The Fourth Book of Kings (2 Kings)

The book most readers know as 2 Kings is, in the Catholic Bible, the Fourth Book of Kings. The history that begins with Samuel ends here, in the ashes of the Temple. Its twenty-five chapters hold some of the best-known pages of the Old Testament: Elias (Elijah) taken up by a whirlwind, Eliseus (Elisha) and the bears of Bethel, Naaman in the Jordan, the angel who struck Sennacherib's camp, and the book of the law found in the Temple. Each chapter opens with the Latin Vulgate beside the Douay-Rheims.

The name: 2 Kings or 4 Kings

The Septuagint divided Samuel and Kings into four "Books of the Kingdoms", and St Jerome kept the order in the Vulgate as the Libri Regum. The Douay-Rheims follows him. So 1–2 Samuel are the First and Second Books of Kings, and the modern 1–2 Kings are the Third and Fourth. 3 Kings and 4 Kings were once a single book, cut "just in the middle of the history of Ochozias", as the Catholic Encyclopedia (1913) notes. Our article on the Douay-Rheims Bible gives the full table of names.

Authorship of 2 Kings

Scripture names no writer. The oldest tradition, the Babylonian Talmud (Baba Bathra 15a), says that the prophet Jeremias (Jeremiah) "wrote his own book, the Book of Kings, and Lamentations". The Catholic Encyclopedia notes that "not a few among both older and more recent exegetes consider this probable", and gives its reasons. The last chapter of Jeremias repeats 4 Kings 24:18–25:30 almost word for word, and the two books share many expressions (compare 4 Kings 21:12 with Jeremias 19:3).

Bishop Challoner's preface to the Books of Kings adds that they were "not written by one man, nor at one time". Because there was "a succession of prophets in Israel", they "seem to have been written by these prophets." The book itself cites its sources more than thirty times, "the book of the words of the days of the kings of Juda" or "of Israel" (4 Kings 20:20). 2 Paralipomenon (2 Chronicles) shows that these sources included prophetic writings such as "the vision of Isaias" (Isaiah) (2 Paralipomenon 32:32).

The Pontifical Biblical Commission issued no decree on the authorship of Kings. Its response of 23 June 1905 holds that the historical books are to be read as true history unless solid proof shows otherwise. Many modern scholars attribute the book to a "Deuteronomistic" school working in stages, but the Church has not adopted that view.

Date of composition

The book could not have been finished before the middle of the Exile. Its last event is the release of King Joachin from prison in Babylon, in the thirty-seventh year of his captivity, about 562 B.C. (4 Kings 25:27). It says nothing of the return under Cyrus in 538 B.C. If Jeremias was the author, the Catholic Encyclopedia reasons, he wrote near the fall of Jerusalem (587 B.C.), and another hand may have added the last four verses. The events run from about 850 B.C. to the Exile, with the fall of Samaria in 722–721 B.C. and Sennacherib's invasion in 701 B.C.

Summary of 2 Kings, chapter by chapter

The book judges every king by one question: did he walk in the ways of the Lord, or make Israel to sin? It sets the Northern Kingdom (Israel, at Samaria) beside the Southern (Juda, at Jerusalem) until Israel falls, then follows Juda to Babylon.

Elias taken up, Eliseus's miracles (chapters 1–8)

In chapter 1 King Ochozias sends to consult Beelzebub, and Elias meets his messengers: Is there not a God in Israel? Chapter 2 is the hinge of the book. The Jordan parts under Elias's mantle, a fiery chariot, and fiery horses separate the prophets, and Eliseus receives his master's double spirit. He then heals the waters of Jericho with salt, and the boys of Bethel mock him. Eliseus gives water and victory against Moab in chapter 3.

In chapter 4 he multiplies the widow's oil, promises the Sunamitess a son and raises the boy from death, makes a poisoned pot wholesome, and feeds a hundred men with twenty loaves. Chapter 5 is the healing of Naaman. In chapter 6 an axe-head floats, a Syrian army is struck blind, and Samaria starves under siege. Chapter 7 ends the siege overnight, and in chapter 8 Eliseus weeps over Hazael, the future king of Syria.

