2 Kings 17:24

Brought men from, etc.] Of the names that follow, Babylon was on the Euphrates; Cuthah was between the Euphrates and the Tigris; Ava, perhaps the Ivah of 2 Kings 18:34, is identified by some with the Ahava of Ezra 8:15; Hamath was on the Orontes; Sepharvaim ('the two Sippars') was in Babylonia. The conquest of some of these places is alluded to in 2 Kings 18:34. Sargon in one of his inscriptions mentions the transportation of some of the inhabitants of Babylon to 'the land Khatti,' which, though strictly designating the country of the Hittites, may be intended to denote Palestine generally; but according to another inscription the people settled in Samaria consisted of Arabian tribes.