2 Kings 13:7

7 And Joachaz had no more left of the people than fifty horsemen, and ten chariots, and ten thousand footmen: for the king of Syria had slain them, and had brought them low as dust by threshing in the barnfloor.

2 Kings 13:7 Meaning and Commentary

2 Kings 13:7

Neither did he leave of the people to Jehoahaz but fifty
horsemen
This is to be connected with ( 2 Kings 13:4 ) , the verses ( 2 Kings 12:5 2 Kings 12:6 ) , being to be read in a parenthesis, as in our version, and to be understood of the king of Syria, who left no more to the king of Israel, not of the people of the land, but of his army, than fifty horsemen, all the rest being either taken and carried captive by him, or slain:

and ten chariots;
military chariots, with the men they carried:

and ten thousand footmen;
foot soldiers; to so small a number was his army reduced through wars with the Syrians:

for the king of Syria had destroyed them, and had made them like the
dust by threshing:
as corn or chaff may be reduced to dust by too much threshing; or as mire and clay by treading on it.

2 Kings 13:7 In-Context

5 And the Lord gave Israel a saviour, and they were delivered out of the hand of the king of Syria: and the children of Israel dwelt in their pavilions as yesterday and the day before.
6 But yet they departed not from the sins of the house of Jeroboam, who made Israel to sin, but walked in them: and there still remained a grove also in Samaria.
7 And Joachaz had no more left of the people than fifty horsemen, and ten chariots, and ten thousand footmen: for the king of Syria had slain them, and had brought them low as dust by threshing in the barnfloor.
8 But the rest of the acts of Joachaz, and all that he did, and his valour, are they not written in the book of the words of the days of the kings of Israel?
9 And Joachaz slept with his fathers, and they buried him in Samaria: and Joas, his son, reigned in his stead.
The Douay-Rheims Bible is in the public domain.