Bible Strands
2 Chronicles 28:8
Then the Israelites took 200,000 captives from their kinsmen—women, sons, and daughters. They also carried off a great deal of plunder and brought it to Samaria.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The narrator records the actions of the Israelite army from Ephraim immediately after their military campaign against Judah. The account occurs between the killing of Judah’s royal officials and the arrival of the prophet Oded.
The words — וַ/יִּשְׁבּוּ (va/i.yish.Bu) means "and they took captive" [H7617], while מֵ/אֲחֵי/הֶם (me./'a.chei./Hem) denotes "of their relatives" [H251]. These terms anchor the verse’s explicit claim that captives were drawn from kinship lines rather than foreign nations.
The thread — The narrative echoes the prohibition against fighting kin found in 2 Chronicles 11:4 and fulfills the captivity warnings of Deuteronomy 28:41. It also sets the stage for the prophetic rebuke recorded in 2 Chronicles 28:9.
Why it lands — The text states that military victory over kinship ties produced massive captivity and plunder. It requires the reader to recognize that such actions, though tactically successful, violate covenant boundaries and invite immediate divine correction.
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
King James Version
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.
Cross-references
- 2 Chronicles 11:4 that this is what the LORD says: ‘You are not to go up and fight against your brothers. Each of you must return home, for this is My doing.’” So they listened to the words of the LORD and turned back from going against Jeroboam.
- Deuteronomy 28:25 The LORD will cause you to be defeated before your enemies. You will march out against them in one direction but flee from them in seven. You will be an object of horror to all the kingdoms of the earth.
- Deuteronomy 28:41 You will father sons and daughters, but they will not remain yours, because they will go into captivity.
- Acts 7:26 The next day he came upon two Israelites who were fighting, and he tried to reconcile them, saying, ‘Men, you are brothers. Why are you mistreating each other?’
- Acts 13:26 Brothers, children of Abraham, and you Gentiles who fear God, it is to us that this message of salvation has been sent.