I Kings

1 8.1

The first book of Kings in the Old Testament that tells the history of the kings of Israel and Judah

proper noun

Literature

: Primera de Reyes

In I Kings, we learn about King Solomon's wisdom.

Examples

She referenced I Kings during her lecture on ancient Israelite history.
The story of Solomon's wisdom is found in I Kings.
Many biblical scholars have devoted years to studying I Kings in detail.
Many stories in I Kings illustrate the consequences of disobedience.
The prophet Elijah appeared to King Ahab in I Kings during a time of great turmoil.
In I Kings, the division of the kingdom is a pivotal moment in Israel's history.
The story of Solomon's wisdom is found in I Kings, highlighting his legendary judgment.

Synonyms

1 Kings

vsI Kings

2 8.1

First book of the Old Testament that tells the history of the kings of Israel and Judah

has identical content but uses a Roman numeral form for the same title

Surface Forms

I Kings main

Morphology

I + king

The sequence 'I Kings' depends on the orthographic convention of using 'I' as a Roman numeral meaning 'First' to name a biblical book; a B1 learner who only knows 'I' as the pronoun and 'king' as a sovereign would not derive 'the first book of Kings' from the parts. This interpretation requires cultural and genre-specific knowledge (biblical book-naming) rather than straightforward compositional semantics, so it is not predictable from the constituents.

Etymology

The name I Kings comes from Bible readers who split a long story into two parts, so they called this the 'first' part and wrote I before Kings. That's why I Kings is the 'first' book that tells the histories of the kings of Israel and Judah.