Jeremiah 20:5 - Coke's Commentary on the Holy Bible

Moreover, I will deliver, &c.— It will, I think, tend much to illustrate this passage, and the corresponding conduct of the Babylonian monarch, related Exodus 24:12-17 if I here cite the words of a celebrated modern historian, who describes the similar behaviour of those Barbarians, the Moguls or Tartars, who under Zingis overran and conquered Asia, to their captives, in the following manner:—"The inhabitants, who had submitted to their discretion, were ordered to evacuate their houses, and to assemble in some plain adjacent to the city, where a division was made of the vanquished of three parts. The first class consisted of the soldiers of the garrison, and of the young men capable of bearing arms; and their fate was instantly decided; they were either inlisted among the Moguls, or they were massacred on the spot by the troops, who, with pointed spears and bended bows, had formed a circle round the captive multitude. The second class, composed of the young and beautiful women, of the artificers of every rank and profession, and of the more wealthy or honourable citizens, from whom a private ransom might be expected, was distributed in equal or proportionable lots. The remainder, whose life or death was alike useless to the conquerors, were permitted to return to the city; which in the meanwhile had been stripped of its valuable furniture, and a tax was imposed on those wretched inhabitants for the indulgence of breathing their native air."