Charles Spurgeon Commentary Jeremiah 14:17-18

"And 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 wound. 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 14:17-18 (ASV)

So God told Jeremiah that he could go and tell the people that he would weep continually for them. The faithful and sympathetic prophet was allowed constantly to shed tears on their behalf and to feel great distress of soul, because everywhere he saw signs of the heavy hand of God resting upon the guilty people.

If they went outside the city, the Chaldeans struck them down with the sword; and if they stayed inside, they perished by famine; or those who did not die were carried away captive into a land that they did not know.

What is Jeremiah to do in such a case as this? He is told that he must not pray for the people, and God seems determined to strike them. What can love do when even the gates of prayer are ordered to be closed?

Notice how, after he is told that he must not pray, he edges his way up towards the throne of grace and, at last, he does what he is told not to do. He begins as follows: