Bible Strands
Jeremiah 39:8
The Chaldeans set fire to the palace of the king and to the houses of the people, and they broke down the walls of Jerusalem.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The narrator records the Chaldeans' actions immediately after King Zedekiah is blinded and bound for Babylon. This moment captures the final physical destruction of Jerusalem following the king's capture.
The words — The Hebrew שָׂרְפ֥וּ (sārəp̄ū) literally means "they burned," describing the deliberate destruction of the royal palace and the houses of the people. The term הַ/כַּשְׂדִּ֖ים (ha-kasdim) identifies the Chaldeans as the agents carrying out this devastation.
The thread — The destruction of Jerusalem's walls and houses echoes the later complaint in Nehemiah 1:3 about the remnant living in great trouble with broken walls. Jeremiah 21:10 and Jeremiah 38:18 frame this event as the fulfillment of God's declared judgment against a city that refused to surrender.
Why it lands — The text states the Chaldeans burned the palace and the people's houses and broke down Jerusalem's walls. It requires the reader to recognize the complete collapse of political and physical structures as the direct consequence of rejecting the call to surrender.
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 the Chaldeans burned the king’s house, and the houses of the people, with fire, and brake down the walls of Jerusalem.
Cross-references
- Nehemiah 1:3 And they told me, “The remnant who survived the exile are there in the province, in great trouble and disgrace. The wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and its gates have been burned with fire.”
- Jeremiah 21:10 For I have set My face against this city to bring disaster and not good, declares the LORD. It will be delivered into the hand of the king of Babylon, who will destroy it with fire.’
- Jeremiah 38:18 But if you do not surrender to the officers of the king of Babylon, then this city will be delivered into the hands of the Chaldeans. They will burn it down, and you yourself will not escape their grasp.’”
- 2 Kings 25:9 He burned down the house of the LORD, the royal palace, and all the houses of Jerusalem—every significant building.
- Jeremiah 52:13 He burned down the house of the LORD, the royal palace, and all the houses of Jerusalem—every significant building.
- Micah 3:12 Therefore, because of you, Zion will be plowed like a field, Jerusalem will become a heap of rubble, and the temple mount a wooded ridge.
- 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.
- Isaiah 5:9 I heard the LORD of Hosts declare: “Surely many houses will become desolate, great mansions left unoccupied.
- Jeremiah 7:20 Therefore this is what the Lord GOD says: Behold, My anger and My fury will be poured out on this place, on man and beast, on the trees of the field and the produce of the land, and it will burn and not be extinguished.
- Jeremiah 9:10 I will take up a weeping and wailing for the mountains, a dirge over the wilderness pasture, for they have been scorched so no one passes through, and the lowing of cattle is not heard. Both the birds of the air and the beasts have fled; they have gone away.