Jeremiah 13:27
in Jeremiah 13Your 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?”
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
I have seen thine abominations, even thine adulteries, and thy neighings, the lewdness of thy whoredom, on the hills in the field. Woe unto thee, O Jerusalem! thou wilt not be made clean; how long shall it yet be?
KJV
I have seen thine adulteries, and thy neighings, the lewdness of thy whoredom, and thine abominations on the hills in the fields. Woe unto thee, O Jerusalem! wilt thou not be made clean? when shall it once be?
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This verse in Jeremiah 13
Commentary
12 notes on this verseI have seen thine adulteries,.... Not literally such, though they were greatly guilty of that sin; but figuratively, their idolatries: thy neighings; expressive of their strong desires after other gods, like that of adulterers and adulteresses after one another; and both which are like the neighing of horses.
This site's exposition
I will pull your skirts up over your face
on Jeremiah 13:26-27
The exposure carries the chapter’s clothing pictures from the loincloth at verse 11 to skirts pulled up “that your shame may be seen”. The adulteries and “lustful neighings” name the fertility worship done in the open country. The chapter ends on a question, “How long will you remain unclean”.
This site's exposition
Your adulteries and lustful neighings
Jamieson, Fausset and Brown hear the lust of horses in the neighings, the worship of idols brought down to the beast. The hills were thought nearer heaven. Adam Clarke reads the question as an open door: the change of verse 23 was hard and still possible.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers3 voices
(Verse 27) On the hills in the field, I saw your abominations. Woe to you, Jerusalem, you will not be cleansed (or because you have not been cleansed) after me, how much longer?
"After committing many transgressions," he says, "you were not prepared to have recourse to repentance. I shall no longer demonstrate longsuffering. Instead, I will inflict punishment." It is better, therefore, to live according to the divine laws. But since we who are human will most …
But if even real virgins, when they have other failings, are not saved by their physical virginity, what shall become of those who have prostituted the members of Christ and have changed the temple of the Holy Spirit into a brothel? Immediately they should hear the words, "Come down and sit in the dust, O virgin daughter of Babylon, sit on the ground—there is no throne, O daughter of the Chaldeans. You shall no more be called tender and delicate. Take the millstone and grind meal. Uncover your locks, make bare your legs, pass over the rivers. Your nakedness shall be uncovered. Yes, your shame shall be seen." Shall she come to this after the bridal chamber of God the Son, after the kisses of him who is to her both kinsman and spouse? Yes, she of whom the prophetic utterance once sang, "At your right hand stands the queen in gold of Ophir," shall be made naked, and her skirts shall be discovered on her face.
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
This is that for which a woe is denounced against thee, O Jerusalem! nay, and many woes." IV. Here is an affectionate expostulation with them, in the close, upon the whole matter.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — odd-straight-quotes
He reasons with them concerning the thing itself: Wilt thou not be made clean? Note, It is the great concern of those who are polluted by sin to be made clean by repentance, and faith, and a universal reformation. The reason why sinners are not made clean is because they will not be made clean; and herein they act most unreasonably: " Wilt thou not be made clean?
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — odd-straight-quotes
4 more voices on this verse
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
A sign, the marring of a girdle, which the prophet had worn for some time, by hiding it in a hole of a rock near the river Euphrates. It was usual with the prophets to teach by signs, that a stupid unthinking people might be brought to consider, and believe, and be affected with what was thus set before them. He was to wear a linen girdle for some time,
The Nineteenth Century3 voices
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
And thine abominations - “Even thy abominations.” The prophet sums up the three charges against Judah, namely, spiritual adultery, inordinate eagerness after idolatry (see the note at Jer 5:7 note), and shameless participation in pagan orgies. In the fields - “in the field,” the open, unenclosed country (see Jer 6:25; Jer 12:4). Wilt thou not ... once be? - “Or, how long yet ere thou be made clean!” These words explain the teaching of Jer 13:23. Repentance was not an actual, but a moral impossibility, and after a long time Judah was to be cleansed.
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
neighings-- (Jer 5:8), image from the lust of horses; the lust after idols degrades to the level of the brute. hills--where, as being nearer heaven, sacrifices were thought most acceptable to the gods. wilt thou not . . . ? when--literally, "thou wilt not be made clean after how long a time yet." (So Jer 13:23).
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — starts-lowercase
I have seen thine adulteries - Thy idolatries of different kinds, practiced in various ways; no doubt often accompanied with gross debauchery. Wo unto thee, O Jerusalem wilt thou not be made clean? - We see from this, that though the thing was difficult, yet it was not impossible, for these Ethiopians to change their skin, for these leopards to change their spots. It was only their obstinate refusal of the grace of God that rendered it impossible. Man cannot change himself; but he may pray to God to do it, and come to him through Christ, that he may do it. To enable him to pray and believe, the power is still at hand. If he will not use it, he must perish.
