He deported all the residents of Jerusalem, including all the officials and all the soldiers( 10,000 people in all). This included all the craftsmen and those who worked with metal. No one was left except for the poorest among the people of the land.
Now some of the officers of the Judean army and their troops had been hiding in the countryside. They heard that the king of Babylon had appointed Gedaliah son of Ahikam to govern the country. They also heard that he had been put in charge over the men, women, and children from the poorer classes of the land who had not been carried off into exile in Babylon.
“ Son of man, the ones living in these ruins in the land of Israel are saying,‘ Abraham was only one man, yet he possessed the land, but we are many; surely the land has been given to us for a possession.’