Lamentations 4:13

13 It happened because of the sins of her prophets and the offenses of her cohanim, who, within her walls, shed the blood of the righteous.

Lamentations 4:13 Meaning and Commentary

Lamentations 4:13

For the sins of her prophets, [and] the iniquities of her
priests
Aben Ezra interprets this of the prophets of Baal, and the priests of the high places; but though false prophets and wicked priests are meant, yet such as were among the Jews, made choice of and approved of by them: see ( 2 Chronicles 36:14 ) ; not that the people were faultless, but these were the principals, who by their examples led on and encouraged the common people in sin: that have shed the blood of the just in the midst of her;
not the blood of innocent children, sacrificed to them by Moloch; but of good men in general, whom they persecuted and slew; and of the true prophets of the Lord in particular, whose blood they shed; and was the sin that brought on the destruction of their city by the Romans, as well as of that by the Chaldeans; see ( Matthew 23:35-38 ) ( James 5:6 ) .

Lamentations 4:13 In-Context

11 ADONAI has finished with his fury, he has poured out his blazing wrath; he kindled a fire in Tziyon that consumed its very foundations.

12 The kings of the earth could not believe, neither could anyone living in the world, that enemy or foe would ever enter the gates of Yerushalayim.

13 It happened because of the sins of her prophets and the offenses of her cohanim, who, within her walls, shed the blood of the righteous.

14 They wander in the streets like the blind; they are so polluted with blood that nobody is able even to touch their clothing.

15 "Keep away! Unclean!" people shout at them, "Keep away! Away! Don't touch us!"They flee, to wander here and there; but no nation allows them to stay.