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.
Parallel translations
- WEB It is because of the sins of her prophets, and the iniquities of her priests, That have shed the blood of the just in the middle of her.
- KJV For the sins of her prophets, and the iniquities of her priests, that have shed the blood of the just in the midst of her,
- NKJV Because of the sins of her prophets And the iniquities of her priests, Who shed in her midst The blood of the just.
- NASB Because of the sins of her prophets And the wrongdoings of her priests, Who have shed in her midst The blood of the righteous,
- NLT Yet it happened because of the sins of her prophets and the sins of her priests, who defiled the city by shedding innocent blood.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
The catastrophe came because of the sins of Jerusalem's prophets and priests, who shed innocent blood.
Overview
The poet names the corruption of the spiritual leaders as a chief cause of the disaster. False prophets and unfaithful priests had shed righteous blood in the city. This indictment of corrupt leadership underscores the seriousness of leading God's people astray and heightens the need for the faithful Prophet and Priest, Jesus Christ (Heb. 7:26-27; Matt. 23:35).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 15
- Jer 5:31The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests rule by their own authority. My people love it so, but what will you do in the end?
- Jer 6:13“For from the least of them to the greatest, all are greedy for gain; from prophet to priest, all practice deceit.
- Jer 26:8–9and as soon as he had finished telling all the people everything the LORD had commanded him to say, the priests and prophets and all the people seized him, shouting, “You must surely die!
- Lam 2:14The visions of your prophets were empty and deceptive; they did not expose your guilt to ward off your captivity. The burdens they envisioned for you were empty and misleading.
- Matt 23:31So you testify against yourselves that you are the sons of those who murdered the prophets.
- Ezek 22:26–28Her priests do violence to My law and profane My holy things. They make no distinction between the holy and the common, and they fail to distinguish between the clean and the unclean. They disregard My Sabbaths, so that I am profaned among them.
- Matt 23:33–37You snakes! You brood of vipers! How will you escape the sentence of hell?
- 1 Th 2:15–16who killed both the Lord Jesus and their own prophets, and drove us out as well. They are displeasing to God and hostile to all men,
- Jer 14:14“The prophets are prophesying lies in My name,” replied the LORD. “I did not send them or appoint them or speak to them. They are prophesying to you a false vision, a worthless divination, the futility and delusion of their own minds.
- Luke 11:47–51Woe to you! You build tombs for the prophets, but it was your fathers who killed them.
- Jer 23:11–21“For both prophet and priest are ungodly; even in My house I have found their wickedness,” declares the LORD.
- Mic 3:11–12Her leaders judge for a bribe, her priests teach for a price, and her prophets practice divination for money. Yet they lean upon the LORD, saying, “Is not the LORD among us? No disaster can come upon us.”
- Acts 7:52Which of the prophets did your fathers fail to persecute? They even killed those who foretold the coming of the Righteous One. And now you are His betrayers and murderers—
- Jer 2:20“For long ago you broke your yoke and tore off your chains, saying, ‘I will not serve!’ Indeed, on every high hill and under every green tree you lay down as a prostitute.
- Zeph 3:3–4Her princes are roaring lions; her judges are evening wolves, leaving nothing for the morning.
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Christ at the center
The weeping over a ruined city and the steadfast mercies that are new every morning point to the man of sorrows who wept over Jerusalem and whose mercy rises new from the grave.
How Lamentations 4:13 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.