Jeremiah 10:20

20 Jerusalem is like a tent that has been destroyed. All of its ropes have snapped. My people have gone away from me. Now no one is left to set up my tent. I have no one to set it up for me.

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 The LORD says, "I am about to throw out of this land everyone who lives in it. I will bring trouble on them. They will be captured."
19 How terrible it will be for me! I've been wounded! And my wound can't be healed! In spite of that, I said to myself, "I'm sick. But I'll have to put up with it."
20 Jerusalem is like a tent that has been destroyed. All of its ropes have snapped. My people have gone away from me. Now no one is left to set up my tent. I have no one to set it up for me.
21 The leaders of my people are like shepherds who don't have any sense. They don't ask the LORD for advice. That's why they don't succeed. And that's why their whole flock is scattered like sheep.
22 Listen! A message is coming! I hear the sound of a great army marching down from the north! It will turn Judah's towns into a desert. They will become a home for wild dogs.
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