Bible Strands
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.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The narrator records the deportation of Israelites immediately after the fall of Samaria in the sixth year of Hezekiah’s reign (2 Kings 18:10). This event bridges the military capture and the theological explanation of covenant violation that follows (2 Kings 18:12).
The words — The Hebrew verb וַ/יֶּ֧גֶל (va/i.Ye.gel) literally means "he took into exile," and וַ/יַּנְחֵ֞/ם (va/i.yan.Che/m) means "and he led/ settled them." These verbs structurally link the forced removal to the specific resettlement sites named in the text.
The thread — The deportation to Assyria and the Medes appears in the parallel account of Samaria's fall (2 Kings 17:6) and is traced to the earlier stirring of Pul king of Assyria (1 Chronicles 5:26). The geographic markers Halah, Gozan, and the cities of the Medes reappear in prophetic judgment rhetoric (Isaiah 37:12).
Why it lands — The text states that a foreign monarch physically relocated a conquered people to specific regions without recording their response. Readers must observe how the narrative places this historical act directly between the city's capture and the stated cause of divine judgment (2 Kings 18:12).
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 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:
Cross-references
- 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.
- 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.
- Isaiah 37:12 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?
- 2 Kings 19:11 Surely you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all the other countries, devoting them to destruction. Will you then be spared?
- Isaiah 7:8 For the head of Aram is Damascus, and the head of Damascus is Rezin. Within sixty-five years Ephraim will be shattered as a people.
- Isaiah 8:4 For before the boy knows how to cry ‘Father’ or ‘Mother,’ the wealth of Damascus and the plunder of Samaria will be carried off by the king of Assyria.”
- Isaiah 9:9 All the people will know it—Ephraim and the dwellers of Samaria. With pride and arrogance of heart they will say:
- Isaiah 10:5 Woe to Assyria, the rod of My anger; the staff in their hands is My wrath.
- Isaiah 10:11 and as I have done to Samaria and its idols, will I not also do to Jerusalem and her idols?”
- Hosea 8:8 Israel is swallowed up! Now they are among the nations like a worthless vessel.