In you they take bribes to shed blood; you take interest and profit and make gain of your neighbors by extortion; but me you have forgotten, declares the Lord GOD.
In these verses the prophet by a commission from Heaven sits as a judge upon the bench, and Jerusalem is made to hold up her hand as a prisoner at the bar; and, if prophets were set over other nations, much more over God's nation, Jer 1:10. This prophet is authorized to judge the bloody city, the city of bloods.
Commenting on Ezekiel 22:1-16
In thee have they taken gifts to shed blood..... Innocent blood, as the Targum; judges upon the bench, whose office it is to take the part of the innocent, and clear him from unjust charges; and protect him from the violence of wicked and unreasonable men; that lay things to his charge, which, if true, would require blood; and yet men in such offices took...
forgotten me-- (Deu 32:18; Jer 2:32; Jer 3:21).