The
Books of Kings
are two books of the Christian
Bible's
Old_Testament and the
Jewish
Tanakh. They contain accounts of the kings of ancient
Israel and
Judah.
The two books of Kings were originally one book in the
Hebrew Scriptures. The present division into two books was first made by the
Septuagint, which now, with the
Vulgate, numbers them as the third and fourth books of Kings, the two
books_of_Samuel being the first and second books of Kings.
They contain the annals of the Jewish commonwealth from the accession of office, in the Kings greater prominence is given to the kingly office.
The authorship of these books is uncertain. There are some portions of them and of the had personal knowledge. Because of this many have traditionally thought that Jeremiah was the author of the books of Kings. An alternative supposition is that
Ezra, after the
Babylonian_captivity, compiled them from documents written perhaps by
David,
Solomon,
Nathan, Gad, and
Iddo, and that he arranged them in the order in which they now exist.
In the threefold division of the Scriptures in the Jewish Tanach, these books are ranked among the "Prophets." They are frequently quoted or alluded to by 4:25, 26; 10:4; comp. 2 Kings 4:29; 3:4, etc.).
The sources of the narrative are referred to as
#the "book of the acts of Solomon" (1 Kings 11:41)
#the "book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah" (14:29; 15:7, 23, etc.)
#the "book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel" (14:19; 15:31; 16:14, 20, 27, etc.).
The date of its composition was perhaps some time between
561_BC, the date of the last chapter (2 Kings 25), when
Jehoiachin was released from captivity by
Evil-merodach, and
538_BC, the date of the decree of deliverance by
Cyrus_the_Great.
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