In the days of King Pekah of Israel, King Tiglath-Pileser of Assyria came and captured Ijon, Abel-beth-maacah, Janoah, Kedesh, Hazor, Gilead, and Galilee, all the land of Naphtali; and he carried the people captive to Assyria — Tiglath-Pileser III's (also known as Pul) campaigns systematically dismember Israel's northern and eastern territories. The cities listed (אִיּוֹן, *Iyon*; אָבֵל־בֵּית־מַעֲכָה, *Abel-beth-maacah*; and others) represent the rich northern territories. The phrase "he carried the people captive to Assyria" (וַיִּגְלֵם אַשּׁוּר, *way-yiglem Ashur*) initiates the first phase of Israel's exile, beginning the process that will culminate in total deportation. This Assyrian conquest occurs during Pekah's reign, yet the text offers no indication that Pekah mounted resistance or that the deportation was prevented by religious reform. The exile begins not with a cataclysmic siege but through piecemeal Assyrian conquest of peripheral territories.

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