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Jeremiah 6:13

“For from their least even to their greatest, everyone is given to covetousness. From the prophet even to the priest, everyone deals falsely.

World English Bible · Public Domain

Parallel Translations

  • WEB World English Bible

    “For from their least even to their greatest, everyone is given to covetousness. From the prophet even to the priest, everyone deals falsely.

  • KJV King James Version

    For from the least of them even unto the greatest of them every one is given to covetousness; and from the prophet even unto the priest every one dealeth falsely.

  • JPS JPS Tanakh (1917)

    For from the least of them even unto the greatest of them every one is greedy for gain; and from the prophet even unto the priest every one dealeth falsely.

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Cross-references (26)

Passages linked to Jeremiah 6:13 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.

  • Jeremiah 23:11 for both prophet and priest are profane. Yes, in my house I have found their wickedness,” says Yahweh.
  • Jeremiah 8:10 Therefore I will give their wives to others and their fields to those who will possess them. For everyone from the least even to the greatest is given to covetousness; from the prophet even to the priest everyone deals falsely.
  • Micah 3:11 Her leaders judge for bribes, and her priests teach for a price, and her prophets of it tell fortunes for money: yet they lean on Yahweh, and say, “Isn’t Yahweh among us? No disaster will come on us.”
  • Jeremiah 22:17 But your eyes and your heart are only for your covetousness, for shedding innocent blood, for oppression, and for doing violence.”
  • Micah 3:2-3 You who hate the good, and love the evil; who tear off their skin, and their flesh from off their bones; who also eat the flesh of my people, and peel their skin from off them, and break their bones, and chop them in pieces, as for the pot, and as meat within the cauldron.
  • Isaiah 57:17 I was angry because of the iniquity of his covetousness and struck him. I hid myself and was angry; and he went on backsliding in the way of his heart.
  • Jeremiah 5:31 The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests rule by their own authority; and my people love to have it so. What will you do in the end of it?
  • Jeremiah 14:18 If I go out into the field, then, behold, the slain with the sword! If I enter into the city, then, behold, those who are sick with famine! For both the prophet and the priest go about in the land, and have no knowledge.’ ”
  • Ezekiel 22:25-28 There is a conspiracy of her prophets within it, like a roaring lion ravening the prey. They have devoured souls. They take treasure and precious things. They have made many widows within it. Her priests have done violence to my law, and have profaned my holy things. They have made no distinction between the holy and the common, neither have they caused men to discern between the unclean and the clean, and have hidden their eyes from my Sabbaths. So I am profaned among them. Her princes within it are like wolves ravening the prey, to shed blood, and to destroy souls, that they may get dishonest gain. Her prophets have plastered for them with whitewash, seeing false visions, and divining lies to them, saying, ‘The Lord Yahweh says,’ when Yahweh has not spoken.
  • Micah 3:5 Yahweh says concerning the prophets who lead my people astray; for those who feed their teeth, they proclaim, “Peace!” and whoever doesn’t provide for their mouths, they prepare war against him:
  • Zephaniah 3:3-4 Her princes within her are roaring lions. Her judges are evening wolves. They leave nothing until the next day. Her prophets are arrogant and treacherous people. Her priests have profaned the sanctuary. They have done violence to the law.
  • Isaiah 28:7 They also reel with wine, and stagger with strong drink. The priest and the prophet reel with strong drink. They are swallowed up by wine. They stagger with strong drink. They err in vision. They stumble in judgment.
  • Isaiah 56:9-12 All you animals of the field, come to devour, all you animals in the forest. His watchmen are blind. They are all without knowledge. They are all mute dogs. They can’t bark— dreaming, lying down, loving to slumber. Yes, the dogs are greedy. They can never have enough. They are shepherds who can’t understand. They have all turned to their own way, each one to his gain, from every quarter. “Come,” say they, “I will get wine, and we will fill ourselves with strong drink; and tomorrow will be as today, great beyond measure.”
  • Jeremiah 2:8 The priests didn’t say, ‘Where is Yahweh?’ and those who handle the law didn’t know me. The rulers also transgressed against me, and the prophets prophesied by Baal and followed things that do not profit.
  • Jeremiah 2:26 As the thief is ashamed when he is found, so the house of Israel is ashamed: they, their kings, their princes, their priests, and their prophets,
  • Jeremiah 23:14-15 In the prophets of Jerusalem I have also seen a horrible thing: they commit adultery and walk in lies. They strengthen the hands of evildoers, so that no one returns from his wickedness. They have all become to me as Sodom, and its inhabitants as Gomorrah.” Therefore Yahweh of Armies says concerning the prophets: “Behold, I will feed them with wormwood, and make them drink poisoned water; for from the prophets of Jerusalem ungodliness has gone out into all the land.”
  • Jeremiah 26:7-8 The priests and the prophets and all the people heard Jeremiah speaking these words in Yahweh’s house. When Jeremiah had finished speaking all that Yahweh had commanded him to speak to all the people, the priests and the prophets and all the people seized him, saying, “You shall surely die!
  • Jeremiah 32:32 because of all the evil of the children of Israel and of the children of Judah, which they have done to provoke me to anger: they, their kings, their princes, their priests, their prophets, the men of Judah, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
  • Lamentations 4:13 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.
  • Ezekiel 22:12 In you have they taken bribes to shed blood. You have taken interest and increase, and you have greedily gained of your neighbors by oppression, and have forgotten me,” says the Lord Yahweh.
  • Ezekiel 33:31 They come to you as the people come, and they sit before you as my people, and they hear your words, but don’t do them; for with their mouth they show much love, but their heart goes after their gain.
  • Micah 2:1-2 Woe to those who devise iniquity and work evil on their beds! When the morning is light, they practice it, because it is in the power of their hand. They covet fields, and seize them; and houses, and take them away: and they oppress a man and his house, even a man and his heritage.
  • Luke 16:14 The Pharisees, who were lovers of money, also heard all these things, and they scoffed at him.
  • 1 Timothy 3:3 not a drinker, not violent, not greedy for money, but gentle, not quarrelsome, not covetous;
  • 2 Peter 2:3 In covetousness they will exploit you with deceptive words: whose sentence now from of old doesn’t linger, and their destruction will not slumber.
  • 2 Peter 2:14-15 having eyes full of adultery, and who can’t cease from sin; enticing unsettled souls; having a heart trained in greed; children of cursing; forsaking the right way, they went astray, having followed the way of Balaam the son of Beor, who loved the wages of wrongdoing;

Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)

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Explain this verse (14 sources)

Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.

John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain The Prophet now again declares, that it was nothing…

The Prophet now again declares, that it was nothing strange that God resolved to deal with so much severity with that people, and to execute on them extreme vengeance; for no part was whole and sound, but impiety had pervaded all ranks. It might, indeed, be ascribed to the young, as well as to the old, for he says, From the small to the great; but I prefer to understand the first clause of the poor and the lower orders, and the second of the higher ranks, who excelled in power and wealth among the people. He says, then, that contempt of God and every kind of wickedness prevailed, not only in one part but in the whole community, so that there was no soundness from the head to the soles of the feet. We now, then, perceive what the Prophet means by saying, From the small to the great

And this appears still clearer from the end of the verse, where he says, From the prophet to the priest He amplifies here what he had said of the small and the great. Hence we see, that by the great he understands not those of mature or advanced age, but such as were in dignity and honor, who were in esteem on account of their wealth or of other endowments. So also, on the other hand, he does not call those small who were young, but such as were despised, who were of the lowest order, and formed as it were the dregs of society: for as I have said, he amplifies what he had said, by adducing the prophets and the priests. Even though the king and his court were extremely wicked, yet some care for religion ought to have prevailed among the prophets and the priests; there ought at least to have been among them some decency; for they were appointed for the purpose of carrying light for others. As, then, even these were apostates, and had degenerated from the true worship of God, what could have been found among the rest of the people?

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We now, then, see that the mouth of the ungodly was here closed, so that they could not expostulate with God or blame his severity, for they had all arrived at the highest pitch of impiety, inasmuch as the prophets and the priests were no less corrupt than the common people.

By saying that all coveted covetousness, he refers to frauds and base gain; in that he includes every kind of avariciousness. By saying that the priests and the prophets wrought falsehood, or acted fraudulently, he means the same thing, but in other words, even that there was no integrity in those teachers who ought to have been leaders to the blind: for God had ordained them that they might, as I have said, carry light to all others and shew them the way of salvation. It follows —

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Jer 6:13 For from the least of them even…
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain From the least of them; not respecting so much…
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain For from the least of them even unto the…
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain Falsely - Hebrew. doing falsehood, as if that were…
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Jer 6:13-15. For, from the least of them, &c.…
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain Given to covetousness - literally, everyone has gained gains.…
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain Prophet. Septuagint, "false prophet," chap. iv. 31. (Haydock)
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain (Jer 8:10; Isa 56:11; Mic 3:11).
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 13. from the least of them even unto the…
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (13) Is given to covetousness.—Literally, gained gain. The Hebrew…
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain Given to covetousness; literally, gaineth gain; but the word…
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 that from the least to the greatest, all of…
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 6:13 The people were so ruled by greed that…

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