2 Chronicles 25:12

12 The army of Judah also captured ten thousand men alive, took them to the top of a cliff and threw them down so that all were dashed to pieces.

2 Chronicles 25:12 in Other Translations

KJV
12 And other ten thousand left alive did the children of Judah carry away captive, and brought them unto the top of the rock, and cast them down from the top of the rock, that they all were broken in pieces.
ESV
12 The men of Judah captured another 10,000 alive and took them to the top of a rock and threw them down from the top of the rock, and they were all dashed to pieces.
NLT
12 They captured another 10,000 and took them to the top of a cliff and threw them off, dashing them to pieces on the rocks below.
MSG
12 They took another 10,000 as prisoners, led them to the top of the Rock, and pushed them off a cliff. They all died in the fall, smashed on the rocks.
CSB
12 and the Judahites captured 10,000 alive. They took them to the top of a cliff where they threw them off, and all of them were dashed to pieces.

2 Chronicles 25:12 Meaning and Commentary

2 Chronicles 25:12

And other ten thousand left alive did the children of Judah
carry away captive
The rest of the army of the Edomites, which amounted to the same number, fell into their hands, and they took them, and carried them off:

and brought them unto the top of the rock;
very probably the same on which the city Petra, the metropolis of Edom, was built, called also Selah, ( 2 Kings 14:7 ) both which names signify a rock. Josephus F7 calls it the great rock in Arabia; that is, Arabia Petraea:

and cast them down from the top of the rock, that they were broken all
in pieces;
burst asunder, bones broken, and limb from limb separated. This sort of punishment was inflicted by the Romans on various malefactors, by casting them down from the Tarpeian rock F8; and in Greece, according to the Delphian law, such as were guilty of sacrilege were led to a rock, and cast down headlong from thence F9: and now in Turkey, at a place called Constantine, a town situated on the top of a great rock, the usual way of executing great criminals is by pushing them from off the cliff F11; see ( Luke 4:29 ) , but to use captives taken in war after this manner seems cruel and barbarous; and what should be the reason of such treatment of them is not easy to say.


FOOTNOTES:

F7 Antiqu. l. 9. c. 9. sect. 1.
F8 Liv. Hist. l. 6. c. 20. Patercul. Hist. Roman. l. 2. Aurel. Victor. de Vir. Illustr. c. 27, 70. Vid, Rycquium de Capitol. Roman. c. 4. p. 45
F9 Aelian. Var. Hist. l. 11. c. 5.
F11 Pitt's Account of the Mahometans, ch. 1. p. 10.

2 Chronicles 25:12 In-Context

10 So Amaziah dismissed the troops who had come to him from Ephraim and sent them home. They were furious with Judah and left for home in a great rage.
11 Amaziah then marshaled his strength and led his army to the Valley of Salt, where he killed ten thousand men of Seir.
12 The army of Judah also captured ten thousand men alive, took them to the top of a cliff and threw them down so that all were dashed to pieces.
13 Meanwhile the troops that Amaziah had sent back and had not allowed to take part in the war raided towns belonging to Judah from Samaria to Beth Horon. They killed three thousand people and carried off great quantities of plunder.
14 When Amaziah returned from slaughtering the Edomites, he brought back the gods of the people of Seir. He set them up as his own gods, bowed down to them and burned sacrifices to them.

Cross References 1

  • 1. Psalms 141:6; Obadiah 1:3
Scripture quoted by permission.  Quotations designated (NIV) are from THE HOLY BIBLE: NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®.  NIV®.  Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica.  All rights reserved worldwide.