Albert Barnes Commentary Jeremiah 8:18

"Oh that I could comfort myself against sorrow! my heart is faint within me." — Jeremiah 8:18 (ASV)

Rather, “O my comfort in sorrow: my heart faints for me.” The word translated “comfort” is by some supposed to be corrupt. With these mournful exclamations a new strophe begins, ending with (Jeremiah 9:1), in which the prophet mourns over the miserable fate of his countrymen, among whom he had been earnestly laboring, but all in vain.