There is no basis in the Bible for the story in verses 41-45 that the Israelite tribes exiled by the Assyrians ever made their way to another country. This legend does appear in Josephus (Jewish Antiquities 11.133) and some other late sources (see Stone, page 404; Myers, page 311).

But they formed this plan for themselves, that they would leave the multitude of the nations may be rendered “But these ten tribes decided not to stay in that land among the many Gentiles” (Good News Bible) or “But these tribes decided to leave that foreign land, where many non-Israelites lived.”

And go to a more distant region, where mankind had never lived: Good News Bible says “so they moved farther east to a country where no human beings had ever lived before.” The following verses reveal that they traveled far to the east of the Euphrates River.

Good News Bible provides a helpful model for this verse.

Quoted with permission from Bullard, Roger A. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on 1-2 Esdras. (UBS Helps for Translators). Miami: UBS, 2019. For this and other handbooks for translators see here.