cap·tiv·i·ty /kæpˈtɪvəti/
 囚禁,被關
 Cap·tiv·i·ty n.
 1. The state of being a captive or a prisoner.
    More celebrated in his captivity that in his greatest triumphs.   --Dryden.
 2. A state of being under control; subjection of the will or affections; bondage.
    Sink in the soft captivity together.   --Addison.
 Syn: -- Imprisonment; confinement; bondage; subjection; servitude; slavery; thralldom; serfdom.
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 captivity
      n 1: the state of being imprisoned; "he was held in captivity
           until he died"; "the imprisonment of captured soldiers";
           "his ignominious incarceration in the local jail"; "he
           practiced the immurement of his enemies in the castle
           dungeon" [syn: imprisonment, incarceration, immurement]
      2: the state of being a slave; "So every bondman in his own
         hand bears the power to cancel his captivity"--Shakespeare
         [syn: enslavement]
 Captivity
    (1.) Of Israel. The kingdom of the ten tribes was successively
    invaded by several Assyrian kings. Pul (q.v.) imposed a tribute
    on Menahem of a thousand talents of silver (2 Kings 15:19, 20; 1
    Chr. 5:26) (B.C. 762), and Tiglath-pileser, in the days of Pekah
    (B.C. 738), carried away the trans-Jordanic tribes and the
    inhabitants of Galilee into Assyria (2 Kings 15:29; Isa. 9:1).
    Subsequently Shalmaneser invaded Israel and laid siege to
    Samaria, the capital of the kingdom. During the siege he died,
    and was succeeded by Sargon, who took the city, and transported
    the great mass of the people into Assyria (B.C. 721), placing
    them in Halah and in Habor, and in the cities of the Medes (2
    Kings 17:3, 5). Samaria was never again inhabited by the
    Israelites. The families thus removed were carried to distant
    cities, many of them not far from the Caspian Sea, and their
    place was supplied by colonists from Babylon and Cuthah, etc. (2
    Kings 17:24). Thus terminated the kingdom of the ten tribes,
    after a separate duration of two hundred and fifty-five years
    (B.C. 975-721).
      Many speculations have been indulged in with reference to
    these ten tribes. But we believe that all, except the number
    that probably allied themselves with Judah and shared in their
    restoration under Cyrus, are finally lost.
      "Like the dew on the mountain, Like the
      foam on the river,
      Like the bubble on the fountain,
      They are gone, and for ever."
      (2.) Of Judah. In the third year of Jehoiachim, the eighteenth
    king of Judah (B.C. 605), Nebuchadnezzar having overcome the
    Egyptians at Carchemish, advanced to Jerusalem with a great
    army. After a brief siege he took that city, and carried away
    the vessels of the sanctuary to Babylon, and dedicated them in
    the Temple of Belus (2 Kings 24:1; 2 Chr. 36:6, 7; Dan. 1:1, 2).
    He also carried away the treasures of the king, whom he made his
    vassal. At this time, from which is dated the "seventy years" of
    captivity (Jer. 25; Dan. 9:1, 2), Daniel and his companions were
    carried to Babylon, there to be brought up at the court and
    trained in all the learning of the Chaldeans. After this, in the
    fifth year of Jehoiakim, a great national fast was appointed
    (Jer. 36:9), during which the king, to show his defiance, cut up
    the leaves of the book of Jeremiah's prophecies as they were
    read to him in his winter palace, and threw them into the fire.
    In the same spirit he rebelled against Nebuchadnezzar (2 Kings
    24:1), who again a second time (B.C. 598) marched against
    Jerusalem, and put Jehoiachim to death, placing his son
    Jehoiachin on the throne in his stead. But Jehoiachin's
    counsellors displeasing Nebuchadnezzar, he again a third time
    turned his army against Jerusalem, and carried away to Babylon a
    second detachment of Jews as captives, to the number of 10,000
    (2 Kings 24:13; Jer. 24:1; 2 Chr. 36:10), among whom were the
    king, with his mother and all his princes and officers, also
    Ezekiel, who with many of his companions were settled on the
    banks of the river Chebar (q.v.). He also carried away all the
    remaining treasures of the temple and the palace, and the golden
    vessels of the sanctuary.
      Mattaniah, the uncle of Jehoiachin, was now made king over
    what remained of the kingdom of Judah, under the name of
    Zedekiah (2 Kings 24:17; 2 Chr. 36:10). After a troubled reign
    of eleven years his kingdom came to an end (2 Chr. 36:11).
    Nebuchadnezzar, with a powerful army, besieged Jerusalem, and
    Zedekiah became a prisoner in Babylon. His eyes were put out,
    and he was kept in close confinement till his death (2 Kings
    25:7). The city was spoiled of all that was of value, and then
    given up to the flames. The temple and palaces were consumed,
    and the walls of the city were levelled with the ground (B.C.
    586), and all that remained of the people, except a number of
    the poorest class who were left to till the ground and dress the
    vineyards, were carried away captives to Babylon. This was the
    third and last deportation of Jewish captives. The land was now
    utterly desolate, and was abondoned to anarchy.
      In the first year of his reign as king of Babylon (B.C. 536),
    Cyrus issued a decree liberating the Jewish captives, and
    permitting them to return to Jerusalem and rebuild the city and
    the temple (2 Chr. 36:22, 23; Ezra 1; 2). The number of the
    people forming the first caravan, under Zerubbabel, amounted in
    all to 42,360 (Ezra 2:64, 65), besides 7,337 men-servants and
    maid-servants. A considerable number, 12,000 probably, from the
    ten tribes who had been carried away into Assyria no doubt
    combined with this band of liberated captives.
      At a later period other bands of the Jews returned (1) under
    Ezra (7:7) (B.C. 458), and (2) Nehemiah (7:66) (B.C. 445). But
    the great mass of the people remained still in the land to which
    they had been carried, and became a portion of the Jews of the
    "dispersion" (John 7:35; 1 Pet. 1:1). The whole number of the
    exiles that chose to remain was probably about six times the
    number of those who returned.