Cuthah standard
Cuthah was a Babylonian city from which the Assyrian king brought people to settle in Samaria after the deportation of the Israelites.
Where is Cuthah in the Bible?
Cuthah was an ancient city located in Babylonia, in the region of modern-day Iraq. The city appears in the Bible in connection with the Assyrian resettlement of Samaria following the deportation of the northern kingdom of Israel around 722 BCE. After the Assyrian king conquered Israel and exiled its inhabitants, he brought people from Cuthah and other Babylonian cities to repopulate the land of Samaria. These settlers, known as Samaritans, mixed with the remaining Israelite population and maintained their own religious practices, creating a distinct community that figures prominently in later biblical and Jewish history. The mention of Cuthah highlights the Assyrian policy of forced population transfers and the religious and cultural conflicts that resulted from these upheavals.