Reference: Captive
Easton
one taken in war. Captives were often treated with great cruelty and indignity (1Ki 20:32; Jos 10:24; Jg 1:7; 2Sa 4:12; Jg 8:7; 2Sa 12:31; 1Ch 20:3). When a city was taken by assault, all the men were slain, and the women and children carried away captive and sold as slaves (Isa 20; 47:3; 2Ch 28:9-15; Ps 44:12; Joe 3:3), and exposed to the most cruel treatment (Na 3:10; Zec 14:2; Es 3:13; 2Ki 8:12; Isa 13:16,18). Captives were sometimes carried away into foreign countries, as was the case with the Jews (Jer 20:5; 39:9-10; 40:7).
See Verses Found in Dictionary
And when they brought those kings out to Joshua, Joshua summoned all the men of Israel and said to the chiefs of the men of war who had gone with him, "Come near; put your feet on the necks of these kings." Then they came near and put their feet on their necks.
And Adoni-bezek said, "Seventy kings with their thumbs and their big toes cut off used to pick up scraps under my table. As I have done, so God has repaid me." And they brought him to Jerusalem, and he died there.
So Gideon said, "Well then, when the LORD has given Zebah and Zalmunna into my hand, I will flail your flesh with the thorns of the wilderness and with briers."
So they tied sackcloth around their waists and put ropes on their heads and went to the king of Israel and said, "Your servant Ben-hadad says, 'Please, let me live.'" And he said, "Does he still live? He is my brother."
But a prophet of the LORD was there, whose name was Oded, and he went out to meet the army that came to Samaria and said to them, "Behold, because the LORD, the God of your fathers, was angry with Judah, he gave them into your hand, but you have killed them in a rage that has reached up to heaven. And now you intend to subjugate the people of Judah and Jerusalem, male and female, as your slaves. Have you not sins of your own against the LORD your God? read more. Now hear me, and send back the captives from your relatives whom you have taken, for the fierce wrath of the LORD is upon you." Certain chiefs also of the men of Ephraim, Azariah the son of Johanan, Berechiah the son of Meshillemoth, Jehizkiah the son of Shallum, and Amasa the son of Hadlai, stood up against those who were coming from the war and said to them, "You shall not bring the captives in here, for you propose to bring upon us guilt against the LORD in addition to our present sins and guilt. For our guilt is already great, and there is fierce wrath against Israel." So the armed men left the captives and the spoil before the princes and all the assembly. And the men who have been mentioned by name rose and took the captives, and with the spoil they clothed all who were naked among them. They clothed them, gave them sandals, provided them with food and drink, and anointed them, and carrying all the feeble among them on donkeys, they brought them to their kinsfolk at Jericho, the city of palm trees. Then they returned to Samaria.
Letters were sent by couriers to all the king's provinces with instruction to destroy, to kill, and to annihilate all Jews, young and old, women and children, in one day, the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, which is the month of Adar, and to plunder their goods.
You have sold your people for a trifle, demanding no high price for them.
Their infants will be dashed in pieces before their eyes; their houses will be plundered and their wives ravished.
Their bows will slaughter the young men; they will have no mercy on the fruit of the womb; their eyes will not pity children.
Moreover, I will give all the wealth of the city, all its gains, all its prized belongings, and all the treasures of the kings of Judah into the hand of their enemies, who shall plunder them and seize them and carry them to Babylon.
Then Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard, carried into exile to Babylon the rest of the people who were left in the city, those who had deserted to him, and the people who remained. Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard, left in the land of Judah some of the poor people who owned nothing, and gave them vineyards and fields at the same time.
When all the captains of the forces in the open country and their men heard that the king of Babylon had appointed Gedaliah the son of Ahikam governor in the land and had committed to him men, women, and children, those of the poorest of the land who had not been taken into exile to Babylon,
and have cast lots for my people, and have traded a boy for a prostitute, and have sold a girl for wine and have drunk it.
Yet she became an exile; she went into captivity; her infants were dashed in pieces at the head of every street; for her honored men lots were cast, and all her great men were bound in chains.
For I will gather all the nations against Jerusalem to battle, and the city shall be taken and the houses plundered and the women raped. Half of the city shall go out into exile, but the rest of the people shall not be cut off from the city.
Smith
Captive.
A prisoner of war. Such were usually treated with great cruelty by the heathen nations. They were kept for slaves, and often sold; but this was a modification of the ancient cruelty, and a substitute for putting them to death Although the treatment of captives by the Jews seems sometimes to be cruel, it was very much milder than that of the heathen, and was mitigated, as far as possible in the circumstances, by their civil code.