Jeremiah 5:8

8 They were as fed horses in the morning; each one neighed after his neighbour’s wife.

Jeremiah 5:8 Meaning and Commentary

Jeremiah 5:8

They were as fed horses in the morning
Adulterers are compared to horses, because they are very salacious and lustful creatures; wherefore the Septuagint renders the word: "horses are become mad after the females"; or, "as horses mad after the females are they become"; and especially to such as are well kept and are fat, and who, having much food given them in the night, and being full in the morning, go forth neighing, as Kimchi observes; and are the more salacious in the morning, by being so well fed all night, as those persons were, as is expressed in the preceding verse; though some render the word (Mykvm) , translated "in the morning", (for which sense of it see ( Hosea 6:4 ) ) "drawing out" F21; that is, the genital member, as lascivious horses do. The word is difficult of interpretation. The Targum calls them field or wood horses; horses that run in fields and woods, and are very vicious and wanton:, everyone neighed after his neighbour's wife;
coveted and lusted after her, signified his lustful desires, and sought an opportunity to defile her. Neighing is a sign of lust, and keeps up the metaphor of the horse.


FOOTNOTES:

F21 (elkontev) , "trahentes", Aquila, Symmachus & Theodotion in Bootius, l. 3. c. 5. sect. 3. Aben Ezra and Abendana interpret it of horses that come from Meshec; see Psal. cxx. 5. which were the strongest and most lascivious.

Jeremiah 5:8 In-Context

6 Therefore a lion out of the forest shall slay them, and a wolf of the desert shall destroy them and a tiger shall lie in wait over their cities; anyone that goes out from there shall be torn in pieces because their rebellions have been multiplied, and their backslidings are increased.
7 How shall I pardon thee for this? Thy sons have forsaken me and sworn by them that are not gods: when I had fed them to the full, they then committed adultery and assembled themselves by troops in the harlots’ houses.
8 They were as fed horses in the morning; each one neighed after his neighbour’s wife.
9 Shall I not visit for these things? said the LORD; and shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?
10 Go ye up upon her walls and destroy; but make not a full end; take away her battlements for they are not the LORD’s.
The Jubilee Bible (from the Scriptures of the Reformation), edited by Russell M. Stendal, Copyright © 2000, 2001, 2010