And he carried out thence all the treasures of the house of the LORD, and the treasures of the king's house, and cut in pieces all the vessels of gold which Solomon king of Israel had made in the temple of the LORD, as the LORD had said.
As the Lord had said - (cf. 2 Kings 20:17; Isaiah 39:6; Jeremiah 15:13; Jeremiah 17:3.) The elite of the nation for rank, usefulness, and moral worth, all who might be useful in Babylon or dangerous in Palestine, were carried off to Babylon, to the number of 10,000 (2 Kings 24:14). These are specified, 2 Kings 24:15-16 - Warriors, 7,000; craftsmen and smiths, 1,000; kings wives, officers, and princes, also priests and prophets (Jeremiah 29:1; Ezekiel 1:13), 2,000-equal to 10,000 captives in all. This was the second deportation from Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar.