Kings מלכים
The history from Shlomo's accession to the destruction of the First Temple: two kingdoms, prophets and collapse.
Melachim covers four centuries with unusual precision: regnal years, synchronisms between the two kingdoms, references to court chronicles. It opens with David's old age, Shlomo's accession, the dream at Gibeon, the judgment of the two women, the building and dedication of the Temple, and the queen of Sheba.
After Shlomo the kingdom splits, and the book runs two parallel accounts. In the north, nineteen kings, none called righteous, dynasties overturned by coups — and Eliyahu and Elisha. In the south, the house of David, including Yehoshafat, Chizkiyahu and Yoshiyahu, and also Menashe, who set an idol in the Temple.
The end is foretold and still hard to read: Assyria exiles the ten tribes in 3205, Babylon besieges Jerusalem, and on 9 Av 3338 the Temple burns.