Jehu, Athalia and the death of Eliseus (chapters 9–13)

In chapter 9 Jehu is anointed and drives furiously to Jezrahel. He kills Joram of Israel and Ochozias of Juda, and Jezabel (Jezebel) is thrown down and eaten by dogs, as Elias foretold. Jehu then destroys the house of Achab and the cult of Baal, but keeps Jeroboam's golden calves (chapter 10). In Jerusalem Athalia murders the royal seed. Only the infant Joas survives, hidden six years in the Temple until the high priest Joiada crowns him (chapter 11). Joas repairs the Temple in chapter 12. In chapter 13 Eliseus dies, and a corpse that touches his bones comes to life.

The fall of Samaria (chapters 14–17)

Chapters 14–16 run quickly through the kings of Juda and the bloody last reigns of Israel. The prophet Jonas appears in passing (14:25). In chapter 17 the Assyrians take Samaria and deport Israel, for so it was that the children of Israel had sinned against the Lord their God ... and they worshipped strange gods. The colonists who replace them mix the Lord's worship with idols.

Ezechias and Isaias (chapters 18–20)

Ezechias (Hezekiah) destroys the high places and breaks the brazen serpent (chapter 18). He spreads Sennacherib's blasphemous letter before the Lord, and an angel strikes the Assyrian camp by night (chapter 19). Sick unto death, he weeps and is given fifteen more years. Then he shows his treasures to envoys from Babylon, and Isaias foretells the captivity (chapter 20). Isaias 36–39 repeats these chapters.

Manasses, Josias and the book of the law (chapters 21–23)

Manasses fills Jerusalem with idols and very much innocent blood (chapter 21). 2 Paralipomenon 33 adds that he repented in captivity. Josias (Josiah) repairs the Temple, where the high priest Helcias finds the book of the law (chapter 22); Challoner's note identifies it as Deuteronomy. The prophetess Holda foretells the coming judgment, but not in Josias's days. In chapter 23 the king renews the covenant, purges idolatry from Jerusalem to Bethel, keeps a Passover such as none since the Judges, and falls at Mageddo.

The fall of Jerusalem (chapters 24–25)

In chapter 24 Nabuchodonosor takes Joachin, the princes and the craftsmen to Babylon in 597 B.C. In chapter 25 Sedecias is blinded and the Temple burned. The book closes on a small light in the darkness: David's heir is lifted out of prison to eat at the king's table all the days of his life. The story of the return is taken up in 1 Esdras (Ezra).

Famous chapters and verses of 2 Kings

2 Kings 2:11. Behold a fiery chariot, and fiery horses parted them both asunder: and Elias went up by a whirlwind into heaven (4 Kings 2). Challoner notes that "by heaven here is meant the air, the lowest of the heavenly regions." Elias did not die, and Christ confirms that he will return: Elias indeed shall come, and restore all things (Matthew 17:11; compare Malachias (Malachi) 4:5). Elias was carried up; Christ, as our article on the Ascension explains, ascended by His own power.

2 Kings 2:23–24. Go up, thou bald head ... and there came forth two bears out of the forest, and tore of them two and forty boys. Challoner explains that the curse was "not the effect of passion", but came from zeal for religion and divine inspiration. God was punishing Bethel, "the chief seat of the calf worship", which "had trained up their children in a prejudice against the true religion and its ministers." St Augustine says the prophet acted "not so much in cruelty as in mystery". He sees in the mockers those who at Calvary, the place of the skull, cried as it were to Christ, "Go up, thou bald head" (Exposition on Psalm 46 (47), 1).

2 Kings 4:1–7. A prophet's widow has nothing in my house but a little oil, and it flows until no vessel is left. The same chapter has the Sunamitess's son, promised (4:16–17) and raised (4:34–35), and death is in the pot (4:38–41) (4 Kings 4).

