The priests said not, Where is the LORD? and they that handle the law knew me not: the pastors also transgressed against me, and the prophets prophesied by Baal, and walked after things that do not profit.
Priests ... pastors ... prophets. The three leading classes, whose very office under the theocracy was to lead the people to God, disowned Him in the same language as the nation at large, "Where is the Lord" (see Jeremiah 2:6)?
(1) The priests, whose office it was to expound the law (Malachi 2:6-7). Handle - are occupied with as the subject of their profession.
(2) The pastors: civil, not religious; princes (Jeremiah 3:15) whose duty it was to tend their people.
(3) The prophets, who should have reclaimed the people from their apostasy, encouraged them in it by pretended oracles from Baal, the Phoenician false god.
By Baal - in his name and by his authority (cf. Jeremiah 11:21).
Walked after things ... not profit - answering to "walked after vanity" - i:e., idols (Jeremiah 2:5: cf. Jeremiah 2:11; Habakkuk 2:18).