Jeremiah 23:11

11 The Lord says, "The prophets and the priests are godless; I have caught them doing evil in the Temple itself.

Jeremiah 23:11 Meaning and Commentary

Jeremiah 23:11

For both prophet and priest are profane
Being guilty of the afore mentioned sins. The Targum is,

``the scribe and the priest;''
and such were the scribes and priests in the time of our Lord; they played "the hypocrite" F17, as some render the word here; and are often charged with the sin of hypocrisy, and called hypocrites, ( Matthew 22:18 ) ( Matthew 23:13-15 Matthew 23:23 Matthew 23:25 Matthew 23:27 Matthew 23:29 ) ; yea, in my house have I found their wickedness, saith the Lord;
where they officiated in holy things, or should have done so; where the one should have instructed the people, and the other offered sacrifices for them, according to the will of God; there they committed wickedness, which was an aggravation of their sin, as was the case of Eli's sons, ( 1 Samuel 2:22-24 ) ; perhaps the same sin was committed by these men; or idolatry may be meant; setting up images, and building altars for them in the house of God; see ( Jeremiah 7:30 ) ; or carrying on traffic and merchandise, whereby the temple was made a house of merchandise, as it was in the times of Christ, ( John 2:14-16 ) .
FOOTNOTES:

F17 (wpnx) "hypocritae fuerunt", Vatablus, Montanus; "hypocritas agunt", Piscator; "hypocrisin exercent", Schmidt, Cocceius.

Jeremiah 23:11 In-Context

9 My heart is crushed, and I am trembling. Because of the Lord, because of his holy words, I am like a man who is drunk, someone who has had too much wine.
10 The land is full of people unfaithful to the Lord; they live wicked lives and misuse their power. Because of the Lord's curse the land mourns and the pastures are dry.
11 The Lord says, "The prophets and the priests are godless; I have caught them doing evil in the Temple itself.
12 The paths they follow will be slippery and dark; I will make them stumble and fall. I am going to bring disaster on them; the time of their punishment is coming. I, the Lord, have spoken.
13 I have seen the sin of Samaria's prophets: they have spoken in the name of Baal and have led my people astray.
Scripture taken from the Good News Translation - Second Edition, Copyright 1992 by American Bible Society. Used by Permission.