2 Chronicles 25:12

and the army of Judah also captured 10,000 men alive. They took them to the top of a cliff and threw them down so that all were dashed to pieces.

Berean Standard Bible

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Study note

Setting — The narrator recounts an event immediately following Amaziah’s victory over the Edomites in the Valley of Salt, addressing the reader with a factual report of the campaign’s aftermath.

The words — The text highlights שָׁבוּ֙ (sha.Vu) = they took captive and חַיִּ֗ים (chai.Yim) = alive, noting the captives were initially secured before being cast from a cliff.

The thread — The treatment of defeated populations echoes military practices in 2 Samuel 12:31 and 1 Chronicles 20:3, while standing in tension with the earlier divine boundary command in 2 Chronicles 20:10.

Why it lands — It presents the raw mechanics of ancient warfare without moral commentary, requiring the reader to observe how recorded events unfold through human violence and to track how biblical authors frame judgment and consequence.

Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.

The Hebrew words

וַעֲשֶׂ֨רֶתva./'a.Se.retand/ ten אֲלָפִ֜ים'a.la.Fimthousand<s>חַיִּ֗יםchai.Yimalive שָׁבוּ֙sha.Vuthey took captive בְּנֵ֣יbe.Nei[the] people of יְהוּדָ֔הye.hu.DahJudah וַיְבִיא֖וּםva/y.vi.'U/mand/ they brought/ them לְרֹ֣אשׁle./Roshto/ [the] top of הַסָּ֑לַעha./Sa.la'the/ cliff וַיַּשְׁלִיכ֛וּםva/i.yash.li.Khu/mand/ they threw/ them מֵֽרֹאשׁ־me./rosh-from/ [the] top of הַסֶּ֖לַעha./Se.la'<the>/ cliff וְכֻלָּ֥םve./khu.La/mand/ all of/ them נִבְקָֽעוּ׃ סniv.Ka.'uthey were split open

King James Version

And other ten thousand left alive did the children of Judah carry away captive, and brought them unto the top of the rock, and cast them down from the top of the rock, that they all were broken in pieces.

Cross-references

2 Chronicles 20:10 And now, here are the men of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir, whom You did not let Israel invade when they came out of the land of Egypt. So Israel turned away from them and did not destroy them.
2 Samuel 12:31 David brought out the people who were there and put them to work with saws, iron picks, and axes, and he made them work at the brick kilns. He did the same to all the Ammonite cities. Then David and all his troops returned to Jerusalem.
1 Chronicles 20:3 David brought out the people who were there and put them to work with saws, iron picks, and axes. And he did the same to all the Ammonite cities. Then David and all his troops returned to Jerusalem.
2 Chronicles 21:8 In the days of Jehoram, Edom rebelled against the hand of Judah and appointed their own king.