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 it happened, when they brought out those kings to Joshua, Joshua called for all the men of Israel. And he said to the commanders of the men of war who had gone with him, Draw near, set your feet on the necks of these kings. And they drew near and put their feet on their necks.
And Adoni-bezek said, Seventy kings with their thumbs and big toes cut off have gathered under my table. As I have done, so God has requited me. And they brought him to Jerusalem, and he died there.
And Gideon said, Therefore, when Jehovah has delivered Zebah and Zalmunna into my hand, then I will tear your flesh with the thorns of the wilderness and with briers.
And they bound sackcloth on their loins and ropes on their heads, and came to the king of Israel and said, Your servant Ben-hadad says, Please let me live. And he said, Is he still alive? He is my brother.
But a prophet of Jehovah was there, whose name was Oded. And he went out before the army that came to Samaria and said to them, Behold, because the Lord God of your fathers was angry with Judah, He has delivered them into your hands, and you have killed them in a rage which reaches up to Heaven. And now you intend to keep under the sons of Judah and Jerusalem for bondmen and bondwomen to you. Are there not with you, even with you, sins against Jehovah your God? read more. And now hear me, and deliver again the captives which you have taken captive of your brothers. For the fierce wrath of Jehovah is on you. And certain of the heads of the sons of Ephraim, Azariah the son of Johanan, Berechiah the son of Meshillemoth, and Jehizkiah the son of Shallum, and Amasa the son of Hadlai, stood up against them who came from the war. And they said to them, You shall not bring the captives here. For we have offended Jehovah, and you intend to add to our sins and to our trespass. For our trespass is great, and there is fierce wrath against Israel. And the armed men left the captives and the plunder before the rulers and all the congregation. And the men who were called by name rose up and took the captives and clothed all that were naked among them with the plunder, and dressed them, and shod them, and made them eat and drink, and anointed them, and led the feeble ones on asses, and brought them to Jericho, the city of palm trees, to their brothers. And they returned to Samaria.
And the letters were sent by postal riders into all the king's provinces, to destroy, to kill, and to cause to perish, all Jews, both young and old, little children and women, in one day, on the thirteenth of the twelfth month, which is the month Adar, and to take what they owned for a prize.
You have sold Your people for nothing, and You did not increase by their price.
And their children shall be dashed to pieces before their eyes; their houses shall be robbed, and their wives raped.
And bows shall dash the young men to pieces; and they shall have no pity on the fruit of the womb; their eye shall not pity sons.
And I will give all the wealth of this city, and its produce, and all its precious things, and all the treasures of the kings of Judah, even I will give into the hand of their enemies; who will strip them and take them, and bring them to Babylon.
Then Nebuzaradan the chief of the executioners exiled to Babylon the rest of the people who remained in the city, and those who fell away, who fell to him with the rest of the people that remained. But Nebuzaradan, the chief of the executioners, left some of the poor people, who had nothing, in the land of Judah, and gave them vineyards and fields on that day.
And when all the commanders of the forces who were in the fields, they and their men, heard that the king of Babylon had made Gedaliah the son of Ahikam governor in the land, and had entrusted to him men, and women, and children, and many of the poor of the land, of those who were not exiled to Babylon;
And they have cast lots for My people, and have given a boy for a prostitute, and sold a girl for wine, so that they might drink.
Yet she went into exile; she went into captivity, and her young children also were dashed to pieces at the head of all the streets; and they cast lots for her honorable men, and all her great men were bound in chains.
For I will gather all nations to battle against Jerusalem; and the city shall be taken, and the houses plundered, and the women raped. And half of the city shall go into exile, and 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.