They were like well-fed lusty stallions; Every one neighed 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.
- BSB They are well-fed, lusty stallions, each neighing 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 13:27I have seen your abominations, even your adulteries, and your neighing, the lewdness of your prostitution, on the hills in the field. Woe to you, Jerusalem! You will not be made clean; how long shall it yet be?”
- Ezek 22:11One has committed abomination with his neighbor’s wife; and another has lewdly defiled his daughter-in-law. Another in you has humbled his sister, his father’s daughter.
- Deut 5:18“You shall not commit adultery.
- 2 Sam 11:2–4At evening, David arose from his bed and walked on the roof of the king’s house. From the roof, he saw a woman bathing, and the woman was very beautiful to look at.
- Deut 5:21“You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife. Neither shall you desire your neighbor’s house, his field, or his male servant, or his female servant, his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor’s.”
- Exod 20:14“You shall not commit adultery.
- Gen 39:9No one is greater in this house than I am, and he has not kept back anything from me but you, because you are his wife. How then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?”
- Jer 29:23because they have done foolish things in Israel, and have committed adultery with their neighbors’ wives, and have spoken words in my name falsely, which I didn’t command them. I am he who knows, and am witness,” says Yahweh.
- Exod 20:17“You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor’s.”
- Job 31:9“If my heart has been enticed to a woman, and I have laid wait at my neighbor’s door,
- Matt 5:27–28“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery;’
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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.