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This
online Bible history timeline shows the chronology of the
Bible from 2300 B.C. through the first century A.D. Scroll
down to see any part of it. To start at the bottom, click the
�Bottom of main chart� link above.
This chronology for the most part represents the consensus
of conservative, Bible-believing scholars who have
attempted to use the chronological information in the Bible
and in the archeological record to produce a chronology.
Examples of other web sites with chronologies that match
most of the dates here are: biblehub.com/timeline/,
bcresources.net/2000000-bst-bib-gen-rev-1p010yr-tml-bcrx/
(their dates are one year later than most of mine for the
patriarchal period), and bible-history.com/resource/r_time.htm
(original link dead, using archived link) (his dates seem to
be within one year of mine one way or the other), among
others.
However, specifically, for most of this chronology I have
followed the dates in The
Narrated Bible by F. LaGard
Smith, which is a generally excellent and useful
rearrangement of the Bible in chronological order. In a few
cases I have disagreed with his dates and provided others.
These are all marked with an asterisk, except for A. M.
Cragg�s chronology of the Judges, which is clearly marked as
such. (This book is published by Harvest House Publishers.
It is now called The Daily Bible.)
But
of course the main source is God�s word, the Bible.
Scripture quotations are either from the New
International Version (NIV) or the English
Standard Version (ESV). I usually don�t specify which
I have used, unless I find one more helpful than the other
in a particular case.
Background Information
I first began developing this Bible chronology web site for
my own use, so that I would understand what happened
and how it all tied together. I later decided that it might
be helpful to others, so I started this web site. I only
pray that God will use it to encourage believers and to
further his kingdom.
I
firmly believe that the Bible is the inerrant and infallible Word of God,
meaning that it is without error (in the original
manuscripts). (For further discussion about inerrancy, see
sections 4. Appendix 2: Did Moses write the Pentateuch?
and 4.1. Later (Minor) Editing in When Was Hebrew First Written?, and 5.
Implications for Inerrancy and Inspiration in Peter�s Three Denials of
Jesus.)
However, the Bible does not provide a complete chronology
which can be used to date each event described in it. Thus,
the dates in any chronology of the Bible must necessarily be
uncertain. In fact, in a way it is a bit presumptuous to try
to make a complete Bible chronology, and any such
chronology should only be used as a tool to help us
put the events of the Bible into their historical
perspective, and not used as major points of dispute
among Christians. Even so, claims by unbelievers that
the chronology provided in the Bible is faulty, or that the
events described in it are mere stories or legends, are
false, and web sites such as reasons.org and biblearchaeology.org
provide ample evidence that the chronology of the Bible is
accurate. (This does not mean that I agree with everything
on the biblearchaeology.org website, but
their general framework, especially from Joseph forward, is
quite reliable).
Though
it certainly does not provide a comprehensive chronology,
the Bible does provide some quite solid figures to allow us
to construct a chronology. The main two such figures are the
430 years in Egypt mentioned in Exodus 12:40-41,51 and the
480 years between the Exodus and the founding of the temple
mentioned in 1 Kings 6:1, both shown prominently in
this chart. These and other figures provided in the book of
Genesis allow us to calculate with some certainty that
Abraham was born 1199 years before the founding of the First
Temple in Jerusalem.
However,
the Bible gives no solid information to help us fix that
date in the framework of our modern calendar system, leaving
all of the preceding dates without an absolute anchor. This
means that we must seek that information from historical and
archaeological sources, rather than from the Bible itself.
However, few Biblical characters appear in these
sources before the time of the kings of Israel, at
least in such a way that they can be dated in relation to
other historical events.
However,
external sources allow us to date the founding of the temple
fairly closely. Josephus provides information from sources
available to him about the reign of King Hiram of Tyre
which allow the date to be fixed between 969 and 967 B.C.
(see the chart for more on this), which matches independent
calculations made by Edwin Thiele working back from the
death of King Ahab (see following section).
