This is a helpful reference giving suggested dates for the reigns of the kings of the nations from the reign of Saul, through the time of the divided monarchy in Israel and Judah, to the end of the Old Testament period. Dates of rulers during the inter-testamental period are available on the Ptolemy and Seleucus page.
Setting dates for the kings of the divided kingdom is very difficult, so dates will vary in different reference books. An initial reading of the Books of I and II Kings would give the impression that it should be easy to construct a time-line of the period of the divided kingdom, as each king is introduced in relation to the king reigning in the other kingdom. However, on further study, setting a chronology of the kings is found to be difficult. There are three main reasons for this:
1. The accession year
The question is whether the first year of the reign of the king is counted, as Hebrews often counted time inclusively. In modern terms, if a king ruled from December 2004 to January 2006, we would say he ruled for one year and two months. However if the accession year is counted, he ruled for three years. This would mean that the year with a change in king can easily be counted twice, if not three times. During the early years of the divided monarchy, Israel counted the accession year, but Judah did not.
2. The time of New Year
During this period, Judah started their New Year in the month of Tishri (September or October), but Israel’s New Year was in Nisan (March or April). Because the reigns of kings are normally dated by the king in the other kingdom, confusion of years would be easy.
3. Regencies
Regencies occurred particularly in Judah, but not in Israel. This is when the son of the current king began his reign when his father reached old age and was not capable of ruling the kingdom effectively. This system brought stability to the monarchy at a time of potential weakness. When David reached old age, Solomon was anointed king before David had died (1 Kg 1). Jotham acted as regent when his father Uzziah was struck down with leprosy (2 Chr 26:21). There may have been regencies between several other kings, including Asa and Jehoshaphat, Ahaz and Hezekiah, and Hezkiah and Manasseh. The Book of Kings does not always indicate whether the period of regency has been counted in the length of a king’s reign. So when constructing the chronology, it would be easy to count the period of regency twice, thus making the chronology inaccurate.
4. Competing kings
The history of the northern kingdom of Israel was often turbulent, with frequent changes in king and dynasty involving violence. Often there were two rival claimants to the throne, normally ruling from different centres, bringing civil war to the nation. Before Omri became sole king, the nation was divided between him and another claimant to the throne called Tibni (1 Kg 16:21-22). This situation can also bring confusion to the dates.
Suggested dates for kings of Judah, Israel and other nations
The dates suggested below are not perfect, but are those which are normally accepted in Biblical studies. All dates are BC.
The list also includes the references in the Books of Kings and Chronicles for the reigns of each of the kings of Judah, and the references in the Books of Kings for the reigns of each of the kings of Israel.
United Kingdom
1 |
Saul |
1050/45? |
- |
1011/10 |
2 |
David |
1011/10 |
- |
971/70 |
3 |
Solomon |
971/70 |
- |
931/30 |
Kings of Judah
1 |
Rehoboam |
931/30 |
- |
913 |
|
(1 Kg 12:1-24, 14:21-31, 2 Chr 10:1 - 12:16) |
2 |
Abijam |
913 |
- |
911/10 |
|
(1 Kg 15:1-8, 2 Chr 13:1-22) |
3 |
Asa |
911/10 |
- |
870/69 |
|
1 Kg 15:9-24, 2 Chr 14:1 - 16:14) |
