The height of the one pillar was eighteen cubits, and the chapiter upon it was brass: and the height of the chapiter three cubits; and the wreathen work, and pomegranates upon the chapiter round about, all of brass: and like unto these had the second pillar with wreathen work.
2 Kings
The Book of 2 Kings chronicles the final chapters of Israel and Judah, tracing a steady descent from instability to exile. Continuing the narrative from 1 Kings, the book records the reigns of kings in both the northern kingdom of Israel and the southern kingdom of Judah, evaluating each ruler by a single standard: faithfulness to the LORD.
2 Kings opens with the prophetic transition from Elijah to Elisha. Elisha’s ministry demonstrates God’s power, mercy, and patience through miracles, provision, and prophetic counsel. Even as national leadership falters, God continues to reach individuals with compassion and truth.
The northern kingdom’s decline accelerates through persistent idolatry and political chaos. Despite repeated warnings from prophets, Israel refuses to turn back to God. The result is inevitable: conquest by Assyria and the fall of Samaria. The book is explicit—this disaster is not accidental, but the consequence of long-term covenant unfaithfulness.
Judah’s story unfolds alongside Israel’s, alternating between reform and rebellion. Faithful kings such as Hezekiah and Josiah bring temporary renewal through repentance and restoration of worship. These moments reveal God’s readiness to forgive and restore when leaders and people return to Him wholeheartedly.
Yet reform proves short-lived. After Josiah’s death, Judah quickly returns to corruption and idolatry. Prophetic warnings intensify, but hearts remain hardened. Eventually, Babylon rises as God’s instrument of judgment. Jerusalem is besieged, the temple destroyed, and the people carried into exile.
The book closes in apparent tragedy, with the land emptied and the monarchy dismantled. Still, even in its final verses, a quiet note of hope remains. The release of a Davidic king from prison hints that God’s promises have not been erased—only delayed.
The Book of 2 Kings teaches that leadership matters, obedience matters, and patience has limits. It also affirms that God remains faithful to His covenant purposes, even when judgment falls. History moves forward under God’s sovereign hand, and exile is never the end of the story.
2 Kings 25:18
And the captain of the guard took Seraiah the chief priest, and Zephaniah the second priest, and the three keepers of the door:
2 Kings 25:19
And out of the city he took an officer that was set over the men of war, and five men of them that were in the king’s presence, which were found in the city, and the principal scribe of the host, which mustered the people of the land, and threescore men of the people of […]
2 Kings 25:2
And the city was besieged unto the eleventh year of king Zedekiah.
2 Kings 25:20
And Nebuzaradan captain of the guard took these, and brought them to the king of Babylon to Riblah:
2 Kings 25:21
And the king of Babylon smote them, and slew them at Riblah in the land of Hamath. So Judah was carried away out of their land.
2 Kings 25:22
And as for the people that remained in the land of Judah, whom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had left, even over them he made Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, ruler.
2 Kings 25:23
And when all the captains of the armies, they and their men, heard that the king of Babylon had made Gedaliah governor, there came to Gedaliah to Mizpah, even Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, and Johanan the son of Careah, and Seraiah the son of Tanhumeth the Netophathite, and Jaazaniah the son of a Maachathite, […]
2 Kings 25:24
And Gedaliah sware to them, and to their men, and said unto them, Fear not to be the servants of the Chaldees: dwell in the land, and serve the king of Babylon; and it shall be well with you.
2 Kings 25:25
But it came to pass in the seventh month, that Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, the son of Elishama, of the seed royal, came, and ten men with him, and smote Gedaliah, that he died, and the Jews and the Chaldees that were with him at Mizpah.
2 Kings 25:26
And all the people, both small and great, and the captains of the armies, arose, and came to Egypt: for they were afraid of the Chaldees.
2 Kings 25:27
And it came to pass in the seven and thirtieth year of the captivity of Jehoiachin king of Judah, in the twelfth month, on the seven and twentieth day of the month, that Evilmerodach king of Babylon in the year that he began to reign did lift up the head of Jehoiachin king of Judah […]
2 Kings 25:28
And he spake kindly to him, and set his throne above the throne of the kings that were with him in Babylon;
2 Kings 25:29
And changed his prison garments: and he did eat bread continually before him all the days of his life.
2 Kings 25:3
And on the ninth day of the fourth month the famine prevailed in the city, and there was no bread for the people of the land.
2 Kings 25:30
And his allowance was a continual allowance given him of the king, a daily rate for every day, all the days of his life.
2 Kings 25:4
And the city was broken up, and all the men of war fled by night by the way of the gate between two walls, which is by the king’s garden: (now the Chaldees were against the city round about:) and the king went the way toward the plain.
2 Kings 25:5
And the army of the Chaldees pursued after the king, and overtook him in the plains of Jericho: and all his army were scattered from him.
2 Kings 25:6
So they took the king, and brought him up to the king of Babylon to Riblah; and they gave judgment upon him.
2 Kings 25:7
And they slew the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes, and put out the eyes of Zedekiah, and bound him with fetters of brass, and carried him to Babylon.
2 Kings 25:8
And in the fifth month, on the seventh day of the month, which is the nineteenth year of king Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, came Nebuzaradan, captain of the guard, a servant of the king of Babylon, unto Jerusalem:
2 Kings 25:9
And he burnt the house of the LORD, and the king’s house, and all the houses of Jerusalem, and every great man’s house burnt he with fire.
2 Kings 3:1
Now Jehoram the son of Ahab began to reign over Israel in Samaria the eighteenth year of Jehoshaphat king of Judah, and reigned twelve years.
2 Kings 3:10
And the king of Israel said, Alas! that the LORD hath called these three kings together, to deliver them into the hand of Moab!
2 Kings 3:11
But Jehoshaphat said, Is there not here a prophet of the LORD, that we may inquire of the LORD by him? And one of the king of Israel’s servants answered and said, Here is Elisha the son of Shaphat, which poured water on the hands of Elijah.
2 Kings 3:12
And Jehoshaphat said, The word of the LORD is with him. So the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat and the king of Edom went down to him.
2 Kings 3:13
And Elisha said unto the king of Israel, What have I to do with thee? get thee to the prophets of thy father, and to the prophets of thy mother. And the king of Israel said unto him, Nay: for the LORD hath called these three kings together, to deliver them into the hand of […]
2 Kings 3:14
And Elisha said, As the LORD of hosts liveth, before whom I stand, surely, were it not that I regard the presence of Jehoshaphat the king of Judah, I would not look toward thee, nor see thee.
2 Kings 3:15
But now bring me a minstrel. And it came to pass, when the minstrel played, that the hand of the LORD came upon him.
2 Kings 3:16
And he said, Thus saith the LORD, Make this valley full of ditches.