Some
other important early dates are the death year of King Ahab
(853 B.C., based on his participation in the Battle of
Qarqar) and the first year of the rule of King Jehu in 841
B.C. (Based on his mention on the Black Obelisk). These are
shown in the chart with background information.
Edwin
Thiele and Leslie McFall�s Chronologies of the Kings
In
1951 Edwin Thiele (see this page and this page) was able to calculate a
complete chronology of the kings of Judah and Israel, on the
assumption that the figures found in the Bible for their
reigns were accurate, concluding that in many cases the
reigns of kings� sons began before the death of their
fathers, in a coregency with the father. This chronology
proved to match all of the biblical and historical data very
well, and has largely been accepted by conservative
Christian scholars (but see the following paragraph).
However, though Thiele evidently believed that the Old
Testament �texts should be considered as primary and
authentic historical records,� in the case of the
reign of Hezekiah he �reluctantly concluded that at that point
the ancient authors had made a mistake.� F. LaGard
Smith�s Narrated Bible seems
to follow Thiele in almost every case.
However, in the
1990�s Leslie McFall, coming from a belief in the full
inerrancy of Scripture, reexamined Thiele�s chronology, and
was able to adjust the chronology in such a way as to rule
out any errors in the Bible text. Many conservative
Christian scholars now consider this to be the definitive
chronology for the kings. I have now modified my chronology
to follow Leslie McFall�s adjustments (under unpublished articles). (See also my enhancement of his chart mentioned
in the main chart at the top of the Kings and Prophets
of Israel section around 920.) (Modified dates are
marked with * as usual.) McFall�s reasoning is explained in
great detail in Some Missing Coregencies in Thiele�s
Chronology [replaced bad link again Dec. 2016], and
McFall even gives suggestions on how to make better
translations of the Hebrew in the relevant passages in A Translation Guide to
the Chronological Data in Kings and Chronicles.
(Background on McFall can be found here, though some of the links to McFall�s
web site are wrong.)
This adjusted
chronology also removes some obviously impossible
situations, such as the implication that Ahaz was born when
his father Jotham was only 11, or that Hezekiah was born
when his father Ahaz was only 10, according to the figures
in The Narrated Bible.
Chronology
of the Early Church and the Life of Paul
In
early versions of this chronology I stated: �The letters
explicitly attributed to Paul in the New Testament are
surprisingly easy to date within the framework of Acts and
its historical background...� This statement was naive and
simplistic, and was not really true. In fact, I have to
admit that I can no longer identify the source that I was
following when I made this statement. The fact of the matter
is that I have found lots of different
timelines for the early church and the life of Paul,
and not a single one agrees with the others!
Apparently
aware of this disagreement, F. LaGard Smith gives no dates
at all between Pentecost (30 A.D.) and the Jerusalem Council
(which he dates 48-50 A.D.). This is surprising, since all
the sources I have seen at least agree that king Herod
Agrippa I died in 44, which at least fixes Acts 12:20-23 to
that year. The first really solid date Smith gives is 53 for
the start of Paul�s ministry in Ephesus during the Third
Missionary Journey, working back from a date of 60 for the
accession of Porcius Festus in 60 (see below).
I
have built my chronology around the following anchor dates:
� 44 A.D.:
Date of death of king Herod Agrippa
I (Acts 12:20-23). In Acts 12:3 we see that James�s
execution and Peter�s arrest occurred during �the days
of Unleavened Bread,� and according to Josephus Agrippa I died not long
after Passover, so this fixes his death to April or May.
Apparently this year is solid also because of Josephus, who stated that Agrippa
became king of Judea at the accession of the emperor
Claudius in 41, and reigned 3 years. Every source I have
seen agrees with this date. This is an important date,
although it only affects the events from Acts 11:29
through the end of chapter 12, since the immediately
preceding and following events are undatable.
� 51 A.D.,
July: Gallio becomes
proconsul of Achaia. The Delphi Inscription fixes his
accession relative to the reign of the emperor Claudius,
approximately 52, and this page calculates his accession
more accurately to July 51. The few that mention Gallio
say either 51 or 52. This date is important for dating
all of the events in Paul�s Second Missionary Journey,
and can even give an approximate date for the Jerusalem
Council that preceded it.
