The Third Book of Kings (1 Kings)

The book most readers know as 1 Kings is, in the Catholic Bible, the Third Book of Kings. It runs from the deathbed of David to the death of Achab (Ahab). In it Solomon asks for an understanding heart, the glory of the Lord fills the Temple, and Elias (Elijah) brings fire down on Carmel and hears God in a whistling of a gentle air on Horeb. Each chapter on this site opens with the Latin Vulgate beside the Douay-Rheims.

Why is 1 Kings called 3 Kings in the Catholic Bible?

The Septuagint counted Samuel and Kings as four "Books of the Kingdoms", and St Jerome kept that order in the Vulgate as the four Books of Kings. The Douay-Rheims follows the Vulgate. So 1 Kings and 2 Kings in a Catholic Bible are 1 and 2 Samuel, and 3 and 4 Kings are what other Bibles call 1 and 2 Kings. As Challoner's preface says, these books "are called by the holy fathers the third and fourth book of Kings; but by the Hebrews, the first and second." In Hebrew they were one book, Melakhim, and the story runs straight on into 4 Kings. This is the numbering of the Douay-Rheims Bible used on this site.

Who wrote 1 Kings?

The book names no author. The Babylonian Talmud (Baba Bathra 15a) ascribes the Books of Kings to the prophet Jeremias. The Catholic Encyclopedia (1910) says that "not a few among both older and more recent exegetes consider this probable." The language of Kings is close to that of Jeremias, and Jeremias 52 repeats almost word for word the last chapters of 4 Kings.

Challoner's preface gives the common view in another form: "it seems most probable they were not written by one man; nor at one time", but by the "succession of prophets in Israel, who recorded, by divine inspiration, the most remarkable things that happened in their days." 2 Paralipomenon (2 Chronicles) names such records: for Solomon, the words of Nathan the prophet, the books of Ahias the Silonite and the vision of Addo the seer (9:29). The two views agree: the inspired author cites such sources more than thirty times, such as the book of the words of the days of Solomon (3 Kings 11:41), and the deeds of Elias read as if "the original narrator was an eyewitness" (Catholic Encyclopedia).

The Pontifical Biblical Commission gave no decree on the authorship of Kings. Its response of 23 June 1905 holds that the historical books are to be taken as true history unless solid proof shows otherwise. Many modern scholars ascribe it to a school of editors working over centuries.

When was 1 Kings written?

The events belong to the tenth and ninth centuries before Christ. Solomon began the Temple in the four hundred and eightieth year after the children of Israel came out of the land of Egypt (3 Kings 6:1). The full work of 3 and 4 Kings ends with the release of King Joachin in Babylon (4 Kings 25:27), in 562 B.C. For this reason the Catholic Encyclopedia concludes that the books "were not completed in their present form before the middle of the Exile." If Jeremias was the author, he wrote around the fall of Jerusalem (587 B.C.), using records from the reigns themselves.

What is 1 Kings about? A summary

One question runs through the book: will the king walk before God in simplicity of heart (9:4), as David did? Every king is judged by his faithfulness to the true religion, not by his wars, and when idols are set up God sends prophets to call him back.

David's succession and Solomon's wisdom (chapters 1–4)

In chapters 1–2 the aged David has Solomon anointed at Gihon, defeating the plot of Adonias, and dies after reigning forty years. In chapter 3 the Lord says to Solomon at Gabaon, Ask what thou wilt that I should give thee. He asks for wisdom, and God adds riches and glory. His judgment between the two harlots shows that the wisdom of God was in him. Chapter 4 praises his largeness of heart as the sand that is on the sea shore and his three thousand parables.

The Temple of Solomon (chapters 5–8)

Hiram of Tyre sends cedar and workmen in chapter 5. Chapter 6 tells how the house of the Lord was built in seven years of stones made ready beforehand, so that there was neither hammer nor axe nor any tool of iron heard in the house. Chapter 7 adds the palace, the two pillars of brass and the molten sea. In chapter 8 the ark is brought into the holy of holies, a cloud fills the house, and Solomon kneels to pray the long prayer of dedication.

