The Meaning of Jeremiah 5:8 Explained

Jeremiah 5:8

KJV: They were as fed horses in the morning: every one neighed after his neighbour's wife.

YLT: Fed horses -- they have been early risers, Each to the wife of his neighbour they neigh.

Darby: As well fed horses, they roam about, every one neigheth after his neighbour's wife.

ASV: They were as fed horses roaming at large; every one neighed after his neighbor's wife.

KJV Reverse Interlinear

They were [as] fed  horses  in the morning:  every one  neighed  after his neighbour's  wife. 

What does Jeremiah 5:8 Mean?

Verse Meaning

They were like well-fed stallions that used their strength to pursue illegitimate mates-even their neighbors" wives. Spiritual adultery led to physical adultery.
"They used their affluence for sin. Does that sound familiar? Consider modern dramas, novels, movies, painting, sculpture. In the midst of the affluent society often the artist"s answer is a call to the hedonistic life." [1]

Chapter Summary: Jeremiah 5

1  The judgments of God upon the people, for their perverseness;
7  for their adultery;
10  for their impiety;
15  for their worship of idols;
19  for their contempt of God;
25  and for their great corruption in the civil state;
30  and ecclesiastical

What do the individual words in Jeremiah 5:8 mean?

[like] stallions lusty well-fed they were every one after wife of his neighbor neighed
סוּסִ֥ים מְיֻזָּנִ֖ים מַשְׁכִּ֣ים הָי֑וּ אִ֛ישׁ אֶל־ אֵ֥שֶׁת רֵעֵ֖הוּ יִצְהָֽלוּ

סוּסִ֥ים  [like]  stallions 
Parse: Noun, masculine plural
Root: סוּס 
Sense: swallow, swift.
מְיֻזָּנִ֖ים  lusty 
Parse: Verb, Pual, Participle, masculine plural
Root: זוּן 
Sense: to feed.
מַשְׁכִּ֣ים  well-fed 
Parse: Verb, Hifil, Participle, masculine plural
Root: שָׁכָה  
Sense: (Hiphil) lustful (participle).
הָי֑וּ  they  were 
Parse: Verb, Qal, Perfect, third person common plural
Root: אֶהְיֶה 
Sense: to be, become, come to pass, exist, happen, fall out.
אִ֛ישׁ  every  one 
Parse: Noun, masculine singular
Root: אִישׁ 
Sense: man.
אֶל־  after 
Parse: Preposition
Root: אֶל  
Sense: to, toward, unto (of motion).
אֵ֥שֶׁת  wife 
Parse: Noun, feminine singular construct
Root: אִשָּׁה  
Sense: woman, wife, female.
רֵעֵ֖הוּ  of  his  neighbor 
Parse: Noun, masculine singular construct, third person masculine singular
Root: רֵעַ  
Sense: friend, companion, fellow, another person.
יִצְהָֽלוּ  neighed 
Parse: Verb, Qal, Imperfect, third person masculine plural
Root: צָהַל 
Sense: to neigh, cry shrilly.