2 Kings (jan 1, 920 BC – jan 1, 580 BC)
Description:
Writer(s): Jeremiah
Place Written: Judah and Egypt
Writing Completed: 580 B.C.E.
Time Covered: c. 920-580 B.C.E.
Books of the Holy Scriptures relating the history of Israel from the last days of King David until the release of King Jehoiachin from prison in Babylon.
Originally the two books of Kings comprised one roll called Kings (Heb., Mela·khim'), and in the Hebrew Bible today they are still counted as one book, the fourth in the section known as the Former Prophets. In the Greek Septuagint the Books of the Kings were called Third and Fourth Kingdoms. In the Latin Vulgate these books were together known as the four books of Kings because Jerome preferred the name Regum (Kings), in harmony with the Hebrew title, to the literal translation of the Septuagint title Regnorum (Kingdoms). Division into two books in the Septuagint became expedient because the Greek translation with vowels required almost twice as much space as did Hebrew, in which no vowels were used until the second half of the first millennium of the Common Era. The division between Second Samuel and First Kings has not always been at the same place in the Greek versions. Lucian, for one, in his recension of the Septuagint, made the division so that First Kings commenced with what is 1 Kings 2:12 in our present-day Bibles.
First Kings covers a period of about 129 years, commencing with the final days of King David, about 1040 B.C.E., and running through to the death of Judean King Jehoshaphat in about 911 B.C.E. (1 Ki 22:50) Second Kings begins with Ahaziah's reign (c. 920 B.C.E.) and carries through to the end of the 37th year of Jehoiachin's exile, 580 B.C.E., a period of about 340 years. (2 Ki 1:1, 2; 25:27-30) Hence the combined accounts of the books of Kings cover about four and a half centuries of Hebrew history. As the events recorded therein include those up to 580 B.C.E., these books could not have been completed before this date, and because there is no mention of the termination of the Babylonian exile, they, as one roll, were undoubtedly finished before that time.
it-2 pp. 170-174
Added to timeline:
Bible History 2.0
This is a work in progress.
This is in no way affiliated w...
Date:
Images:
![]()
Geo:
