If I go forth into the field, then behold the slain with the sword! and if I enter into the city, then behold them that are sick with famine! yea, both the prophet and the priest go about into a land that they know not.
He confirms the same thing in other words, not on account of the obscurity of what he had said, but because he knew that he was speaking to the deaf, or that such was their sloth, that they needed many goads.
The present deplorable state of Judah and Jerusalem is here made the matter of the prophet's lamentation (Jer 14:17, Jer 14:18) and the occasion of his prayer and intercession for them (Jer 14:19), and I am willing to hope that the latter, as well as the former, was by divine direction, and that these words (Jer 14:17), Thus shalt thou say unto them (or concerning...
Commenting on Jeremiah 14:17-22
If I go forth into the field,.... Without the city, where was the camp of the enemy besieging it then behold the slain with the sword! the sword of the enemy; who by sallying out of the city upon them, or by endeavouring to make their escape into the country, fell into their hands, and were slain by them.