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Grow With Me

1 Kings

Old Testament · translated from the Hebrew

Solomon builds the temple and reigns with wisdom, but in his old age his heart turns after other gods. The kingdom splits in two, Israel in the north and Judah in the south, and amid idolatry YHWH sends the prophet Elijah.

  1. 1
  2. 2
  3. 3
  4. 4
  5. 5
  6. 6
  7. 7
  8. 8
  9. 9
  10. 10
  11. 11
  12. 12
  13. 13
  14. 14
  15. 15
  16. 16
  17. 17
  18. 18
  19. 19
  20. 20
  21. 21
  22. 22

How it is laid out

  1. Solomon and the templechapters 1–11
  2. The kingdom divideschapters 12–16
  3. Elijahchapters 17–22

Key verses

  • 1 Kings 8:27 — The heavens and the heavens of the heavens cannot contain you
  • 1 Kings 18:21 — How long will you go limping between the two opinions?
  • 1 Kings 3:9 — Give your servant a heart that listens
  • 1 Kings 19:12 — A sound of thin silence

Who wrote it

The book does not say who wrote it. It cites as sources the book of the acts of Solomon and the chronicles of the kings of Israel and of Judah (11:41; 14:19, 29). Jewish tradition attributes it to Jeremiah (Babylonian Talmud, Bava Batra 15a). Authorship is debated.

When it was written

Probably in the exile, around 560 BC or later: 1 and 2 Kings were one book, which ends around 561 BC (2 Kings 25:27).

For whom, and in what situation

The Israelites in exile in Babylon or after. The book explains to them why the kingdom was lost, and measures each king by his faithfulness to YHWH (11:4).

All the books

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