Chronicles begins at the beginning of the history of humanity, with Adam, and the story is then carried forward, almost entirely by genealogical lists, down to the founding of the Israelite monarchy (1 Chronicles 1-9). The bulk of the remainder of 1 Chronicles, after a brief account of Saul, is concerned with the reign of David (1 Chronicles 11-29). The next long section concerns David's son Solomon (2 Chronicles 1-9), and the final part is concerned with the kingdom of Judah with occasional references to the kingdom of Israel (2 Chronicles 10-36). In the last chapter Judah is destroyed and the people taken into exile in Babylon, and in the final verses the Persian king Cyrus conquers Babylon, and authorizes the restoration of the Temple in Jerusalem, and the return of the exiles.