פירוש על מלכים ב 24:16

Seven thousand. But above he states, “ten thousand.”¹²Above, v. 14. The third verse comes to reconcile [the difference], in the Book of Yirmiyohu, ”This is the people whom Nevuchadnetzar exiled in the seventh year, three thousand Jews.”¹³Yirmiyahu 52:28. The verse there states, “three thousand and twenty-three Jews.” We deduce from here that three thousand were of the tribe of Yehudah and seven thousand were of Binyomin and the other tribes. Also in Seder Olam we learned this.

Referring to the soldiers, not about the tradesmen and the gate guards.