Nebuchadnezzar captured all the people of Jerusalem. He captured all the leaders and other wealthy people. He took 10,000 people and made them prisoners. Nebuchadnezzar took all the skilled workers and craftsmen. No person was left, except the poorest of the common people.
Nebuchadnezzar took Jehoiachin to Babylon as a prisoner. Nebuchadnezzar also took the king’s mother, his wives, officers, and the leading men of the land. Nebuchadnezzar took them from Jerusalem to Babylon as prisoners.
There were 7,000 soldiers. Nebuchadnezzar took all of the soldiers and 1,000 of the skilled workers and craftsmen. All of these men were trained soldiers, ready for war. The king of Babylon took them to Babylon as prisoners.
When the workers finished, they brought the money that was left to King Joash and Jehoiada. They used that money to make things for the Lord’s temple. Those things were used for the service in the temple and for offering burnt offerings. {\cf2\super [276]} They also made bowls and other things from gold and silver. The priests offered burnt offerings in the Lord’s temple every day while Jehoiada was alive.
While I was in Susa, one of my brothers named Hanani and some other men came from Judah. I asked them about the Jews living there. These were the Jews that had escaped captivity and still lived in Judah. And I also asked them about the city of Jerusalem.
The people living in this land are guilty of doing wrong. So God promised to destroy the land. The people will be punished. Only a few people will survive.
But Nebuzaradan, the commander of the special guards, left some of the poor people of Judah behind. Those were the people that owned nothing. So on that day, Nebuzaradan gave those poor people of Judah vineyards and fields.
There were some soldiers from the army of Judah, officers and their men, still out in the open country when Jerusalem was destroyed. Those soldiers heard that the king of Babylon had put Gedaliah son of Ahikam in charge of the people that were left in the land. The people that were left were men, women, and children that were very poor and were not carried off to Babylon as captives.
“Son of man, {\cf2\super [270]} there are Israelite people living in the ruined cities in Israel. Those people are saying, ‘Abraham was only one man, and God gave him all this land. Now, we are many people, so surely this land belongs to us! It is our land!’