In thee are men that carry tales to shed blood: and in thee they eat upon the mountains: in the midst of thee they commit lewdness.
Ver. 9. In thee are men that carry tales.] Heb., Men of slanders. Exo 23:1 Lev 18:16 Whisperers, backbiters, tale bearers - pedlars, the Hebrew word, signifieth such as drop a tale here and another there - are viri latrones, thieves, as the Septuagint here translate, yea, they are murderers. The devil was first a slanderer, and then a murderer. His agents first take away the credit of the Church, and then wound her. Son 5:6 The primitive Christians were first belied, and then cruelly handled; so were the French Protestants before the massacre of Paris. Humphry, Duke of Gloucester was by the people of England, notwithstanding the open showing of his body, and his pretended crimes, thought to be doubly murdered - viz., by detraction and deadly practice - saith the chronicler.