2 Esdras 13:40-42

Common English Bible

⁴⁰ these are the ten tribes that were taken captive from their land in the days of King Hoshea, whom King Shalmaneser of the Assyrians took across the river as a captive. They were taken into another land, ⁴¹ but they made this plan for themselves: They would leave the multitude of the nations and go into a more remote region, where the human race had never lived. ⁴² There they would be able to observe their customs, which they hadn’t kept in their own region.