and which served to justify God in it (Lam 4:13, Lam 4:14): It is for the sins of her prophets, and the iniquities of her priests.
Commenting on Lamentations 4:13-20
They have wandered as blind men in the streets,.... That is, the false prophets and wicked priests; and may be understood either literally, that when the city was taken, and they fled, they were like blind men, and knew not which way to go to make their escape, but wandered from place to place, and could find no way out; or spiritually, though they pretended...