It was perhaps first during Sargon’s reign that people from Babylon and Syria were brought into Samaria to repopulate it, the Assyrian king later sending an Israelite priest back from exile to instruct them in “the religion of the God of the land.”​—2Ki 17:24-28; see SAMARIA No. 2; SAMARITAN.

It appears from Ezra 4:2 that the transplanting of people from and to the northern kingdom of Israel was still continuing in the days of Esar-haddon, which may explain the period of “sixty-five years” in the prophecy at Isaiah 7:8.​—See AHAZ No. 1; ESAR-HADDON.