Lamentations 4:13

13 But this was for the sins of her prophets and the guilt of her priests, who shed the blood of the righteous in her midst.

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 The LORD has exhausted His wrath; He has poured out His fierce anger; He has kindled a fire in Zion, and it has consumed her foundations.

12 The kings of the earth did not believe, nor any people of the world, that an enemy or a foe could enter the gates of Jerusalem.

13 But this was for the sins of her prophets and the guilt of her priests, who shed the blood of the righteous in her midst.

14 They wandered blind in the streets, defiled by this blood, so that no one dared to touch their garments.

15 “Go away! Unclean!” men shouted at them. “Away, away! Do not touch us!” So they fled and wandered. Among the nations it was said, “They can stay here no longer.”