And the God of Israel
The Targum is,
``the word of the God of Israel:''stirred up the spirit of Pul king of Assyria:
and the spirit of Tilgathpilneser;
in the times of Pekah king of Israel, to invade the land, and make war in it:
and he carried them away:
not the former, but the latter:
even the Reubenites, and the Gadites, and the half tribe of Manasseh;
these entirely together, with some other parts of the land, see ( 2 Kings 15:29 )
and brought them unto Halah, and Habor, and Hara, and to the river
Gozan;
to the very same places where afterwards Salmaneser carried the ten tribes, or what remained of them, see ( 2 Kings 17:6 )
unto this day;
the times of Ezra, the writer of this book, after the tribe of Judah returned from the captivity of Babylon; but the ten tribes remained where they were carried, and have not returned even to this day.