2 Kings 5:1–14. Go, and wash seven times in the Jordan, and thy flesh shall recover health. Naaman's servants answer his anger: if the prophet had bid thee do some great thing, surely thou shouldst have done it. Then his flesh was restored, like the flesh of a little child (4 Kings 5). Our Lord recalls it at Nazareth: none of them was cleansed but Naaman the Syrian (Luke 4:27).

2 Kings 6:16–17. Fear not: for there are more with us than with them ... and behold the mountain was full of horses, and chariots of fire round about Eliseus (4 Kings 6). These are the hosts of heaven that guard God's servants; see our article on the guardian angels.

2 Kings 8:26. Ochozias was two and twenty years old when he began to reign. 2 Paralipomenon 22:2 reads "forty-two", but that is impossible, since his father died at forty (4 Kings 8:17). It is a copyist's slip in a number, of the kind Leo XIII allows for in Providentissimus Deus (1893).

2 Kings 13:20–21. A dead man cast into the tomb of Eliseus, when it had touched the bones of Eliseus, ... came to life, and stood upon his feet (4 Kings 13). After death his body prophesied, says Ecclesiasticus (Sirach) 48:14. St Cyril of Jerusalem draws the lesson that "virtue resides in the body of the saints" (Catechetical Lecture 18, 16). This is the classic witness to the honour of relics that Trent upheld (Session XXV); see our article on the incorrupt saints.

2 Kings 18:4. Ezechias broke the brazen serpent, which Moses had made, which the people had made an idol. The serpent of Numbers 21 remains a figure of the Cross (John 3:14).

2 Kings 19:35 and 20:5. An angel of the Lord came, and slew in the camp of the Assyrians a hundred and eighty-five thousand (4 Kings 19). Then, to the dying king: I have heard thy prayer, and I have seen thy tears: and behold I have healed thee (4 Kings 20). His thanksgiving is in Isaias 38.

2 Kings 23:25. There was no king before him like unto him, that returned to the Lord with all his heart (4 Kings 23). Josias is praised here, and his death at Mageddo follows in 23:29.

Themes and the Catholic reading

Naaman and Baptism. St Ambrose explained Naaman to the newly baptized as one of "the lessons lately gone through from the Kings" (On the Mysteries 3, 16–18). He learned "that it is not of the waters but of grace that a man is cleansed", and the captive maid who sent him to the prophet is a figure of the Church of the Gentiles. The Church still reads his story in Lent, as the catechumens draw near the font; see Catholic baptism.

The word that changes nature. Ambrose takes the iron that swam and the fire Elias called down as proof that a blessing can change nature (9, 51–52). If the prophet's word brought fire from heaven, "shall not the word of Christ have power to change the nature of the elements?" The salt Eliseus cast into the spring stands behind the salt mingled in holy water.

Elias, Eliseus and Carmel. Eliseus, heir to the double spirit, raises the dead, cleanses a leper and feeds a multitude with a few loaves, as Christ would. Mount Carmel, where he withdrew (2:25; 4:25), gave its name to the order that calls Elias its father, and to Our Lady of Mount Carmel.

Its place in the canon and in the liturgy

The Fourth Book of Kings is protocanonical, received by Jews, Catholics, Orthodox and Protestants alike. The Council of Trent (Session IV, 1546) lists "the four books of Kings" among the sacred books and declares the Vulgate authentic; see the Latin Vulgate.

The 1962 Missal takes three Lenten lessons from it. Naaman (5:1–15) is read on the Monday of the third week, with Luke 4:23–30, and the widow's oil (4:1–7) on the Tuesday. The raising of the Sunamitess's son (4:25–38) is read on the Thursday of the fourth week, beside the widow of Naim. In the Breviary, the Books of Kings are read at Matins through the summer weeks after Pentecost, closing with the fall of Jerusalem. The canticle of Ezechias (Isaias 38) is sung at Lauds on Tuesdays in penitential seasons and in the Office of the Dead (A porta inferi erue, Domine, animam meam). You can pray it in the Breviary.

