If I go forth into the fields, behold the slain with the sword: and if I enter into the city, behold them that are consumed with famine. The prophet also and the priest are gone into a land which they knew not.

“Here he takes his argument from the prophets' foretelling. And first the prophet's plea is set down: "Ah, ah, ah," for the threefold punishment which he had just touched upon. The prophets: false ones. The peace: true, lasting, and not feigned by the enemies. Above, ch. 4: "Have you then deceived this people, and Jerusalem, saying: Peace shall be to you? And behold, the sword has reached even to the soul." Second, the Lord's answer is set down: "And the Lord said." And first he shows the falsity of the prophets as to the action which they take upon themselves: "I did not send" — to carry it out; "I did not command" — by enjoining the office; "nor have I spoken" — by inspiring the gift of prophecy. Below, ch. 23: "I did not send the prophets, and they ran; I did not speak to them, and they prophesied." And as to the peace which they preached: "a lying vision," "a seduction of the heart," that is, words devised to seduce. Ezekiel 13: "They see vain things, and divine a lie, saying — says the Lord — when the Lord has not sent them." Second, he threatens punishment both to the prophets who preach and to the people who believe: "therefore thus says the Lord." Isaiah 9: "They who call this people blessed shall be seducers, and they who are called blessed shall be cast down headlong." Third, the prophet's compassion for the people is announced: "and you shall say to them: let my eyes (or: your eyes) let fall a tear." And thus a lament of repentance is enjoined. Lamentations 2: "Let tears run down like a torrent." The reason for this is assigned: "with a breaking" — because of the multitude of the slain; "most grievous" — because of incorrigibility; "vehemently" — because of its continuance. Isaiah 30: "I will break them in pieces as the potter's vessel is broken, with a very strong breaking." And he assigns the manner of the breaking, as to the punishment of slaughter: "if I go out," outwardly; and "if I enter in," by reflection. Lamentations 1: "Outside the sword shall slay them, and within, terror; the young man together with the virgin, the suckling with the old man." As to the captivity, the prophet too. Above, ch. 9: "I will utterly destroy them among the nations which they have not known, neither they nor their fathers."”

“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. And if I enter into the city; the city of Jerusalem: then behold them that are sick with the famine! just ready to die, being starved for want of provisions; and multitudes dead, and their carcasses lying in the streets unburied; the prophet does not make mention of the dead indeed, only of the sick with famine; the reason of which, Kimchi says, is because the sick were more than the dead. Yea, both the prophet and the priest go about into a land that they knew not; into the land of Chaldea, a strange and foreign country, whither they were carried captive, both in the times of Jehoiakim and of Zedekiah, and whither they might go in ways far about: and this seems to be understood of false prophets and wicked priests, that had led the people about, and had caused them to wander from the ways of God and his worship; and therefore, in righteous retaliation, they are led in round about ways to a land unknown to them: though some think that the true prophets and priests of the Lord may be meant, as Ezekiel and Daniel, who were carried captive into Babylon: others interpret them of such going about in the land of Judea seeking for bread and water, or food in the time of the famine; but they know not (q), as the last clause may be literally rendered, that is, men know them not, take no notice of them, show no regard to them, and give them no relief; the famine being so sore, that everyone was for himself, and could afford no help to others, even to the prophets and priests. Some render the words, "yea, the priest and the prophet make merchandise against the land"; or, "through the lands" (r); by deceiving the people with their false prophecies: or rather, go about the land making merchandise (s); of the souls of men; see Pe2 2:3, making a gain of their visions and prophecies: and they know not; the people are not aware of their deception and falsehood. The Targum is, "for even the scribe and the priest are turned to their own negotiations or merchandises, to that which is in the land, neither do they inquire;'' they minded their own affairs, and inquired not for, nor sought after, the people's good. (q) "et non agnoverunt, Supple, ulli eos", De Dieu. (r) "nundinantur contra terram", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator; "mercaturam exercuerunt per terram", Cocceius. (s) "est circuire terram negotiandi causa", Grotius.”

“go about--that is, shall have to migrate into a land of exile. HORSLEY translates, "go trafficking about the land (see Jer 5:31, Margin; Co2 4:2; Pe2 2:3), and take no knowledge" (that is, pay no regard to the miseries before their eyes) (Isa 1:3; Isa 58:3). If the 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 (Isa 56:11; Eze 34:2-3; Mic 3:11).”