What the book is
1 Kings carries the story of Israel’s kings from the end of David’s life to the middle of the ninth century BC. It begins with Solomon, who asks God not for riches or long life but for wisdom:
So give Your servant a heart that listens, to judge Your people and to tell good from evil. For who is able to judge so great a people as Yours?”
Solomon builds the temple in Jerusalem, and at its dedication prays, “Heaven itself, even the highest heaven, cannot contain you. How much less this house that I have built!” (8:27). But in his old age his many foreign wives turn his heart to other gods, and after his death the kingdom splits in two: Israel in the north under Jeroboam, Judah in the south under Solomon’s son Rehoboam. The second half of the book follows the kings of both, and above all the prophet Elijah, who confronts King Ahab and the prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel and then flees to Horeb, where God meets him not in wind, earthquake or fire, but in “a faint sound, thin as silence” (19:12).
Who wrote it, and when
1 and 2 Kings were one book in the Hebrew Bible. They name no author, and they cite older sources by name: “the book of the acts of Solomon” and the chronicles of the kings of Israel and of Judah. 2 Kings ends with the exile and the release of King Jehoiachin from prison in Babylon, around 561 BC, so the history was completed during the exile. Many scholars see it as the last part of a longer history running from Deuteronomy through Kings, which judges each king by whether he was faithful to the LORD and kept worship in Jerusalem. Jewish tradition credited Kings to Jeremiah.
How the book is laid out
- Solomon (1–11): his accession, his wisdom, the building and dedication of the temple, his wealth and fame, and his turning to other gods.
- The kingdom divided (12–16): Rehoboam’s harsh answer, Jeroboam’s golden calves at Bethel and Dan, and the kings of Israel and Judah who followed.
- Elijah and Ahab (17–22): the drought, the widow of Zarephath, the contest on Mount Carmel, the still voice at Horeb, Naboth’s vineyard, and the prophet Micaiah.
How Open Word Bible translates 1 Kings
Verse numbers. The verses are numbered as in the Hebrew text, which in chapters 4 and 5 differs from English Bibles: the verses that most English Bibles number 4:21–34 are 5:1–14 here, so Solomon’s three thousand proverbs are in 5:12 here and in 4:32 there.
The 480th year (6:1). The temple was begun “in the 480th year” after the exodus. A decision notes that this figure ties the temple to the coming out of Egypt, and whether it is an exact count or a round figure of twelve generations is marked uncertain and footnoted. The date is one of the starting points for dating the exodus.
Limping between two opinions (18:21). Elijah asks the people, “How long will you go on hobbling between two choices?” The Hebrew picture is of limping or hopping on two branches, and the footnote gives the other renderings, among them the familiar “wavering between two opinions”.
The still small voice (19:12). After the wind, the earthquake and the fire, Elijah hears “a faint sound, thin as silence”. The Hebrew phrase is literally “a sound of thin silence”. The footnote gives “a gentle whisper” and the older “a still small voice”.
Elijah’s taunt (18:27). On Mount Carmel Elijah mocks the prophets of Baal: perhaps their god is busy, or has “gone aside”, which may be a polite way of saying he has gone to relieve himself. The decision says so, marks it uncertain, and footnotes the readings.
Jeroboam’s calves (12:28). “Here are your gods, Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt”: the Hebrew can be read as plural or as singular, “your God”, and the footnote gives both, as the same words echo the golden calf of Exodus 32.
The divine name. God’s personal name appears often in Kings, above all in Elijah’s story: his name means “my God is the LORD”, and the people’s cry on Carmel is “The LORD, he is God!” (18:39). The text writes it “the LORD” in small capitals, and a reader setting shows “Yahweh” instead. See the divine name.