We have seen how, under King Cyrus, a call went out to all of Israel to return to the land of Judah and to Jerusalem to rebuild the temple. Regarding Judah—the two-tribe kingdom—Jeremiah had prophesied that the exile would last seventy years (Jer. 25:11; 29:10).
About 150 years before the deportation of Judah, the ten-tribe kingdom had already been carried off to Assyria. They, too, were included in Cyrus’s call. Although only a small portion of the people heeded this call, in Scripture, this returning remnant is regarded as “all Israel.” The portion of both the two and the ten tribes that did not return—and eventually lost its identity—was no longer counted among Israel but became absorbed into the nations.
From the North Country
Jeremiah had prophesied not only how long the exile would last but also from where the people would return. Notably, he mentions both Judah and Israel in this context.
Jeremiah 3
18 In those days the house of Judah shall go to the house of Israel. Together they shall come from the land of the north to the land that I gave your fathers as an inheritance.
Together
The “land of the north” or the “North Country” refers to the region of the Euphrates, to which both the ten tribes and, later, Judah had been carried off (cf. Jer. 46:10). Here, Jeremiah speaks of a joint return of Judah and Israel from the region of their exile.
These words align closely with the historical return under Cyrus, Ezra, and Nehemiah. Whether this prophecy also has a further fulfillment is irrelevant to our topic. The point here is that Jeremiah identifies the origin of the returning people as the “land of the north.” This is entirely consistent with the Assyrian and Babylonian exiles.
Jeremiah uses the same language elsewhere.
Jeremiah 16
14 Therefore, behold, the days are coming, says the LORD, when it shall no more be said: “As the LORD lives, who brought the Israelites up from the land of Egypt,”
15 but: “As the LORD lives, who brought the Israelites up from the land of the north and from all the lands where He had driven them.” I will bring them back to their land, which I gave to their fathers.
Here, mention is made first of the land of the north and subsequently of the other lands of dispersion. We find the same pattern in Jeremiah 23.
Jeremiah 23
7 Therefore, behold, the days are coming, says the LORD, when men shall no more say: “As the LORD lives, who brought the Israelites up from the land of Egypt,”
8 but: “As the LORD lives, who led the descendants of the house of Israel, who brought them out of the land of the north and from all the lands where I had driven them.” They shall dwell in their own land.
Jeremiah 31 also speaks in similar terms.
Jeremiah 31
8 Behold, I will bring them from the land of the north; I will gather them from the ends of the earth.
It is striking that Jeremiah speaks, on the one hand, of the land of the north—where Israel had originally been taken into exile—and, on the other, of the ends of the earth and all the lands of dispersion. The prophet does not describe a migration to a single specific destination, but rather a scattering among the nations. When God gathers Israel in the future, He brings them together from all the places to which they had been driven.
not from the west
Nowhere do we read that the house of Israel would be found as a recognizable people in distant western lands. The prophet mentions no islands in Northwest Europe, no Britain, and no other territories cited by proponents of the doctrine of the Lost Ten Tribes.
If the ten tribes had indeed continued to exist as a distinct people within the Anglo-Saxon world, one would expect to find indications of this in the prophecies. Instead, Jeremiah speaks of the “land of the north,” the “ends of the earth,” and all the lands of their dispersion.
conclusion
When Jeremiah speaks of the return of Judah and Israel, he links it to the land of the north, but also to the lands of dispersion and the ends of the earth. In doing so, his prophecy aligns with the deportations to Assyria and Babylon and the scattering of the people among the nations.
We do not find the idea that the ten tribes settled as a recognizable people in Northwest Europe in Jeremiah’s writings. He does not speak of a single specific destination for the ten tribes; rather, he speaks of a scattered people whom God will gather again from all the places to which they had been driven. Thus, Jeremiah does not support the doctrine of the Lost Ten Tribes; instead, he offers a correction to it.