And the children of Israel carried away captive of their brethren two hundred thousand, women, sons, and daughters, and took also away much spoil from them, and brought the spoil to Samaria.
The Israelites from the northern kingdom took 200,000 of their own people as prisoners—women, sons, and daughters—and also seized a lot of valuable goods from them. They brought all this stolen property back to Samaria.
This verse describes how the northern kingdom of Israel captured and enslaved 200,000 people from the southern kingdom of Judah, treating their own relatives as enemies.
📚 Historical Context
This occurred during the reign of King Ahaz of Judah (around 735-715 BC), when the northern kingdom of Israel allied with Syria to attack the southern kingdom of Judah. Despite being divided into two kingdoms, both the northern Israelites and southern Judeans were descendants of the twelve tribes of Israel, making this a tragic civil war between relatives.
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