2 Kings 24:14

14 And he carried away all Jerusalem, and all the princes, and all the mighty men of valour, ten thousand captives, and all the craftsmen and smiths: none remained but the poorest sort of the people of the land.

2 Kings 24:14 Meaning and Commentary

2 Kings 24:14

And he carried away all Jerusalem
The inhabitants of it; not every individual of them, but the chief of them, the more honourable, rich, and useful; for the poorer sort were left, as afterwards expressed:

and all the princes, and all the mighty men of valour, even ten
thousand captives;
which was the number of them in the whole; the particulars are after delivered:

and all the craftsmen and smiths;
besides the nobles and the soldiers, he took all the artificers that exercised any handicraft trade or business; carpenters and blacksmiths, as some interpret these two words; so that there were none left to make arms for them; the last word may be rendered "enclosers", and are by some interpreted of enclosers of jewels in metals, as gold and silver:

none remained, save the poorest sort of the people of the land;
who were left to till it, and to dress the vines; see ( 2 Kings 25:12 ) .

2 Kings 24:14 In-Context

12 And Jehoiachin king of Judah went out to the king of Babylon, he, and his mother, and his servants, and his princes, and his chamberlains; and the king of Babylon took him in the eighth year of his reign.

13 And he brought out thence all the treasures of the house of Jehovah, and the treasures of the king's house, and cut in pieces all the vessels of gold that Solomon king of Israel had made in the temple of Jehovah, as Jehovah had said.

14 And he carried away all Jerusalem, and all the princes, and all the mighty men of valour, ten thousand captives, and all the craftsmen and smiths: none remained but the poorest sort of the people of the land.

15 And he carried away Jehoiachin to Babylon, and the king's mother, and the king's wives, and his chamberlains, and the mighty of the land, he led into captivity from Jerusalem to Babylon;

16 and all the men of valour, seven thousand, and the craftsmen and smiths a thousand, all strong men apt for war, and the king of Babylon brought them captive to Babylon.

Footnotes

• [a]. Or 'all those who were wealthy,' as ch. 15.20.