� 60 A.D.:
Porcius Festus becomes
procurator of Judea. This date is much more uncertain,
and different sources I have seen vary between 58 and
62, but most seem to prefer 60, and Conybeare and Howson (pages
899-900) give good reasons backed up by a lot of
research for preferring the summer of 60 A.D. for the
accession of Festus. This date is key, since it affects
the dating of all events from the start of Paul�s Third
Missionary Journey in Acts 18:23 all the way to the end
of Acts.
Around
these anchor dates I have also made the following
assumptions:
� I assume that the �three
years� of Galatians 1:18 and the �fourteen years� of
Galatians 2:1 both start at the conversion of Paul.
Most sources seem to agree with this, though a few
take the numbers sequentially, giving a total of 17.
� I further assume that the
Jerusalem visit recounted in Galatians 2:1-10 is the
Jerusalem Council of Acts 15. This would mean that
there were 14 years between Paul�s conversion and the
Jerusalem Council, and if the latter occurred in about
49 (working backwards from Gallio), then Paul�s
conversion would have been in 35. A few work back from Gallio differently,
putting the Jerusalem Council in 48, and even a few
in 50.
If we assume 17 years in
Galatians, then Paul�s conversion would have been in
32, leaving very little time for all of the events
of Acts 1-9.
At least one source (replaced link
2-May-2017), Julian Spriggs, assumes that this
visit was not the Jerusalem Council but instead the
Famine Relief Visit of Acts 11:29-30. The problem is
that if this famine relief visit is assumed to occur
before the death of Herod Agrippa I in 44 A.D. (Acts 12), as a
plain reading of Acts 11:29-30 would seem to suggest,
then this cannot be made to fit, since subtracting 14
from 44 gives 30, forcing all of the events of Acts
1-9 to fit into a few months, which is almost
inconceivable. However, Spriggs says that
the famine and the delivery of aid happened a couple
of years after Acts 12, in 46 A.D. Josephus
does discuss such a famine, but this page says that:
�The date of the famine described by Josephus is
uncertain, due to a difficult text. If under
[Tiberius Julius] Alexander it occurred between 46
and 48 CE, but it may have started in [Cuspius]
Fadus� time, as early as 44. The Emperor Claudius
ruled from 41 to 54, matching the dating in Acts.� This
suggests that we should take the plain sequence of
events in Acts 11. In any case, even if the famine
occurred in 46, and we assumed that this was the
occasion of the Jerusalem visit in Galatians 2, 32 A.D. is
awfully early for Paul�s conversion. (Spriggs says 32
in one place and 33 in another, but the math requires
32.)
Format,
Searching, and Printing
Searching
Text in the main chart above or in the New Testament chart
cannot be selected, copied, or searched for, since these
are image files. I have not figured out a good way to make
such a chart any other way! I have learned of various
methods to overlay text on an image in HTML, or image over
text, and I have tried these in many different ways, but
for a chart as large and complicated as this one none of
them really seems to work well. So as of February 17, 2017
I have given up! That�s okay, the chart and the links
work, and that is the important thing! (However, I now
have a separate file with just the text in
it, without most of the clarifying graphics, which you can
now search, after which you will need to go back to the
main chart to see the graphical context of that text.)
Printing
Some have asked how they can print out the main chart on
multiple sheets of paper. My friend Nate Bonham has
provided the following instructions for those who can use
them. (These instructions are apparently for Macintosh. My
comments are added afterwards in brackets, including
variations for Windows.)
�
Open an EXCEL file.
�
Change the layout to �Page Layout View� (View > Page
Layout). [Make sure your paper size is correct, e.g.
Letter, A4, etc.]
�
Change the layout to landscape and reduce the side margins
to the limits of your printer. [Page Layout tab in
Windows. I had to check these margins in another program
before I started.]
