Jeremiah 39:8

8 The Kasdim burned down the royal palace and the people's houses, and they broke down the walls of Yerushalayim.

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 Bavel slaughtered the sons of Tzidkiyahu before his eyes in Rivlah; the king of Bavel also slaughtered all the leading men of Y'hudah.

7 Then he put out Tzidkiyahu's eyes and bound him in chains to be carried off to Bavel.

8 The Kasdim burned down the royal palace and the people's houses, and they broke down the walls of Yerushalayim.

9 N'vuzar'adan commander of the guard then deported to Bavel the remaining population of the city, the deserters who had defected to him, and the rest of the people remaining.

10 But N'vuzar'adan the commander of the guard left behind in the territory of Y'hudah some of the poor people, those who had nothing, and at the same time gave them vineyards and fields.