Jeremiah 10:20

20 My tent is destroyed; all my tent cords are snapped. My sons have departed from me and are no more. [I have] no one to pitch my tent again or to hang up my curtains.

Jeremiah 10:20 Meaning and Commentary

Jeremiah 10:20

My tabernacle is spoiled
Not the temple at Jerusalem only, rather Jerusalem itself, as Kimchi; or the whole land, as the Targum,

``my land is wasted:''
the allusion is to the tents of shepherds, and denotes the unstable condition of the Jewish nation: and all my cords are broken:
all the rest of the cities of the land are destroyed, as Kimchi; and so the Targum,
``my cities are spoiled:''
as the cords are what the parts of the tabernacle or tent are fastened and kept together with, they may intend the strength of the nation, which lay in its wealth, its fortresses, and the numbers of its people, now weakened, loosed, and broke. My children are gone forth of me;
into captivity, as the Targum interprets it; the prophet, representing Jerusalem, and the cities of Judah. The Septuagint adds, "and my sheep"; keeping on the metaphor of a shepherd, his tent, and flock. And they are not;
either not in the world, being destroyed by one judgment or another; or rather not in their own land, being carried captive. There is none to stretch forth my tent any more, and to set up my
curtains;
which shows the great destruction and desolation of the land, and its inhabitants, that there would be none to set up a shepherd's tent; perhaps the rebuilding of Jerusalem, and the rest of the cities, may be meant.

Jeremiah 10:20 In-Context

18 For this is what the Lord says: Look, I am slinging out the land's residents at this time and bringing them such distress that they will feel it.
19 Woe to me because of my brokenness- I am severely wounded! I exclaimed, "This is my intense suffering, but I must bear it."
20 My tent is destroyed; all my tent cords are snapped. My sons have departed from me and are no more. [I have] no one to pitch my tent again or to hang up my curtains.
21 For the shepherds are stupid: they don't seek the Lord. Therefore they have not prospered, and their whole flock is scattered.
22 Listen! A noise-it is coming- a great commotion from the land to the north. The cities of Judah will be made desolate, a jackals' den.
Holman Christian Standard Bible ® Copyright © 2003, 2002, 2000, 1999 by Holman Bible Publishers.  Used by permission.  All rights reserved.