Solomon's glory and fall (chapters 9–11)

In chapter 9 God answers Solomon's prayer, my eyes and my heart shall be there always, and warns what will follow on idolatry. Chapter 10 brings the queen of Saba (Sheba) and describes the ivory throne and the gold of Ophir. Then, in chapter 11, when he was now old, his heart was turned away by women to follow strange gods. The prophet Ahias tears his new garment into twelve pieces and gives ten to Jeroboam, and Solomon dies.

The kingdom divided (chapters 12–16)

In chapter 12 Roboam spurns the counsel of the old men and loses ten tribes to Jeroboam. Jeroboam sets up golden calves at Bethel and Dan: Behold thy gods, O Israel. In chapter 13 a man of God from Juda foretells King Josias by name, then disobeys God and is killed by a lion. Chapters 14–16 pass quickly through the reigns. In Israel one house after another is cut off; Hiel rebuilds Jericho at the cost of his sons, according to the word of the Lord, which he spoke in the hand of Josue (Josue 6); and in chapter 16 Achab marries Jezabel and serves Baal.

Elias the prophet (chapters 17–19)

Chapter 17: Elias the Thesbite shuts up the heavens. Ravens feed him at the torrent of Carith, the widow of Sarephta's meal and oil do not fail, and he raises her son. Chapter 18: on Carmel he stands alone against four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal, the fire of the Lord falls, and at his prayer a little cloud brings the rain. Chapter 19: he flees from Jezabel, is fed by an angel, walks forty days to Horeb, meets God in the gentle air, and casts his mantle over Eliseus.

Achab, Naboth and Micheas (chapters 20–22)

Achab twice defeats the Syrians and is rebuked for sparing Benadad (chapter 20). Jezabel has Naboth stoned for his vineyard, and Elias pronounces God's sentence (chapter 21). In chapter 22 four hundred court prophets promise victory, Micheas alone tells the truth, and Achab dies at Ramoth Galaad as foretold. The last verses record the death of good King Josaphat and the evil reign of Ochozias, and the story continues in 4 Kings.

Famous chapters and verses of 1 Kings

1 Kings 2:2–3. David's last charge: I am going the way of all flesh: take thou courage, and shew thyself a man. And keep the charge of the Lord thy God (3 Kings 2).

1 Kings 3:9 and 3:16–28. Give therefore to thy servant an understanding heart, to judge thy people, and discern between good and evil. This is the model of every prayer for wisdom. The judgment that follows ends: Give the living child to this woman ... for she is the mother thereof.

1 Kings 8:27 and 8:61. If heaven, and the heavens of heavens cannot contain thee, how much less this house which I have built? Solomon ends with Let our hearts also be perfect with the Lord our God (3 Kings 8).

1 Kings 10:1–10. The queen of Saba found that the half hath not been told me. Our Lord cites her: behold a greater than Solomon here (Matthew 12:42).

1 Kings 17:1 and 17:17–24. As the Lord liveth the God of Israel, in whose sight I stand are Elias's first words. At Sarephta he gives back the widow's son: Behold thy son liveth. Our Lord recalls that Elias was sent to Sarepta of Sidon, to a widow woman (Luke 4:26).

1 Kings 18:21, 18:27 and 18:40. How long do you halt between two sides? if the Lord be God, follow him: but if Baal, then follow him. At noon Elias mocks the prophets of Baal: perhaps he is talking, or is in an inn, or on a journey, or perhaps he is asleep, and must be awaked. He has them slain at the torrent Cison, as the law commanded for prophets who draw the people to false gods (Deuteronomy 13).

