X. Reigns of Manasseh and Amon (21:1-26)

XI. Josiah’s reign (22:1–23:30)

A. Temple repair work undertaken; book of law found, prompting extensive religious reforms and destruction of appendages of idolatry (22:1–23:27)

B. Josiah’s death in battle with Pharaoh Nechoh (23:28-30)

XII. Reigns of Jehoahaz and Jehoiakim (23:31–24:7)

XIII. Jehoiachin’s rule and first Babylonian exile (24:8-17)

XIV. Zedekiah’s reign; destruction of Jerusalem and temple by Babylonians and subsequent exile (24:18–25:21)

XV. Gedaliah appointed governor over people not taken into exile; after his assassination people go to Egypt (25:22-26)

XVI. Babylonian King Evil-merodach elevates exiled King Jehoiachin (25:27-30)

See the book “All Scripture Is Inspired of God and Beneficial,” pp. 64-74.

KING’S ROAD

The road from which the Israelites promised not to depart if allowed to pass through Edomite territory and the Amorite realm of King Sihon. (Num. 20:17; 21:21, 22; Deut. 2:26, 27) So this road must have extended from the Gulf of Aqabah at least as far as the Jabbok, the apparent N boundary of Sihon’s territory. Many believe that it ran as far N as Damascus and generally corresponded to the paved Roman highway built by Emperor Trajan in the second century C.E. With the exceptions of needed adjustments for modern traffic, the present-day road closely follows the ancient Roman highway, portions of which still exist.

KINSMAN

See KIN, KINSMAN.

KIR

[Heb., qir; wall].

The place from which the Aramaeans came to Syria, although not necessarily their original home. (Amos 9:7) Through his prophet Amos (1:5), Jehovah indicated that the Aramaeans would return to Kir, but as exiles. This prophecy was fulfilled when Tiglath-pileser III, after having been bribed by Judean King Ahaz to do so, captured Damascus, the Aramaean capital, and led its inhabitants into exile at Kir.—2 Ki. 16:7-9.

Isaiah 22:5, 6 depicts Kir as readying itself against the “valley of the vision” (thought to represent Jerusalem). This prophecy is generally understood as having been fulfilled at the time of Assyrian King Sennacherib’s campaign against Judah. Because Kir is associated with Elam in this text, some have suggested that it must have been located in the same general area as Elam, E of the Tigris River. (Compare Isaiah 21:2, where Elam’s known geographical neighbor Media is similarly coupled with Elam.) Others, on the basis of similarity in names, place Kir in the region of the Kur River in northern Armenia. The true location thus remains uncertain. The Septuagint Version does not use “Kir” in any of the previously cited texts but employs several different words for the Hebrew qir.

KIR-HARESETH

(Kir-harʹe·seth) [in Hebrew, wall of potsherds; in Moabite, city of potsherds].

Apparently another name for Kir of Moab, a city usually identified with modern Kerak.—2 Ki. 3:25; Isa. 16:7; see KIR OF MOAB.

KIR-HERES

(Kir-heʹres) [in Hebrew, wall of potsherds; in Moabite, city of potsherds].

Evidently an alternate name for Kir-Hareseth or Kir of Moab, a city commonly linked with modern Kerak.—Jer. 48:31, 36; see KIR OF MOAB.

KIRIATH

(Kirʹi·ath) [city].

A city of Benjamin usually thought to be the same as Kiriath-jearim. Some scholars believe that the name “Kiriath-jearim” appeared in the original Hebrew text at Joshua 18:28, as it does in the Alexandrine Manuscript (LXX).—See KIRIATH-JEARIM.

KIRIATHAIM

(Kir·i·a·thaʹim) [twin cities].

1. A city E of the Jordan, built or rebuilt by the Reubenites. (Num. 32:37; Josh. 13:15, 19) At a later period the city came under Moabite control. It is mentioned in the prophecies of Jeremiah (48:1) and Ezekiel (25:9) as a city of Moab that would experience calamity. Earlier, Moabite King Mesha of the tenth century B.C.E. boasted about building Qaryaten (apparently Kiriathaim).

Geographers usually identify Kiriathaim with modern el-Qereiyat, about six miles (10 kilometers) NW of the suggested location of Biblical Dibon. The remains found there, however, do not date prior to the first century B.C.E.

2. A site in Naphtali given to the Levitical Gershonites (1 Chron. 6:71, 76) and generally identified with Kartan.—Josh. 21:32; see KARTAN.

KIRIATH-ARBA

(Kirʹi·ath-arʹba) [city of Arba].

The ancient name for the city of Hebron. The name was even used after the Babylonian exile. (Neh. 11:25) This city, as its name suggests, appears to have been founded by Arba, “the great man among the Anakim.”—Josh. 14:15; see HEBRON No. 3.

KIRIATH-BAAL

(Kirʹi·ath-baʹal) [city of Baal].

An alternate name for the Judean city of Kiriath-jearim. This place is usually identified with Deir al-Azhar, several miles W-NW of Jerusalem.—Josh. 15:60; 18:14; see KIRIATH-JEARIM.

KIRIATH-HUZOTH

(Kirʹi·ath-huʹzoth) [city of streets].

A site probably located in Moab somewhere between the Arnon River and Bamoth-baal. (Num. 23:36, 39, 41) Its exact location is today unknown.

KIRIATH-JEARIM

(Kirʹi·ath-jeʹa·rim) [city of forests].

A Hivite city associated with the Gibeonites (Josh. 9:17), also known as Baalah (Josh. 15:9), Baale-judah (2 Sam. 6:2) and Kiriath-baal. (Josh. 15:60) Kiriath-jearim later came to belong to Judah and bordered on Benjamite territory. (Josh. 15:1, 9; 18:11, 14; Judg. 18:12) Apparently descendants of Judah through Caleb settled there.—1 Chron. 2:3, 50, 52, 53.

In the twelfth century B.C.E., sometime after being returned by the Philistines, the Ark was taken to Kiriath-jearim at the request of the men of nearby Beth-shemesh. It appears to have remained there until moved by King David to Jerusalem some seventy years later.—1 Sam. 6:20–7:2; 1 Chron. 13:5, 6; 16:1; 2 Chron. 1:4.

Jeremiah’s contemporary, the prophet Urijah, was the son of Shemaiah of Kiriath-jearim. (Jer. 26:20) Descendants of those who had lived in the city were also represented among those returning from Babylonian exile.—Ezra 2:1, 2, 25; Neh. 7:6, 7, 29.

Deir al-Azhar is the place commonly suggested as corresponding to the Biblical description of Kiriath-jearim as a city of the mountainous region (Josh. 15:48, 60) on the border between Judah and Benjamin in the vicinity of the other Gibeonite cities. This site is strategically situated atop a hill about eight miles (13 kilometers) from Beth-shemesh and some seven and a half miles (12 kilometers) W-NW of Jerusalem. This location approximately fits Eusebius’ placing Kiriath-jearim once as nine Roman miles (c. 8 English miles; 13 kilometers) and another time as ten Roman miles (c. 9 English miles; 14 kilometers) from Jerusalem. Also, the fact that Deir al-Azhar lies in what at one time seems to have been a well-wooded region accords nicely with the name Kiriath-jearim, “city of forests.”