Then the king of Assyria carried Israel away captive to Assyria, and put them in Halah and by the Habor, the River of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes,
Parallel translations
- WEB The king of Assyria carried Israel away to Assyria, and put them in Halah, and on the Habor, the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes,
- KJV And the king of Assyria did carry away Israel unto Assyria, and put them in Halah and in Habor by the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes:
- BSB The king of Assyria exiled the Israelites to Assyria and settled them in Halah, in Gozan by the Habor River, and in the cities of the Medes.
- ESV The king of Assyria carried the Israelites away to Assyria and put them in Halah, and on the Habor, the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes,
- NASB Then the king of Assyria led Israel into exile to Assyria, and put them in Halah and on the Habor, the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes.
- NLT At that time the king of Assyria exiled the Israelites to Assyria and placed them in colonies in Halah, along the banks of the Habor River in Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes.
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Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
The king of Assyria deported Israel to Halah, the Habor river region of Gozan, and the cities of the Medes. The northern tribes were scattered into exile.
Overview
Exile was Assyria's policy to break a conquered people's identity, and here it fulfills the covenant warning of dispersion for disobedience (Deuteronomy 28:64). These tribes largely disappear from history as 'the lost tribes.' The verse underscores the seriousness of forsaking God and the reality of his judgment. Yet the prophets held out hope of an ultimate regathering, fulfilled spiritually in the gospel's gathering of God's people.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 15
- 1 Chr 5:26So the God of Israel stirred up the spirit of Pul king of Assyria, and the spirit of Tilgath Pilneser king of Assyria, and he carried them away, even the Reubenites, and the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh, and brought them to Halah, Habor, Hara, and to the river of Gozan, to this day.
- 2 Kgs 17:6In the ninth year of Hoshea the king of Assyria took Samaria, and carried Israel away to Assyria, and placed them in Halah, and on the Habor, the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes.
- Isa 37:12Have the gods of the nations delivered them, which my fathers have destroyed, Gozan, Haran, Rezeph, and the children of Eden who were in Telassar?
- Hos 9:3They won’t dwell in Yahweh’s land; but Ephraim will return to Egypt, and they will eat unclean food in Assyria.
- Acts 7:43You took up the tabernacle of Moloch, the star of your god Rephan, the figures which you made to worship. I will carry you away beyond Babylon.’
- Isa 9:9–21All the people will know, including Ephraim and the inhabitants of Samaria, who say in pride and in arrogance of heart,
- Isa 7:8For the head of Syria is Damascus, and the head of Damascus is Rezin; and within sixty-five years Ephraim shall be broken in pieces, so that it shall not be a people;
- Isa 8:4For before the child knows how to say, ‘My father,’ and, ‘My mother,’ the riches of Damascus and the plunder of Samaria will be carried away by the king of Assyria.”
- Hos 8:8–9Israel is swallowed up. Now they are among the nations like a worthless thing.
- Isa 10:5Alas Assyrian, the rod of my anger, the staff in whose hand is my indignation!
- Isa 10:11shall I not, as I have done to Samaria and her idols, so do to Jerusalem and her idols?
- Amos 5:25–27“Did you bring to me sacrifices and offerings in the wilderness forty years, house of Israel?
- 2 Kgs 19:11Behold, you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all lands, by destroying them utterly. Will you be delivered?
- Amos 5:1–3Listen to this word which I take up for a lamentation over you, O house of Israel.
- Amos 5:6Seek Yahweh, and you will live; lest he break out like fire in the house of Joseph, and it devour, and there be no one to quench it in Bethel.
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Christ at the center
Amid the long decline toward exile, the promise to David's house refuses to die; the flickering lamp kept burning anticipates the coming King who will not fail or be cut off.
How 2 Kings 18:11 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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