Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible (1898)
HA'LAH, a place in Assyria to which the ten tribes were carried captive. 2 Kgs 17:6; 2 Kgs 18:11; 1 Chr 5:26. It is now identified, with great probability, as the Chalcitis of Ptolemy, and in the north-west of Gauzanitis. Layard found a remarkable mound near the Khabour called Gla or Kalah, "castle," which covers the site of an ancient fortress or town. The Septuagint and Vulgate versions appear to regard Halah as a river, and it may have been the name of a river and of a town. The river was perhaps the Nahr al Huali, which is a branch of the Khabour.