From A Storehouse of Knowledge

The First and Second Books of Chronicles are two books of the Old Testament, known as 1 Chronicles and 2 Chronicles for short. They are books of history, recounting the events of the Jewish kingdom from the end of Saul's reign to the conquest of Judah by the Babylonians, a period spanning over 400 years ^[1][2]. 1 Chronicles begins with genealogies of the twelve tribes of Israel and then tells the events from the end of Saul's reign to the death of David. 2 Chronicles chronicles the reigns of Solomon and his successors up until the Babylonian Captivity.

The Books of Chronicles contain a lot of the same information as the Books of Kings, but Chronicles is more tightly focused on the Kings of Judah, whereas Kings contains more about the northern kingdom of Israel. This overlap is occasionally referred to in the text, for example in 2 Chronicles 20:34, where the reader is referred to the Book of Kings to learn more about the acts of Jehoshaphat. Also, a lot of Kings is dedicated to the stories of Elijah and Elisha, but neither they nor any other prophets feature significantly in Chronicles.

A persistent theme of Chronicles is the rewarding of good kings and the punishment of wicked kings. In most cases, at the start of each king's reign it is stated whether that king followed God's commandments or not. The majority of kings are judged to have been unrighteous, the most common transgression being infidelity to God through worshipping false gods, building shrines to false gods, and allowing the people to worship false gods. The righteous kings typically have stable, prosperous reigns, whereas the unrighteous are beset by rebellions, foreign invasions and disease.

Contents 1 Structure 1.1 Genealogies 1.2 Main chronology 2 References

Structure

The structure of the Books of Chronicles is as follows:

Genealogies

• 1 Chronicles 1: The descent from Adam to Isaac, the descendents of Abraham and Isaac apart from through Israel, and the kings of Edom who ruled the land of Judah before the Israelites settled there.
• 1 Chronicles 2-4: The descendents of Judah and Simeon, including the house of David.
• 1 Chronicles 5: The descendents of Reuben and Gad.
• 1 Chronicles 6: The descendents of Levi.
• 1 Chronicles 7-8: The descendents of all Jacob's other sons, including the house of Saul (a descendent of Benjamin).
• 1 Chronicles 9: The Israelites who resettled Judah after their exile in Babylon.

Main chronology

• 1 Chronicles 10: The death of Saul.
• 1 Chronicles 11-22: The reign of David, including the plans for the Temple.
• 1 Chronicles 23-27: Records of a census conducted near the end of David's reign.
• 1 Chronicles 28: David is succeeded by Solomon.
• 2 Chronicles 1-8: The beginning of Solomon's reign and the building of the Temple.
• 2 Chronicles 9: The rest of Solomon's reign.
• 2 Chronicles 10-12: The reign of Solomon's son Rehoboam, when the northern kingdom of Israel split from Judah.
• 2 Chronicles 13-15: The reigns of Abijah and Asa.
• 2 Chronicles 16-20: The reign of Jehoshaphat.
• 2 Chronicles 21-25: The reigns of the wicked kings Joram, Ahaziah, Joash and Amaziah.
• 2 Chronicles 26-28: The reigns of the good kings Uzziah and Jotham.
• 2 Chronicles 29-32: The illustrious reign of Hezekiah.
• 2 Chronicles 33: The reigns of the wicked kings Manasseh and Amon, who undid the good work Hezekiah had done.
• 2 Chronicles 34-35: The reign of Josiah, when the book of the law was rediscovered and the worship of God was renewed.
• 2 Chronicles 36: The successors of Josiah, when Judah was subjugated by Egypt and then conquered by the Babylonians.

References

1. ↑ Jewish Virtual Library. David, who followed Saul, came to the throne around 1010 BC.
2. ↑ Jewish Virtual Library. Zedekiah, the last king, reigned until 587 BC.

Books of the Bible
Old Testament
Pentateuch (Torah)	Genesis • Exodus • Leviticus • Numbers • Deuteronomy
History	Joshua • Judges • Ruth • I Samuel • II Samuel • I Kings • II Kings • I Chronicles • II Chronicles • Ezra • Nehemiah • Esther
Wisdom Literature	Job • Psalms • Proverbs • Ecclesiastes • Song of Solomon
Major Prophets	Isaiah • Jeremiah • Lamentations • Ezekiel • Daniel
Minor Prophets	Hosea • Joel • Amos • Obadiah • Jonah • Micah • Nahum • Habakkuk • Zephaniah • Haggai • Zechariah • Malachi
New Testament
The Gospels	According to Matthew • According to Mark • According to Luke • According to John
History	Acts of the Apostles
Pauline Epistles	Romans • I Corinthians • II Corinthians • Galatians • Ephesians • Philippians • Colossians • I Thessalonians • II Thessalonians • I Timothy • II Timothy • Titus • Philemon
General Epistles	Hebrews • James • I Peter • II Peter • I John • II John • III John • Jude
Prophecy	The Revelation to John