1 Kings 19:4–8. Under the juniper tree: It is enough for me, Lord, take away my soul. Challoner says he asked to die "not out of impatience or pusillanimity, but out of zeal against sin." The angel answers, Arise, eat: for thou hast yet a great way to go. No passage of Scripture speaks more gently to the discouraged, and we return to it in what God says about depression.

1 Kings 19:11–13. The Lord is not in the wind ... the Lord is not in the earthquake ... the Lord is not in the fire, and after the fire a whistling of a gentle air (other versions: "a still small voice"), and the masters of mental prayer have long drawn from it the silence in which the soul listens.

1 Kings 19:18. I will leave me seven thousand men in Israel, whose knees have not been bowed before Baal. St Paul applies it to the faithful remnant (Romans 11:4).

1 Kings 21:19. Elias to Achab, in Naboth's vineyard: In this place, wherein the dogs have licked the blood of Naboth, they shall lick thy blood also (3 Kings 21).

Themes and the Catholic reading

Solomon, a shadow of Christ. St Augustine (The City of God XVII, 8) teaches that God's promise to David of a kingdom for ever was not fulfilled in Solomon, who fell into idolatry, but in Christ. "Even in Solomon there appeared some image of the future event, in that he built the temple, and had peace according to his name." Of Solomon's life Augustine warns: "after good beginnings, made a bad end" (XVII, 20).

The Temple and the Church. For Challoner the stones made ready beforehand are the faithful, who "must first be hewn and polished here by many trials and sufferings" before they take their place in the heavenly Jerusalem.

The bread of Elias and the Eucharist. The hearth cake the angel brought is, says Challoner, "a figure of the bread of life which we receive in the blessed sacrament; by the strength of which we are to be supported in our journey through the wilderness of this world till we come to the true mountain of God." The Church sings it at Matins of Corpus Christi: Respexit Elias ad caput suum subcinericium panem ... et ambulavit in fortitudine cibi illius usque ad montem Dei, with the verse If any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever. The same figure stands behind Viaticum, the Eucharist given to the dying as food for the last journey.

Our Lady. When Bethsabee came to Solomon, a throne was set for the king's mother, and she sat on his right hand (2:19). This recalls the verse the Church sings of Mary: The queen stood on thy right hand (Psalm 44 (45):10). The little cloud ... like a man's foot that rose from the sea at Elias's prayer (18:44) was read by the medieval Carmelite writers as a figure of the Virgin who brings the rain of grace. That reading lies behind the devotion to Our Lady of Mount Carmel.

Elias, the prophet who will return. Elias does not die but is taken up in a whirlwind (4 Kings 2:11). God promises to send Elias the prophet, before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord (Malachias 4:5). St John the Baptist came in the spirit and power of Elias (Luke 1:17), and Elias stands with Moses at the Transfiguration (Luke 9:30). St James holds up his prayer to us all: Elias was a man passible like unto us (James 5:17), and Ecclesiasticus 48:1 says that his word burnt like a torch.

Idolatry and repentance. Jeroboam's calves, Achab's Baal and flattering court prophets bring ruin; yet even Achab is spared in his own days because he hath humbled himself (21:29).

Its place in the canon and in the liturgy

The Third Book of Kings is protocanonical: Jews, Catholics, Orthodox and Protestants all receive it, so the question of the deuterocanonical books does not arise. The Council of Trent (Session IV, 1546) lists "the four books of Kings" among the sacred books and declares the Latin Vulgate authentic. The same reigns are retold in 2 Paralipomenon 1–20.

In the Roman Breviary of 1960, the book begins at Matins on the seventh Sunday after Pentecost, Incipit liber tertius Regum, and is read for about two weeks, as far as Elias on Carmel. The 1962 Missal reads it twice in Lent: on Ember Wednesday, Elias walking forty days in the strength of the angel's bread (19:3–8); and on Friday of the fourth week, Elias raising the widow's son (17:17–24), with the Gospel of Lazarus. Those lessons can be prayed each day in our Breviary.

