Jeremiah 39:8

8 Meanwhile, the Babylonians burned down the royal palace, the Temple, and all the homes of the people. They leveled the walls of Jerusalem.

Jeremiah 39:8 Meaning and Commentary

Jeremiah 39:8

And the Chaldeans burnt the king's house
His palace: this was a month after the city was taken, as appears from ( Jeremiah 52:12 Jeremiah 52:13 ) ; and the houses of the people, with fire;
the houses of the common people, as distinct from the king's house, and the houses of the great men, ( Jeremiah 52:13 ) ; though Jarchi interprets of the synagogues. It is in the original text in the singular number, "the house of the people"; which Abarbinel understands of the temple, called, not the house of God, he having departed from it; but the house of the people, a den of thieves; according to Adrichomius ^F11, there was a house in Jerusalem called "the house of the vulgar", or common people, where public feasts and sports were kept; but the former sense seems best: and broke down the walls of Jerusalem;
demolished all the fortifications of it, and entirely dismantled it, that it might be no more a city of force and strength, as it had been.

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FOOTNOTES:

F11 Theatrum Terrae Sanct. p. 154.

Jeremiah 39:8 In-Context

6 The king of Babylon killed all the sons of Zedekiah in Riblah right before his eyes and then killed all the nobles of Judah.

7 After Zedekiah had seen the slaughter, Nebuchadnezzar blinded him, chained him up, and then took him off to Babylon.

8 Meanwhile, the Babylonians burned down the royal palace, the Temple, and all the homes of the people. They leveled the walls of Jerusalem.

9 Nebuzaradan, commander of the king's bodyguard, rounded up everyone left in the city, along with those who had surrendered to him, and herded them off to exile in Babylon.

10 He didn't bother taking the few poor people who had nothing. He left them in the land of Judah to eke out a living as best they could in the vineyards and fields.