How to read 2 Kings

Take it in three movements: Eliseus (1–8), the road to Samaria's fall (9–17), and the last century of Juda (18–25). Read 3 Kings 17 first for the earlier life of Elias, and Isaias 36–39 beside chapters 18–20. The short verdict that closes each reign, whether the king did right or evil in the sight of the Lord, is the key the sacred writer gives for reading the whole history.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who wrote 2 Kings in the Bible?

The book names no author. The Talmud (Baba Bathra 15a) attributes it to the prophet Jeremias, and the 1913 Catholic Encyclopedia notes that many exegetes think this probable, since Jeremias 52 repeats 4 Kings 24–25 and the two books share their language. Challoner adds that the writer drew on records left by the succession of prophets in Israel.

When was 2 Kings written?

It was completed during the Babylonian Exile, after Joachin's release from prison about 562 B.C., the last event it records. It says nothing of the return in 538 B.C. If Jeremias wrote it, he did so around the fall of Jerusalem in 587 B.C.

What is 2 Kings about in the Bible?

It is the history of the divided kingdoms from about 850 B.C. to the Exile. It covers Elias and Eliseus, the fall of Israel to Assyria (chapter 17), the reforms of Ezechias and Josias, and the destruction of Jerusalem by Babylon (chapter 25).

Why is 2 Kings called 4 Kings in Catholic Bibles?

The Septuagint and the Vulgate count 1–2 Samuel and 1–2 Kings as four Books of Kings, and the Douay-Rheims follows the Vulgate. So the modern 2 Kings is the Fourth Book of Kings and 1 Kings is the Third Book of Kings.

How many chapters are in 2 Kings?

It has 25 chapters. Chapters 1–8 tell of Elias and Eliseus, 9–17 of the kingdoms up to the fall of Samaria, and 18–25 of Juda from Ezechias to the Exile.

Why did Elisha curse the boys in 2 Kings 2?

Challoner explains that Eliseus acted from zeal for religion and by divine inspiration, not from anger. God was punishing Bethel, the chief seat of the calf worship, which had raised its children to despise the true religion. St Augustine read the scene as a figure of the mocking of Christ at Calvary.

What does 2 Kings 5 teach about Naaman?

Naaman, a Syrian general, was healed of leprosy by washing seven times in the Jordan, and confessed that there is no God but the God of Israel. Christ cites him in Luke 4:27. St Ambrose reads his healing as a figure of Baptism, and the Church reads his story at Mass in Lent.

What is the difference between 1 Kings and 2 Kings?

They were one book in Hebrew, divided later after the Greek and Latin Bibles. The first part (3 Kings in the Douay-Rheims) runs from the death of David and the reign of Solomon to the prophet Elias and King Ochozias of Israel. The second, 4 Kings, carries the same history from Elias's departure to the fall of Samaria and of Jerusalem.

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

Sources. The Fourth Book of Kings (2 Kings), Douay-Rheims (Challoner) with Challoner's notes and preface to the Books of Kings, and the Latin Vulgate; 2 Paralipomenon 22:2, 32:32, 33; Isaias 36–39; Jeremias 52; Ecclesiasticus 48:14; Malachias 4:5; Matthew 17:11; Luke 4:27; John 3:14. Babylonian Talmud, Baba Bathra 15a. St Augustine, Expositions on the Psalms, Psalm 46 (47). St Ambrose, On the Mysteries 3, 16–18 and 9, 51–52. St Cyril of Jerusalem, Catechetical Lectures 18, 16. Council of Trent, Session IV (1546) and Session XXV (1563). Leo XIII, Providentissimus Deus (1893). Pontifical Biblical Commission, response of 23 June 1905. Catholic Encyclopedia (1913), "Third and Fourth Books of Kings". Roman Missal (1962), ferias of Lent; Roman Breviary (1962), Matins after Pentecost, Tuesday Lauds and Office of the Dead.