In the twenty and seventh year of Jeroboam king of Israel began Azariah son of Amaziah king of Judah to reign.
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 15:10
And Shallum the son of Jabesh conspired against him, and smote him before the people, and slew him, and reigned in his stead.
2 Kings 15:11
And the rest of the acts of Zachariah, behold, they are written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel.
2 Kings 15:12
This was the word of the LORD which he spake unto Jehu, saying, Thy sons shall sit on the throne of Israel unto the fourth generation. And so it came to pass.
2 Kings 15:13
Shallum the son of Jabesh began to reign in the nine and thirtieth year of Uzziah king of Judah; and he reigned a full month in Samaria.
2 Kings 15:14
For Menahem the son of Gadi went up from Tirzah, and came to Samaria, and smote Shallum the son of Jabesh in Samaria, and slew him, and reigned in his stead.
2 Kings 15:15
And the rest of the acts of Shallum, and his conspiracy which he made, behold, they are written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel.
2 Kings 15:16
Then Menahem smote Tiphsah, and all that were therein, and the coasts thereof from Tirzah: because they opened not to him, therefore he smote it; and all the women therein that were with child he ripped up.
2 Kings 15:17
In the nine and thirtieth year of Azariah king of Judah began Menahem the son of Gadi to reign over Israel, and reigned ten years in Samaria.
2 Kings 15:18
And he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD: he departed not all his days from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin.
2 Kings 15:19
And Pul the king of Assyria came against the land: and Menahem gave Pul a thousand talents of silver, that his hand might be with him to confirm the kingdom in his hand.
2 Kings 15:2
Sixteen years old was he when he began to reign, and he reigned two and fifty years in Jerusalem. And his mother’s name was Jecholiah of Jerusalem.
2 Kings 15:20
And Menahem exacted the money of Israel, even of all the mighty men of wealth, of each man fifty shekels of silver, to give to the king of Assyria. So the king of Assyria turned back, and stayed not there in the land.
2 Kings 15:21
And the rest of the acts of Menahem, and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel?
2 Kings 15:22
And Menahem slept with his fathers; and Pekahiah his son reigned in his stead.
2 Kings 15:23
In the fiftieth year of Azariah king of Judah Pekahiah the son of Menahem began to reign over Israel in Samaria, and reigned two years.
2 Kings 15:24
And he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD: he departed not from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin.
2 Kings 15:25
But Pekah the son of Remaliah, a captain of his, conspired against him, and smote him in Samaria, in the palace of the king’s house, with Argob and Arieh, and with him fifty men of the Gileadites: and he killed him, and reigned in his room.
2 Kings 15:26
And the rest of the acts of Pekahiah, and all that he did, behold, they are written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel.
2 Kings 15:27
In the two and fiftieth year of Azariah king of Judah Pekah the son of Remaliah began to reign over Israel in Samaria, and reigned twenty years.
2 Kings 15:28
And he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD: he departed not from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin.
2 Kings 15:29
In the days of Pekah king of Israel came Tiglathpileser king of Assyria, and took Ijon, and Abelbethmaachah, and Janoah, and Kedesh, and Hazor, and Gilead, and Galilee, all the land of Naphtali, and carried them captive to Assyria.
2 Kings 15:3
And he did that which was right in the sight of the LORD, according to all that his father Amaziah had done;
2 Kings 15:30
And Hoshea the son of Elah made a conspiracy against Pekah the son of Remaliah, and smote him, and slew him, and reigned in his stead, in the twentieth year of Jotham the son of Uzziah.
2 Kings 15:31
And the rest of the acts of Pekah, and all that he did, behold, they are written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel.
2 Kings 15:32
In the second year of Pekah the son of Remaliah king of Israel began Jotham the son of Uzziah king of Judah to reign.
2 Kings 15:33
Five and twenty years old was he when he began to reign, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem. And his mother’s name was Jerusha, the daughter of Zadok.
2 Kings 15:34
And he did that which was right in the sight of the LORD: he did according to all that his father Uzziah had done.
2 Kings 15:35
Howbeit the high places were not removed: the people sacrificed and burned incense still in the high places. He built the higher gate of the house of the LORD.
2 Kings 15:36
Now the rest of the acts of Jotham, and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?