Wikipedia's first sentence called it “book that is referred to several times in the hebrew bible”. Today it says “lost book that gives a more detailed account of the reigns of the kings of ancient kingdom of israel than that”.
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Machine-checked against the full current article on 2026-08-03.
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The opening as it read in 2025
Non-canonical biblical book Not to be confused with Book of Chronicles . The Chronicles of the Kings of Israel is a book that gives a more detailed account of the reigns of the kings of ancient Kingdom of Israel than that presented in the Hebrew Bible , and may have been the source from which parts of the biblical account were drawn. The book was likely compiled by or derived from the kings of Israel's own scribes, and is likely the source for the basic facts presented in the Bible. The book is referred to a number of times in the Hebrew Bible, but was either not included in the corpus of the biblical text or was removed from it at some stage. The book is counted as one of the lost books of the Old Testament . The text is sometimes called The Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel or The Book of the Annals of the Kings of Israel ( Biblical Hebrew : ספר דברי הימים למלכי ישראל , romanized: sêp̄er diḇrê hayyāmîm lə-malḵê Yiśrā'êl ). A complementary book detailing the reigns of the kings of ancient Judah is the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah , a book which has also been lost. Another lost book dealing with the reigns of the kings of ancient Israel is the Book of the Kings of Judah and Israel . This book is referred to in 2 Chronicles and may be the same as the other two Chronicles named in Kings. References to the Chronicles appear in the Books of Kings and imply that the description of the reign of the kings of Israel presented in the Bible is only a brief summary, and that a fuller account is to be found in the Chronicles. Throughout both books, a number of Israel's kings are mentioned, and their reigns briefly summarised, before the author states, "Now the rest of the acts [of the King] [...] are they not written in the Book of the Annals of the Kings of Israel?" 1 Kings 14:19 ; 1 Kings 16:14 ; 1 Kings 16:20 ; 2 Kings 1:18 ; 2 Kings 14:28 ; 2 Kings 15:21 ; 2 Kings 13:8
This is Wikipedia's own text, saved in our repository. Their copy of it is revision 1296733421.
The opening as it stood in 2010
The similarly named Biblical books are located at Books of Chronicles . The book called the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel (also called the book of the annals of the Kings of Israel ) is a book that is referred to several times in the Hebrew Bible , but was not included in corpus of the Hebrew Bible. The book may have been removed from earlier texts, and is counted as one of the Lost books of the Old Testament . This text is sometimes called The Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel or The Book of the Annals of the Kings of Israel . The book is referred to in 1 Kings 14:19 , which reads: "And the rest of the acts of Jeroboam , how he warred, and how he reigned, behold, they are written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel." Another passage, in 2 Kings 1:18 also mentions this book, and reads "Now the rest of the acts of Ahaziah which he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel?" It is referred to again in 1 Kings 16:20 , which reads: "Now the rest of the acts of Zimri , and his treason that he wrought, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel?" It is also referred in 2 Kings 15:21 in relation to Menahem , king of Israel.
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 363761808.
The opening as it stood in 2015 2 passages from the previous snapshot no longer appear
The Chronicles of the Kings of Israel is a book that gives a more detailed account of the reigns of the kings of ancient Kingdom of Israel than that presented in the Hebrew Bible , and may have been the source from which parts of the biblical account were drawn.The book was likely compiled by or derived from the kings of Israel's own scribes, and is likely the source for the basic facts presented in the Bible, though the compiler(s) of the biblical text clearly made selective use of it and added commentaries and judgements.The book is referred to several times in the Hebrew Bible, but was either not included in the corpus of the biblical text or was removed from it at some stage. The book is counted as one of the Lost books of the Old Testament . This text is sometimes called The Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel or The Book of the Annals of the Kings of Israel . A complementary book detailing the reigns of the kings of ancient Judah is the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah , a book which has also been lost.Another lost book dealing with the reigns of the kings of ancient Israel is the Book of the Kings of Judah and Israel .This book is referred to in 2 Chronicles and may be the same as the other two Chronicles named in Kings.
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 629143338.
The opening as it stood in 2020
The Chronicles of the Kings of Israel is a book that gives a more detailed account of the reigns of the kings of ancient Kingdom of Israel than that presented in the Hebrew Bible , and may have been the source from which parts of the biblical account were drawn. The book was likely compiled by or derived from the kings of Israel's own scribes, and is likely the source for the basic facts presented in the Bible. The book is referred to a number of times in the Hebrew Bible, but was either not included in the corpus of the biblical text or was removed from it at some stage. The book is counted as one of the Lost books of the Old Testament . This text is sometimes called The Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel or The Book of the Annals of the Kings of Israel . A complementary book detailing the reigns of the kings of ancient Judah is the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah , a book which has also been lost. Another lost book dealing with the reigns of the kings of ancient Israel is the Book of the Kings of Judah and Israel . This book is referred to in 2 Chronicles and may be the same as the other two Chronicles named in Kings.
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 895764694.
The opening as it stood on October 6, 2023
Non-canonical biblical book Not to be confused with Book of Chronicles . The Chronicles of the Kings of Israel is a book that gives a more detailed account of the reigns of the kings of ancient Kingdom of Israel than that presented in the Hebrew Bible , and may have been the source from which parts of the biblical account were drawn. The book was likely compiled by or derived from the kings of Israel's own scribes, and is likely the source for the basic facts presented in the Bible. The book is referred to a number of times in the Hebrew Bible, but was either not included in the corpus of the biblical text or was removed from it at some stage. The book is counted as one of the Lost books of the Old Testament . This text is sometimes called The Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel or The Book of the Annals of the Kings of Israel ( ). A complementary book detailing the reigns of the kings of ancient Judah is the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah , a book which has also been lost. Another lost book dealing with the reigns of the kings of ancient Israel is the Book of the Kings of Judah and Israel . This book is referred to in 2 Chronicles and may be the same as the other two Chronicles named in Kings.
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 1178384891.
Today
Wikipedia's first sentence called it “book that is referred to several times in the hebrew bible”. Today it says “lost book that gives a more detailed account of the reigns of the kings of ancient kingdom of israel than that”. Read the current article and compare.
2010
2015
2020
Oct '23
2025
Counts in the opening at each snapshot. Green: the word gained ground. Red: it was cut. Grey: no change.
What Wikipedia says this is
Every article opens by defining its subject. This one was redefined since 2010, and today's defining sentence is their current revision.
Then
book that is referred to several times in the hebrew bible
Now
lost book that gives a more detailed account of the reigns of the kings of ancient kingdom of israel than that
Struck red text is no longer in the article; dotted amber text was rewritten. Every revision id links to Wikipedia's copy; the text shown is our own saved copy. Data: /data. Wikipedia text is CC BY-SA; quoted for the record; not affiliated with Wikipedia.