�
Right-click and COPY the timeline
image from the Bible Chronology website.
�
Right-click and PASTE into the
upper-left cell of the Excel sheet.
�
Click on the �Format Picture� tab. Lock the aspect ratio
of the image and change the width to the width of the
landscape page. [In Windows right-click on picture and
select �Format Picture�. For the width I went to the Page
Layout tab and did Width: 1 page instead of automatic.]
�
When you go to Print the document, it should show it on
multiple pages.
�
It looks to be about 12 pages when it is printed on A4
size paper. [I only got 9 pages.]
Format
The
following colors and formats are used in the charts.
Age or date figures which are explicitly provided
in the Bible text, and which make explicit the
progression of the chronology, often from father
to son, normally has the following format:
2066 Isaac
born (Abraham 100, Gen. 21:5)
and
have a green background to make it easy to follow
the chronology along. For the most part these are
only given from Terah to Caleb, since after this
for the most part other means of organizing or
verifying the dating are used. Figures not
explicitly provided in the Bible text, but which
can be directly calculated from other figures
provided in it, have a pink background:
1915
Birth of Joseph (Jacob
91, Gen. 30:22-25)
Some important characters or information are colored
red
to set them off.
Dates which I consider less
certain are followed by a question mark, and those I
consider quite uncertain are followed by two
question marks.
Key
events in the chronology are shown in a box with
red borders and a yellow background, and marked
with a red line across the chart.
Genealogical and other information clarifying
dates or events are provided in a box with black
borders and a yellow background.
Other
background information is provided in a box with black
borders and an orange
background.
Extra-biblical
information which helps to synchronize the
chronology is shown in lavender, and may or may
not be in a box.
Other
extra-biblical information which helps to show
the historical context is shown in pink, and may
or may not be in a box.
Information about when books of the Bible were
written is shown in a box with orange borders, and is sometimes colored orange.
(The prophets are
handled separately, and have their own color scheme
shown around 670.)
Alternative timelines which I consider less
probable are shown in a box with extra-thick
dashed blue borders and a pale gray
background.
(Only used in Judges. The preferred timeline has a
solid blue border.)
Non-Israelite dynasties of kings or other rulers
are shown in a box with thick blue borders.
Secular Chronologies of
the Ancient Middle East and Egypt
Archaeologists
have found long lists of rulers of different dynasties
in the ancient Middle East and Egypt, including the Sumerian
King List for early Mesopotamia and various lists for Egypt, but none
of these lists contains absolute dates which can be
matched to our dating system. Using many different types
of information, secular archeologists and historians
have attempted to determine when exactly each ruler
ruled. Some of the information used is discussed in
articles such as the Chronology of Ancient Egypt
and the Chronology of the Ancient Near
East. These discuss the fact that there remain
competing opinions among scholars about nearly every
stage of these chronologies. However, typically articles
in Wikipedia about a particular ruler will only list one
opinion as to his dates, as if the other opinions are no
longer held by any reputable scholars, when in fact this
is not the case at all. Worse, I find that different
Wikipedia articles select different dating options
without specifying which option they have selected,
making comparison of dates a nightmare.
For
many periods in both Mesopotamia and Egypt there are at
least two chronologies, and sometimes three, with names
like �long�, �middle�, and �short�, or �high�, �middle�,
and �low�, and these terms may be based on different
data in different periods. These terms are also
occasionally used in the Wikipedia articles, though
usually not. These variations in chronology complicate
the task of determining which historical rulers
correspond to those mentioned in the Bible, especially
in the years prior to the Israelite kings.
Thankfully, I have
found one (and so far, only one) web site which
helps to make sense of this mess, called
BcResources, which provides a series of charts
somewhat similar to mine that match almost exactly
the Narrated Bible dates, and are
particularly useful for their earlier charts. The
full set of their timelines can be found at: bcresources.net/2000000-bst-bib-gen-rev-1p010yr-tml-bcrx/.
History of Additions and
Adjustments
These are listed in reverse chronological order. This way
you can see anything you missed since the last time you
visited, or see the editing history of any document!
