The earliest Hebrew title for the Books of Chronicles translates as, "The Things Left Behind."This name describes Chronicles as containing remnants of the monarchy history not recorded in the preceding Old Testament historical books. A later title that appears in most copies of the Hebrew Bible is, "The Accounts of the Days,"or "Daily Matters."This title emphasizes the nature of Chronicles as official annals (cf. Esth. 2:23; 1 Kings 14:19). Chronicles contains the official records of the kings of Israel, especially those of the Southern Kingdom after the kingdom split. The English title "Chronicles"comes down to us from this later Hebrew one.
As was true of Samuel and Kings, the Septuagint (Greek) translation of the Hebrew Old Testament was responsible for dividing the single Book of Chronicles into 1 and 2 Chronicles. Scribes divided these long books to make them easier for copyists, publishers, and readers to handle. We could translate the Septuagint title as, "Things Omitted."This title implies that Chronicles contains material left out of other inspired histories of Israel. This is true. Of course, it also contains much material that the former historical books included.
