<P> Israel continued to exist within the reduced territory as an independent kingdom subject to Assyria until around 725--720 BCE, when it was again invaded by Assyria and the rest of the population deported . The Bible relates that the population of Israel was exiled, leaving only the Tribe of Judah, the Tribe of Simeon (that was "absorbed" into Judah), the Tribe of Benjamin, and the people of the Tribe of Levi who lived among them of the original Israelite tribes in the southern Kingdom of Judah . However, Israel Finkelstein estimated that only a fifth of the population (about 40,000) were actually resettled out of the area during the two deportation periods under Tiglath - Pileser III, Shalmaneser V, and Sargon II . Many also fled south to Jerusalem, which appears to have expanded in size fivefold during this period, requiring a new wall to be built, and a new source of water (Siloam) to be provided by King Hezekiah . Furthermore, 2 Chronicles 30: 1 - 11 explicitly mentions northern Israelites who had been spared by the Assyrians--in particular, members of Dan, Ephraim, Manasseh, Asher, and Zebulun--and how members of the latter three returned to worship at the Temple in Jerusalem at that time . </P> <P> 2 Kings 17: 34 says, "To this day they persist in their former practices . They neither worship Yahweh nor adhere to the decrees and regulations, the laws and commands that Yahweh gave the descendants of Jacob, whom he named Israel ." The medieval rabbi and biblical commentator David Kimhi explains that this is in reference to the tribes that were exiled, and that they remained in their ways, neither accepting a monotheistic God nor in adhering to any of the laws and regulations that were common to all Jews . </P> <P> The Hebrew Bible does not use the phrase "ten lost tribes", leading some to question the number of tribes involved . 1 Kings 11: 31 states that the kingdom would be taken from Solomon and ten tribes given to Jeroboam: </P> <P> And he said to Jeroboam, Take thee ten pieces: for thus saith the LORD, the God of Israel, Behold, I will rend the kingdom out of the hand of Solomon, and will give ten tribes to thee . </P>

Where did the 12 tribes of israel settle