Bible Strands
1 Chronicles 5:26
So the God of Israel stirred up the spirit of Pul king of Assyria (that is, Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria) to take the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh into exile. And he brought them to Halah, Habor, Hara, and the river of Gozan, where they remain to this day.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The Chronicler writes to Israel immediately after recording the Transjordanian tribes' idolatry. He frames the Assyrian conquest as the direct historical consequence of their covenant unfaithfulness.
The words — The Hebrew verb וַיָּעַר (va.ya'ar) literally means "he stirred up," applied to the spirit of Pul, king of Assyria. This lexical choice presents the geopolitical campaign as a deliberate divine action rather than a mere historical accident.
The thread — The same Assyrian monarch and exile pattern appear in 2 Kings 15:19, 15:29, and 17:6. These passages collectively document the progressive removal of the northern tribes following their repeated unfaithfulness.
Why it lands — The text states that God moved Pul to deport the Reubenites, Gadites, and half-tribe of Manasseh to Halah, Habor, Hara, and the river of Gozan. Readers must recognize that covenant violation produces concrete historical judgment executed through foreign empires.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
And 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 unto Halah, and Habor, and Hara, and to the river Gozan, unto this day.
Cross-references
- 2 Kings 15:19 Then Pul king of Assyria invaded the land, and Menahem gave Pul a thousand talents of silver in order to gain his support and strengthen his own grip on the kingdom.
- 2 Kings 15:29 In the days of Pekah king of Israel, Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria came and captured Ijon, Abel-beth-maacah, Janoah, Kedesh, Hazor, Gilead, and Galilee, including all the land of Naphtali, and he took the people as captives to Assyria.
- 2 Kings 17:6 In the ninth year of Hoshea, the king of Assyria captured Samaria and carried away the Israelites to Assyria, where he settled them in Halah, in Gozan by the Habor River, and in the cities of the Medes.
- 2 Kings 18:11 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.
- 1 Chronicles 5:6 and Beerah his son, whom Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria carried into exile. Beerah was a leader of the Reubenites.
- 2 Chronicles 33:11 So the LORD brought against them the military commanders of the king of Assyria, who captured Manasseh, put a hook in his nose, bound him with bronze shackles, and took him to Babylon.
- 2 Samuel 24:1 Again the anger of the LORD burned against Israel, and He stirred up David against them, saying, “Go and take a census of Israel and Judah.”
- 2 Kings 16:7 So Ahaz sent messengers to Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria, saying, “I am your servant and your son. Come up and save me from the hands of the kings of Aram and Israel, who are rising up against me.”
- 2 Kings 19:12 Did the gods of the nations destroyed by my fathers rescue those nations—the gods of Gozan, Haran, and Rezeph, and of the people of Eden in Telassar?
- Isaiah 10:5 Woe to Assyria, the rod of My anger; the staff in their hands is My wrath.