Jeremiah 14 · Verse 18

Jeremiah 14:18

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.
Jeremiah 14:18, King James Version

Jeremiah 14:18 in other translations

BSBIf I go out to the country, I see those slain by the sword; if I enter the city, I see those ravaged by famine! For both prophet and priest travel to a land they do not know.’”
WEBIf I go out into the field, then behold, the slain with the sword! If I enter into the city, then behold, those who are sick with famine! For both the prophet and the priest go about in the land, and have no knowledge.’”
ASVIf I go forth into the field, then, behold, the slain with the sword! and if I enter into the city, then, behold, they that are sick with famine! for both the prophet and the priest go about in the land, and have no knowledge.
YLTIf I have gone forth to the field, Then, lo, the pierced of the sword! And if I have entered the city, Then, lo, the diseased of famine! For both prophet and priest have gone up and down Unto a land that they knew not.
DARBYIf I go forth into the field, behold the slain with the sword! and if I enter into the city, behold them that pine away with famine! For both prophet and priest shall go about into a land that they know not.
BBEIf I go out into the open country, there are those put to death by the sword! and if I go into the town, there are those who are diseased from need of food! for the prophet and the priest go about in the land and have no knowledge.
WebsterIf 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! yes, both the prophet and the priest go about into a land that they know not.

What does Jeremiah 14:18 mean?

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown
18. go about--that is, shall have to migrate into a land of exile. Horsley translates, "go trafficking about the land (see Jr 5:31, Margin; 2Co 4:2; 2Pe 2:3), and take no knowledge" (that is, pay no regard to the miseries before their eyes) (Is 1:3; 58:3). If the literal sense of the Hebrew verb be retained, I would with English Version understand the words as referring to the exile to Babylon; thus, "the prophet and the priest shall have to go to a strange land to practise their religious traffic (Is 56:11; Eze 34:2, 3; Mi 3:11).

Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown, 1871 · public domain

Adam Clarke's Commentary
Verse 18 If I go forth into the field, then behold the slain with the sword - Every place presents frightful spectacles; the wounded, the dying, the starving, and the slain; none to bury the dead, none to commiserate the dying, none to bring either relief or consolation. Even the prophets and the priests are obliged to leave the cities, and wander about in unfrequented and unknown places, seeking for the necessaries of life. Dr. Blayney thinks that the going about of the prophets and priests of the land, is to be understood thus: - "They went trafficking about with their false doctrines and lying predictions, as peddlers do with their wares, seeking their own gain." I think the other sense preferable.

Adam Clarke, 1831 · public domain

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on Jeremiah 14:17-22

Jeremiah acknowledged his own sins, and those of the people, but pleaded with the Lord to remember his covenant. In their distress none of the idols of the Gentiles could help them, nor could the heavens give rain of themselves. The Lord will always have a people to plead with him at his mercy-seat. He will heal every truly repenting sinner. Should he not see fit to hear our prayers on behalf of our guilty land, he…

Read the full comment on Jeremiah 14:17-22 →

Jeremiah 14:18 in the original Hebrew

Word-by-word with transliteration, English gloss and Strong's number. Tap a number for the full definition and every place the word is used.

אִם\־'im-ifH518
יָצָ֣אתִיya.Tza.tiI went outH3318
הַשָּׂדֶ֗הha.sa.Dehthe fieldH7704
וְהִנֵּה֙ve.hi.Nehand there!H2009
חַלְלֵי\־cha.lei-[those] slain ofH2491
חֶ֔רֶבChe.reva swordH2719
וְאִם֙ve.'Imand ifH518
בָּ֣אתִיBa.tiI wentH935
הָעִ֔ירha.'Irthe cityH5892
וְהִנֵּ֖הve.hi.Nehand there!H2009
תַּחֲלוּאֵ֣יta.cha.lu.'Eidiseases ofH8463
רָעָ֑בra.'AvfamineH7458
כִּֽי\־ki-forH3588
גַם\־gam-bothH1571
נָבִ֧יאna.Vi'prophetH5030
גַם\־gam-as well asH1571
כֹּהֵ֛ןko.HenpriestH3548
סָחֲר֥וּsa.cha.Ruthey have gone aboutH5503
אֶל\־'el-toH413
אֶ֖רֶץ'E.retza landH776
וְלֹ֥אve.Lo'and notH3808
יָדָֽעוּ\׃\ \סya.Da.'uthey knowH3045

Source: STEPBible TAHOT/TAGNT (Tyndale House, CC BY 4.0).

