Charles Ellicott Commentary 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, they that are sick with famine! for both the prophet and the priest go about in the land, and have no knowledge." — Jeremiah 14:18 (ASV)

Those who are sick with famine. — Literally, with an even more terrible force, as summing all individual sufferings in one collective unity, the sickness of famine—the pestilence that follows starvation.

Go about into a land that they do not know. — Literally, they go about (as in Genesis 34:10, where the Authorized Version has “trade”) in a land and know not, that is, they do not know where they are going—meaning they are in a land of exile, and do not know where to find a home, or where they may be dragged next—or, perhaps, as some commentators suggest, they learn no wisdom from their bitter experience. There is no adequate ground for the rendering in the margin, which, moreover, gives no satisfactory meaning.