4 |
Jehoshapat |
870/69 |
- |
848 |
(Regent 873/2) |
(1 Kg 22:1-48, 2 Chr 17:1 - 20:37) |
5 |
Jehoram |
848 |
- |
841 |
|
(2 Kg 8:16-24, 2 Chr 21:1-20) |
6 |
Ahaziah |
841 |
- |
841 |
|
(2 Kg 8:25 - 9:29, 2 Chr 22:1-9) |
7 |
Athaliah |
841 |
- |
835 |
|
(2 Kg 11:1-20, 2 Chr 22:10 - 23:21) |
8 |
Joash |
835 |
- |
796 |
|
2 Kg 11:21 - 12:21, 2 Chr 24:1-27) |
9 |
Amaziah |
796 |
- |
767 |
|
(2 Kg 14:1-22, 2 Chr 25:1-28) |
10 |
Uzziah/Azariah |
767 |
- |
740/39 |
(Regent 791/90) |
(2 Kg 15:1-7, 2 Chr 26:1-23) |
11 |
Jotham |
740/39 |
- |
732/31 |
(Regent 750) |
(2 Kg 15:32-38, 2 Chr 27:1-9) |
12 |
Ahaz |
732/31 |
- |
716/15 |
(Regent 744/43) |
(2 Kg 16:1-20, 2 Chr 28:1-27) |
13 |
Hezekiah |
716/15 |
- |
687/86 |
(Regent 729) |
(2 Kg 18:1 - 20:21, 2 Chr 29:1 - 32:33) |
14 |
Manasseh |
687/86 |
- |
642/41 |
(Regent 696/95) |
(2 Kg 21:1-18, 2 Chr 33:1-20) |
15 |
Amon |
642/41 |
- |
640/39 |
|
(2 Kg 21:19-26, 2 Chr 33:21-25) |
16 |
Josiah |
640/39 |
- |
609 |
|
(2 Kg 22:1 - 23:30, 2 Chr 34:1 - 35:27) |
17 |
Jehoahaz |
609 |
- |
609 |
|
(2 Kg 23:31-33, 2 Chr 36:1-4) |
18 |
Jehoiakim |
609 |
- |
598 |
|
(2 Kg 23:34 - 24:7, 2 Chr 36:5-8) |
19 |
Jehoiachin |
597 |
- |
597 |
|
(2 Kg 24:8-17, 2 Chr 36:9-10) |
20 |
Zedekiah |
597 |
- |
587/86 |
|
(2 Kg 24:18 - 25:7, 2 Chr 36:11-14) |
Deportations from Judah
1 |
Nobility, including Daniel |
605 |
2 |
Jehoiachin & Ezekiel. Largest deportation |
598 |
3 |
Fall of Jerusalem, Zedekiah |
586 |
Kings of Israel
The horizontal lines show a change of dynasty
1 |
Jeroboam I |
931/30 |
- |
910/09 |
(1 Kg 11:26 - 14:20) |
House of Jeroboam |
2 |
Nadab |
910/09 |
- |
909/08 |
(1 Kg 15:33-34) |
|
3 |
Baasha |
909/08 |
- |
886/85 |
(1 Kg 16:1-4) |
House of Baasha |
4 |
Elah |
886/85 |
- |
885/84 |
(1 Kg 16:8-10) |
|
5 |
Zimri |
885/84 |
- |
885/84 |
(1 Kg 16:11-20) |
|
6 |
Omri |
885/84 |
- |
874/73 |
(1 Kg 16:21-28) |
House of Omri |
|
(Tibni) |
885/884 |
- |
885/84 |
|
7 |
Ahab |
874/73 |
- |
853 |
(1 Kg 16:24 - 22:40) |
8 |
Ahaziah |
853 |
- |
852 |
(1 Kg 22:51-53, 2 Kg 1:1-17) |
9 |
Jehoram |
852 |
- |
841 |
(2 Kg 3:1 - 8:15) |
|
10 |
Jehu |
841 |
- |
814/13 |
(2 Kg 9:1 - 10:26) |
House of Jehu |
11 |
Jehoahaz |
814/13 |
- |
|
(2 Kg 13:1-9) |
12 |
Jehoash |
798 |
- |
782/81 |
(2 Kg 13:10-25) |
13 |
Jeroboam II |
782/81
(Regent 793/92)
|
- |
753 |
(2 Kg 14:23-29) |
14 |
Zechariah |
753 |
- |
752 |
(2 Kg 15:8-12) |
|
15 |
Shallum |
752 |
- |
752 |
(2 Kg 15:13-16) |
|
16 |
Menahem |
752 |
- |
742/41 |
(2 Kg 15:17-22) |
House of Menahem |
17 |
Pekahiah |
752 |
- |
742/41 |
(2 Kg 15:23-26) |
18 |
Pekah |
740/39 |
- |
732/31 |
(2 Kg 15:27-31) |
|
19 |
Hoshea |
|
- |
723/22 |
(2 Kg 17:1-41) |
Returns from exile
1 |
Zerubbabel |
536 |
2 |
Ezra (main return) |
458 |
3 |
Nehemiah |
445 |
Significant dates
Division of the kingdom |
931 |
Battle of Qarqar |
853 |
Fall of Damascus (Syria) |
732 |
Fall of Samaria (Israel) |
722/21 |
Fall of Nineveh (Assyria) |
612 |
Battle of Carchemish |
605 |
Fall of Jerusalem (Judah) |
587/86 |
Fall of Babylon |
539 |
Syrian Kings
Ben-hadad |
900 - 860, 860 - 843 |
Hazael |
843 - 796 |
Ben-hadad |
796 - 770 |
Rezin |
750 - 732 |
Assyrian Kings
Tiglath - pileser III |
747 - 727 |
Shalmaneser IV |
727 - 722 |
Sargon II |
722 - 705 |
Sennacherib |
705 - 681 |
Esarhaddon |
681 - 668 |
Ashurbanipal |
668 - 626 |
Babylonian Kings
Nebuchadnezzar |
605 - 562 |
Nabonidus |
556 - 534 |
Belshazzar |
553 - 539 (regent) |
Median Kings
Cyaxares |
625 - 585 |
Astyages |
585 - 550 |
Persian Kings
Cyrus II |
550 - 530 |
Cambyses |
530 - 521 |
Smerdis |
521 |
Darius I |
521 - 486 |
Xerxes |
486 - 464 |
Artaxerxes I |
464 - 423 |
Darius II |
423 - 404 |
Artaxerxes II |
404 - |