Cross references for Jeremiah 14:18

  • Ezekiel 7:15

    The sword is without, and the pestilence and the famine within: he that is in the field shall die with the sword; and he that is in the city, famine and pestilence shall devour him.

  • Lamentations 1:20

    Behold, O Lord; for I am in distress: my bowels are troubled; mine heart is turned within me; for I have grievously rebelled: abroad the sword bereaveth, at home there is as death.

  • Jeremiah 8:10

    Therefore will I give their wives unto others, and their fields to them that shall inherit them: for every one from the least even unto the greatest is given to covetousness, from the prophet even unto the priest every one dealeth falsely.

  • Jeremiah 52:6-7

    And in the fourth month, in the ninth day of the month, the famine was sore in the city, so that there was no bread for the people of the land. Then the city was broken up, and all the men of war fled, and went forth out of the city by night by the way of the gate between the two walls, which was by the king’s garden; (now the Chaldeans were by the city round about:) and they went by the way of the plain.

  • Jeremiah 6:13

    For from the least of them even unto the greatest of them every one is given to covetousness; and from the prophet even unto the priest every one dealeth falsely.

  • Deuteronomy 28:36

    The Lord shall bring thee, and thy king which thou shalt set over thee, unto a nation which neither thou nor thy fathers have known; and there shalt thou serve other gods, wood and stone.

  • Jeremiah 5:31

    The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests bear rule by their means; and my people love to have it so: and what will ye do in the end thereof?

  • Lamentations 4:13-16

    For the sins of her prophets, and the iniquities of her priests, that have shed the blood of the just in the midst of her, They have wandered as blind men in the streets, they have polluted themselves with blood, so that men could not touch their garments. They cried unto them, Depart ye; it is unclean; depart, depart, touch not: when they fled away and wandered, they said among the heathen, They shall no more sojourn there. The anger of the Lord hath divided them; he will no more regard them: they respected not the persons of the priests, they favoured not the elders.

  • Jeremiah 2:8

    The priests said not, Where is the Lord? and they that handle the law knew me not: the pastors also transgressed against me, and the prophets prophesied by Baal, and walked after things that do not profit.

  • 2 Peter 2:3

    And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you: whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not.

  • Micah 3:11

    The heads thereof judge for reward, and the priests thereof teach for hire, and the prophets thereof divine for money: yet will they lean upon the Lord, and say, Is not the Lord among us? none evil can come upon us.

  • Deuteronomy 28:64

    And the Lord shall scatter thee among all people, from the one end of the earth even unto the other; and there thou shalt serve other gods, which neither thou nor thy fathers have known, even wood and stone.

Ranked by reader votes · OpenBible.info cross references (CC BY).

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
go forth.
52:6,7; La 1:20; 4:9; Eze 7:15
yea.
6:13; 8:10; 23:21; De 28:36,64; Isa 28:7; La 4:13-16
go about, etc. or, make merchandise against a land, and menacknowledge it not.
2:8; 5:31; Mic 3:11; 2Pe 2:3

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (Samuel Bagster, c. 1836) · public domain

Context

  • Jeremiah 14:17

    Therefore thou shalt say this word unto them; Let mine eyes run down with tears night and day, and let them not cease: for the virgin daughter of my people is broken with a great breach, with a very grievous blow.

  • Jeremiah 14:18

    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.

  • Jeremiah 14:19

    Hast thou utterly rejected Judah? hath thy soul lothed Zion? why hast thou smitten us, and there is no healing for us? we looked for peace, and there is no good; and for the time of healing, and behold trouble!

Read all of Jeremiah 14

Jeremiah 14:18 in other languages

Spanish
Reina-Valera 1909
Si salgo al campo, he aquí muertos á cuchillo; y si me entro en la ciudad, he aquí enfermos de hambre: porque también el profeta como el sacerdote anduvieron rodeando en la tierra, y no conocieron.
French
Bible J.N. Darby 1885
Si je sors aux champs, voici des gens tués par l’épée, et si j’entre dans la ville, voici des gens alanguis par la faim; car prophète et sacrificateur s’en iront dans un pays qu’ils ne connaissent pas.
German
Elberfelder 1871
Wenn ich aufs Feld hinausgehe, siehe da, vom Schwert Erschlagene; und wenn ich in die Stadt komme, siehe da, vor Hunger Verschmachtende. Denn sowohl Propheten als Priester ziehen im Lande umher und wissen nicht Rat
Latin
Clementine Vulgate
Si egressus fuero ad agros, ecce occisi gladio: et si introiero in civitatem, ecce attenuati fame. Propheta quoque et sacerdos abierunt in terram quam ignorabant.