Possible meanings are 1) the Chaldeans take people captive as easily as one would scoop up sand with his hand. Alternate translation: "they gather captives as one gathers sand" or 2) the Chaldeans take a great number of people captive, as if those people were as many as the grains of sand in the desert. Alternate translation: "they capture as many people as there are grains of sand" (See: [[rc://en/ta/man/jit/figs-simile]])