Books of Kings
Archimandrite Nikifor’s Biblical Encyclopedia
—the four books called 1-4 Kings in the Orthodox and Septuagint tradition correspond to 1-2 Samuel and 1-2 Kings in most modern English Bibles. First Samuel narrates the time of Eli and Samuel, the rise and fall of Saul, and the emergence of David. Second Samuel recounts David’s reign. First Kings begins with Solomon and follows the divided kingdoms to the death of Ahab; Second Kings continues to the fall of Samaria and the Babylonian destruction of Jerusalem.