The words behind it
17 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| נִֽאֻפַ֤יִךְ | niufayikh | adulteri<es> your | H5004 → | |
| וּמִצְהֲלוֹתַ֙יִךְ֙ | umitzhalotayikh | and neighings your | H4684 → | |
| זִמַּ֣ת | zimat | [the] wickedness of | H2154 → | |
| זְנוּתֵ֔ךְ | zenutekh | prostitution your | H2184 → | 9 times |
| עַל־ | ʾal- | on | H5921 → | 5755 times |
| גְּבָעוֹת֙ | gevaot | hills | H1389 → | 68 times |
| בַּשָּׂדֶ֔ה | basadeh | in the field | H7704 → | 334 times |
| רָאִ֖יתִי | raiti | I have seen | H7200 → | 1300 times |
| שִׁקּוּצָ֑יִךְ | shikutzayikh | detestable things your | H8251 → | 28 times |
| א֥וֹי | ʾo | woe! | H188 → | 24 times |
| לָךְ֙ | lokh | to <the> you | ||
| יְר֣וּשָׁלִַ֔ם | yerushalim | O Jerusalem | H3389 → | 643 times |
| לֹ֣א | lo' | not | H3808 → | 5168 times |
| תִטְהֲרִ֔י | tithari | you are clean | H2891 → | |
| אַחֲרֵ֥י | ʾacharei | after | H310 → | 715 times |
| מָתַ֖י | matai | when? | H4970 → | 43 times |
| עֹֽד׃ פ | ʾod | yet | H5750 → | 490 times |
נִֽאֻפַ֤יִךְadulteri<es> your
niufayikhH5004 →
וּמִצְהֲלוֹתַ֙יִךְ֙and neighings your
umitzhalotayikhH4684 →
זִמַּ֣ת[the] wickedness of
zimatH2154 →
זְנוּתֵ֔ךְprostitution your
zenutekhH2184 →9 times
עַל־on
ʾal-H5921 →5755 times
גְּבָעוֹת֙hills
gevaotH1389 →68 times
בַּשָּׂדֶ֔הin the field
basadehH7704 →334 times
רָאִ֖יתִיI have seen
raitiH7200 →1300 times
שִׁקּוּצָ֑יִךְdetestable things your
shikutzayikhH8251 →28 times
א֥וֹיwoe!
ʾoH188 →24 times
לָךְ֙to <the> you
lokh
יְר֣וּשָׁלִַ֔םO Jerusalem
yerushalimH3389 →643 times
לֹ֣אnot
lo'H3808 →5168 times
תִטְהֲרִ֔יyou are clean
tithariH2891 →
אַחֲרֵ֥יafter
ʾachareiH310 →715 times
מָתַ֖יwhen?
mataiH4970 →43 times
עֹֽד׃ פyet
ʾodH5750 →490 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Ezekiel 6:13Then you will know that I am the LORD, when their slain lie among their idols around their altars, on every high hill, on all the mountaintops, and under every green tree and leafy…
it leads to
- Ezekiel 20:28
When I brought them into the land that I swore to give them and they saw any high hill or leafy tree, there they offered their sacrifices, presented offerings that provoked Me, sent up…
- Hosea 4:13
They sacrifice on the mountaintops and burn offerings on the hills, under oak, poplar, and terebinth, because their shade is pleasant. And so your daughters turn to prostitution and your daughters-in-law to adultery.
- Ezekiel 20:28
Through
Isaiah 65:7both for your iniquities and for those of your fathers,” says the LORD. “Because they burned incense on the mountains and scorned Me on the hills, I will measure into their laps full payment…
it leads to
- Ezekiel 20:27–28
Therefore, son of man, speak to the house of Israel, and tell them that this is what the Lord GOD says: In this way also your fathers blasphemed Me by their unfaithfulness against Me.
- Isaiah 57:7
On a high and lofty hill you have made your bed, and there you went up to offer sacrifices.
- Exodus 20:5
You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on their children to the third and fourth…
- Ezekiel 20:27–28
Through
Hosea 8:5He has rejected your calf, O Samaria. My anger burns against them. How long will they be incapable of innocence?
it leads to
- Hosea 10:5
The people of Samaria will fear for the calf of Beth-aven. Indeed, its people will mourn with its idolatrous priests— those who rejoiced in its glory— for it has been taken from them into…
- Hosea 10:5
Through
Ezekiel 24:13Because of the indecency of your uncleanness I tried to cleanse you, but you would not be purified from your filthiness. You will not be pure again until My wrath against you has subsided.
it leads to
- Ezekiel 22:24
“Son of man, say to her, ‘In the day of indignation, you are a land that has not been cleansed, upon which no rain has fallen.’
- Ezekiel 5:13
And when My anger is spent and I have vented My wrath against them, I will be appeased. And when I have spent My wrath on them, they will know that I, the LORD,…
- Ezekiel 22:24
Where this verse is studied
On this page
About Jeremiah
Who and where
1 name in this verse with a page on the site.
This page draws on 9 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, Commentary on Jeremiah; Jerome, LETTER 22.6; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Theodoret of Cyrus, ON JEREMIAH 3:13.27.