Jeremiah 39:8

8 And the Chaldeans burnt the king’s house, and the houses of the people with fire, and they threw down the wall 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 And the king of Babylon slew the sons of Sedecias, in Reblatha, before his eyes: and the king of Babylon slew all the nobles of Juda.

7 He also put out the eyes of Sedecias: and bound him with fetters, to be carried to Babylon.

8 And the Chaldeans burnt the king’s house, and the houses of the people with fire, and they threw down the wall of Jerusalem.

9 And Nabuzardan the general of the army carried away captive to Babylon the remnant of the people that remained in the city, and the fugitives that had gone over to him, and the rest of the people that remained.

10 But Nabuzardan the general left some of the poor people that had nothing at all, in the land of Juda, and he gave them vineyards, and cisterns at that time.