And hold themselves not guilty— And repent not, or are not ashamed. See Jeremiah 2:3; Jeremiah 50:7. Hosea 5:15. The Romans are here referred to, who, at the time of the coming of the great Shepherd of the sheep, the Messiah, had reduced the Jews under their power, whom they bought and sold as they pleased. By their own shepherds are meant the chief priests and rulers of the Jews, who shed, without remorse, the blood of their flock in their civil contests.
Blessed be the Lord; for I am rich— That is, they hypocritically and impiously pretend to return God thanks for having put it in their power to acquire riches by such ungodly means.