The Kingdom of Israel, formed by the ten northern tribes under Jeroboam, faced severe consequences due to persistent idolatry and apostasy. The sins of Jeroboam, who led the northern kingdom into religious deviation, were never abandoned by subsequent kings, provoking the Lord's anger. As a result, the Lord removed Israel from His sight, leading to their fall and mass deportation as recorded in II Kings 17:5-6.

The Minor Prophets, a vital section of the Old Testament, include significant prophecies concerning various nations, among them the Assyrians, who are notably featured in the books of Jonah and Nahum. In Jonah, the narrative centers on God's judgment upon Assyria, particularly through the city of Nineveh. Unlike the Edomites mentioned in other prophetic contexts, the Assyrians respond with repentance, temporarily averting divine wrath. However, Nahum's prophecy later turns again to Assyria, continuing the theme of God's indignation. Nahum confirms that despite their earlier repentance, Nineveh will ultimately fall to Babylon, underscoring the inevitability of divine judgment upon persistent sin. Additionally, in Hosea, God accuses both Ephraim, representing Israel, and Judah of seeking alliances with nations like Assyria instead of turning to Him for protection when threatened, highlighting their unfaithfulness. These accounts within the Minor Prophets reveal the complex relationship between God's judgment and mercy as it pertains to the Assyrians.

The Assyrians played a significant role in the history of Israel as depicted in the Minor Prophets. God sent the prophet Amos with a final message of warning and call to repentance to idolatrous Israel roughly forty years before sending Assyria to punish them. Despite Amos' pleas for the citizens of the Northern Kingdom to seek Him and live, to seek good and not evil, the Israelites could not discern the connection between the calamities they were beginning to experience and God's desire for them to repent. Because of their hardened hearts, the captivity under the Assyrians marked a profound national calamity for Israel, from which a return to God and the land did not occur as hoped. The Israelites remained in the lands of their captivity for many years before they began migrating northwestward toward Europe.