How to read 1 Kings

Read it in three sittings: Solomon (chapters 1–11), the divided kingdom (12–16), and Elias with Achab (17–22). Watch the refrain on every king, he did that which was right or he did evil in the sight of the Lord, and pray Solomon's prayer in chapter 8 slowly. Then go straight on to 4 Kings, since the story of Elias ends only with the fiery chariot.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who wrote the book of 1 Kings?

The book names no author. The Talmud (Baba Bathra 15a) ascribes the Books of Kings to the prophet Jeremias, and the Catholic Encyclopedia (1910) notes that not a few exegetes think this probable, since the language of Kings closely resembles his prophecy. Challoner's Douay preface holds that they were written by the prophets who recorded the events of their own days.

When was 1 Kings written?

Its events belong to the tenth and ninth centuries before Christ and come from records kept at the time. The full work of 3 and 4 Kings ends with the release of King Joachin in Babylon (562 B.C.), so it was completed during the Exile.

What is 1 Kings about in the Bible?

It tells of Solomon's wisdom, Temple and fall (chapters 1–11), the division of his kingdom into Juda and Israel (12–16), and the prophet Elias against King Achab and Jezabel (17–22). Every king is judged by whether he was faithful to the Lord. The story continues in 4 Kings (2 Kings).

How many chapters are in 1 Kings?

The Third Book of Kings (1 Kings) has 22 chapters, as in modern Bibles. The longest is chapter 8, the dedication of the Temple.

Where is Elijah in 1 Kings?

Elias (Elijah) the Thesbite appears suddenly in 3 Kings 17 and fills chapters 17–19 and 21: the drought, the widow of Sarephta, the fire on Carmel, the flight to Horeb and the call of Eliseus, and the sentence on Achab for Naboth's vineyard. His story ends in 4 Kings 2, when he is taken up in a fiery chariot.

What does the book of 1 Kings teach us?

It teaches that God keeps His promise to the house of David even when its kings fail, a promise fulfilled in Christ. It shows that idolatry ruins a people and that wisdom is no protection without a heart perfect with the Lord. Through Elias it teaches the power of prayer.

What does 1 Kings 19:11–12 mean?

On Horeb the Lord was not in the wind, the earthquake or the fire, but came in a whistling of a gentle air ("a still small voice"). The discouraged prophet learns that God works in quiet as well as in fire from heaven, a lesson of silence in prayer. God then sends him back to work.

Which verse in 1 Kings mentions a mother's witchcraft?

In 3 Kings 15:13 King Asa removed his mother Maacha, from being the princess in the sacrifices of Priapus, and burnt her idol. The verse on a mother's witchcraft that people often look for is in the next book: the fornications of Jezabel, thy mother, and her many sorceries (4 Kings 9:22), that is, 2 Kings 9:22.

Read the whole Third Book of Kings verse by verse, Latin and English side by side, in the Iter Fidei Catholic Bible app.

Sources. The Third Book of Kings (1 Kings), Douay-Rheims (Challoner) with Challoner's preface and notes, and the Latin Vulgate; 4 Kings 2:11, 9:22, 25:27; 2 Paralipomenon 9:29; Deuteronomy 13:5; Psalm 44 (45):10; Ecclesiasticus 48:1; Malachias 4:5; Matthew 12:42; Luke 1:17, 4:25–26, 9:30; Romans 11:2–4; James 5:17–18. Talmud, Baba Bathra 15a. St Augustine, The City of God XVII, 8 and 20. Josue 6:26; 3 Kings 16:34. John 6:52. Council of Trent, Session IV (1546), Decree on the Canonical Scriptures. Pontifical Biblical Commission, response of 23 June 1905 on the historical narratives of Scripture. Catholic Encyclopedia (1910), "Third and Fourth Books of Kings". Roman Breviary (1960), Matins of the seventh week after Pentecost and of Corpus Christi. Roman Missal (1962), Ember Wednesday of Lent and Friday of the fourth week of Lent.