Bible Strands
2 Chronicles 36:19
Then the Chaldeans set fire to the house of God and broke down the wall of Jerusalem. They burned down all the palaces and destroyed every article of value.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The narrator records the Chaldean army's systematic destruction of Jerusalem's sacred and royal structures, occurring immediately after the deportation of Judah's leadership and before the remaining population's forced servitude in Babylon.
The words — וַיִּשְׂרְפוּ (va-yisrepu) "and they burned" and וַיְנַתְּצוּ (va-yenatetsu) "and they broke down" mark the completed actions against the house of God and the city wall.
The thread — The destruction of the temple and city parallels the warning in 1 Kings 9:8, the lament in Psalms 79:1, and the parallel account in 2 Kings 25:9.
Why it lands — The text states the Chaldeans burned the temple, demolished Jerusalem's wall, and ruined every palace and valuable object. It demands recognition that covenant judgment executes precisely what was forewarned, leaving no room for negotiated survival of the holy sites.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
And they burnt the house of God, and brake down the wall of Jerusalem, and burnt all the palaces thereof with fire, and destroyed all the goodly vessels thereof.
Cross-references
- Psalms 79:1 A Psalm of Asaph. The nations, O God, have invaded Your inheritance; they have defiled Your holy temple and reduced Jerusalem to rubble.
- 1 Kings 9:8 And when this temple has become a heap of rubble, all who pass by it will be appalled and will hiss and say, ‘Why has the LORD done such a thing to this land and to this temple?’
- 2 Kings 25:9 He burned down the house of the LORD, the royal palace, and all the houses of Jerusalem—every significant building.
- Psalms 74:4 Your foes have roared within Your meeting place; they have unfurled their banners as signs,
- Psalms 79:7 for they have devoured Jacob and devastated his homeland.
- Isaiah 64:10 Your holy cities have become a wilderness. Zion has become a wasteland and Jerusalem a desolation.
- Jeremiah 7:4 Do not trust in deceptive words, saying: ‘This is the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD.’
- Jeremiah 7:14 therefore what I did to Shiloh I will now do to the house that bears My Name, the house in which you trust, the place that I gave to you and your fathers.
- Jeremiah 52:13 He burned down the house of the LORD, the royal palace, and all the houses of Jerusalem—every significant building.
- Lamentations 4:1 How the gold has become tarnished, the pure gold has become dull! The gems of the temple lie scattered on every street corner.