Jeremiah 6:13

13 Everyone, great and small, tries to make money dishonestly; even prophets and priests cheat the people.

Jeremiah 6:13 Meaning and Commentary

Jeremiah 6:13

For from the least of them even unto the greatest of them,
&c.] From the least in age to the oldest among them; or rather, from persons of the lowest class of life, and in the meanest circumstances, to those that are in the highest places of trust and honour, and are in the greatest affluence of riches and wealth; so that as men of every age and station had sinned, old and young, high and low, rich and poor, it was but just and right that they should all share in the common calamity: everyone is given to covetousness;
which is mentioned particularly, and instead of other sins, it being the root of evil, and was the prevailing sin among them: from the prophet even unto the priest everyone dealeth falsely;
the false prophet, as Kimchi interprets it, and so the Septuagint and other versions; and the priest of Baal, as the same interpreter; both acted deceitfully; the one in prophesying lies to the people, the other in drawing them off from the pure worship of God. The Targum is,

``from the scribe to the priest;''

from the lowest order of teachers to the highest in ecclesiastical office. The whole shows a most general and dreadful corruption.

Jeremiah 6:13 In-Context

11 Your anger against them burns in me too, Lord, and I can't hold it in any longer." Then the Lord said to me, "Pour out my anger on the children in the streets and on the gatherings of the young people. Husbands and wives will be taken away, and even the very old will not be spared.

12 Their houses will be given to others, and so will their fields and their wives. I am going to punish the people of this land.

13 Everyone, great and small, tries to make money dishonestly; even prophets and priests cheat the people.

14 They act as if my people's wounds were only scratches. "All is well,' they say, when all is not well.

15 Were they ashamed because they did these disgusting things? No, they were not at all ashamed; they don't even know how to blush. And so they will fall as others have fallen; when I punish them, that will be the end of them. I, the Lord, have spoken."