They are well-fed, lusty stallions, each neighing after his neighbor’s wife.
Parallel translations
- WEB They were as fed horses roaming at large: everyone neighed after his neighbor’s wife.
- KJV They were as fed horses in the morning: every one neighed after his neighbour’s wife.
- NKJV They were like well-fed lusty stallions; Every one neighed after his neighbor’s wife.
- NASB “They were well-fed lusty horses, Each one neighing at his neighbor’s wife.
- NLT They are well-fed, lusty stallions, each neighing for his neighbor’s wife.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
David designates the water shaft as the way to take the city and answers the Jebusites' taunt about the blind and lame. The verse is partly obscure and explains a later proverb.
Overview
David offers his men a route to the city, apparently through the water system, and his words turn the Jebusites' mocking taunt back on them, giving rise to a saying about the blind and the lame. The exact sense of the Hebrew is debated among faithful interpreters, and translations differ on whom David despises. What is clear is that David overcomes the proud defenders and secures Jerusalem as his royal city.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 11
- Jer 13:27Your adulteries and lustful neighings, your shameless prostitution on the hills and in the fields—I have seen your detestable acts. Woe to you, O Jerusalem! How long will you remain unclean?”
- Ezek 22:11One man commits an abomination with his neighbor’s wife; another wickedly defiles his daughter-in-law; and yet another violates his sister, his own father’s daughter.
- Deut 5:18You shall not commit adultery.
- 2 Sam 11:2–4One evening David got up from his bed and strolled around on the roof of the palace. And from the roof he saw a woman bathing—a very beautiful woman.
- Deut 5:21You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife. You shall not covet your neighbor’s house or field, or his manservant or maidservant, or his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.”
- Exod 20:14You shall not commit adultery.
- Gen 39:9No one in this house is greater than I am. He has withheld nothing from me except you, because you are his wife. So how could I do such a great evil and sin against God?”
- Jer 29:23For they have committed an outrage in Israel by committing adultery with the wives of their neighbors and speaking lies in My name, which I did not command them to do. I am He who knows, and I am a witness, declares the LORD.”
- Exod 20:17You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his manservant or maidservant, or his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.”
- Job 31:9If my heart has been enticed by my neighbor’s wife, or I have lurked at his door,
- Matt 5:27–28You have heard that it was said, ‘Do not commit adultery.’
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
Against the failure of false shepherds Jeremiah promises the Righteous Branch, 'The LORD our righteousness,' and the new covenant written on the heart and sealed in the blood of Christ.
How Jeremiah 5:8 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.