¹⁹ During Menahem's rule, King Tiglath Pileser^[a] of Assyria invaded Israel. He agreed to help Menahem keep control of his kingdom, if Menahem would pay him over 34 tons of silver.

²⁹ During Pekah's rule, King Tiglath Pileser of Assyria marched into Israel. He captured the territories of Gilead and Galilee, including the towns of Ijon, Abel-Bethmaacah, Janoah, Kedesh, and Hazor, as well as the entire territory of Naphtali. Then he took Israelites from those regions to Assyria as prisoners.^[a]

³ During Hoshea's rule, King Shalmaneser of Assyria^[a] invaded Israel; he took control of the country and made Hoshea pay taxes. ⁴ But later, Hoshea refused to pay the taxes and asked King So of Egypt to help him rebel. When Shalmaneser found out, he arrested Hoshea and put him in prison.

Samaria Is Destroyed and the Israelites Are Taken to Assyria

⁵ Shalmaneser invaded Israel and attacked the city of Samaria for three years, ⁶ before capturing it in the ninth year of Hoshea's rule. The Assyrian king^[b] took the Israelites away to Assyria as prisoners. He forced some of them to live in the town of Halah, others to live near the Habor River in the territory of Gozan, and still others to live in towns where the Median people lived.

^2 (A) So they went to Zerubbabel and to the family leaders and said, “Let us help! Ever since King Esarhaddon of Assyria^[a] brought us here, we have worshiped your God and offered sacrifices to him.”

^8-10 [a] A letter was also written to Artaxerxes about Jerusalem by Governor Rehum, Secretary Shimshai, and their advisors, including the judges, the governors, the officials, and the local leaders. They were joined in writing this letter by people from Erech and Babylonia, the Elamites from Susa,^[b] and people from other foreign nations that the great and famous Ashurbanipal^[c] had forced to settle in Samaria and other parts of Western Province.^[d]