Ezra 4:10

And the rest of the nations whom the great and noble Asnappar brought ouer, and set in the cities of Samaria, and the rest that are on this side the Riuer, and at such a time. Ezra 4:10 (KJV)

The book of Ezra records the period after the Israelites were permitted to return to Jerusalem from Babylonian captivity, a permission granted by King Cyrus of Persia. Ezra 4 belongs to a section that details the various forms of opposition the returning exiles encountered as they began to rebuild the temple in Jerusalem.

The quotation presented as Ezra 4:10 – “And the rest of the nations, which the great and noble Asnappar brought over…” – is not found in any standard translation of Ezra. In the King James Version, Ezra 4:10 reads: “Then the children of the captivity, the children of Israel, their priests, and Levites, went up to Jerusalem, and did a contribution in the reign of Darius the son of Xerxes,” and contains no reference to Asnappar or to nations being settled in Samaria.

The name “Asnappar” does not appear in the biblical text. Some scholars have proposed that it might be a corrupted form of the Assyrian king Esarhaddon, but this identification remains speculative and is not supported by Scripture.

Historically, the Assyrian empire did relocate populations from conquered territories to places such as Samaria after the fall of the northern kingdom of Israel. However, the biblical narrative in Ezra does not attribute the settlement of these peoples to a figure named Asnappar, nor does it link them directly to the opposition described in chapter 4.

Later traditions note that inhabitants of Samaria sometimes opposed the Judean returnees, but the biblical account attributes the resistance primarily to local adversaries and officials who wrote letters of complaint (see Ezra 4:1‑5). It does not specifically describe the resettled Assyrian populations as the source of that opposition.

When studying this passage, it is beneficial to read the surrounding verses and consult reliable scholarly resources to gain a comprehensive understanding of the historical and theological context.