If you open one of the pages mentioned below, but the date
that appears at the beginning of the page does not
correspond to the date I give here, you probably need to
�refresh� or �reload� the page in your browser so that it
loads it again to get the updated page. (You will need to
find the method for doing this on the browser you are
using.) Anytime there is a link labelled major changes or major
edits, it
links to a file showing all of the changes
since the last time the article was posted,
with the edits marked with Microsoft Word�s
editing conventions, with a red line in the
margin showing edits, and the edits marked in
dark yellow.
These files are PDFs. (Earlier, before moving to Windows 10 and Office 365 in September,
2019, I used red in these files, or
sometimes pink if the text
had lots of red.
Also for a while I used HTML format for these, in which case there is no
line in the margin, and all changes are in pink. However, I decided that the
PDFs are more
readable, so I went back to those.
Older examples in the list below
will have these older formats. Since I moved to
Windows 10 and Office 365 in September,
2019, I mark all the changes in dark yellow, since the pink they gave me
was too close to red or purple for my liking!) If you
think there is an error in any detail of this
chronology, or simply to share any commentary or
question, please write to me.
I view this project as a collaborative project,
and will acknowledge any useful information provided by
contributors.
If
you would like to be updated each time I make
major changes or add a new article, please send me
an e-mail with �Subscribe�
in the Subject line, and I will add you to the
list. I don�t promise to send these updates out
after every little change, but I will after
major changes.
I made major changes to the main
chronological chart (these changes can be seen on
this page, which shows the
changes in the searchable equivalent of the
chart). Among other things I changed my comment �I
disagree with F. LaGard Smith� to �I
vary slightly from F. LaGard Smith�,
since I didn�t want to give the
impression that I had any major
disagreements with his work, which I
have largely followed. I also
realized that in the section The
Exile and the Return I had
failed to provide sufficient
corroborating Bible references, so I
made major changes to this section.
I also tried to make it clear that
the 70-year period of the exile
really ran from the First
Deportation in 605 B.C. to the
Foundation of the (second) temple in
536 B.C. The matching 70-year period
from the destruction of the (first)
temple in 586 B.C. to the completion
of the (second) temple in 515 B.C.
was at most a secondary fulfillment
of the various 70-year prophecies. (20-May-2022)
I made major changes to Chronology and Locations of the
Writing of Acts and Paul�s Letters
(referenced four times in NT Chronology expanded),
mainly concerning the planting of the churches in
Galatia and the date of writing of the book of
Galatians. For many years I had said that the date
of writing Galatians was unknown, but I have now
realized that several commentators give good
evidence that it was in fact the first of Paul�s
New Testament letters that was written, during the
Second Missionary Journey. This change also
required adjustments in the New Testament charts
and in the main Bible chronology chart.(20-May-2022)
I made major
changes
to Detailed Chronology of the
Exodus from Egypt (Referenced around
1430 B.C.), mainly adding many details to
show how the Hebrew calendar is followed
throughout this chronology. Several
contributors had complained that I was only
following the Gregorian calendar, and
largely ignoring the Hebrew calendar in the
chronology, even though I had explained the
Hebrew calendar in the last section. I also
added footnote 8, correcting an error. (18-May-2022)
I
made minor
changes to The Seventy Sevens of Daniel 9
(referenced around 460-350 B.C. and again in the
New Testament period), mainly correcting various
bad links and adding a link to the following
article. (26-Feb-2022)
I
made fairly minor
changes
to Detailed Chronology of the
Exodus from Egypt (Referenced around 1430
B.C.), adjusting details in the early part of
Exodus in the second (detailed) chart, since I
realized that this was not consistent either
with the first (overview) chart, or with the
main Bible chronology page. (17-Feb-2022)
I
made minor changes to Bible Genealogies,
involving fixing many bad links, and simplifying
footnote 9. (Referenced in the main chart above,
around 2250 B.C., around 1700 B.C., and again
around 15 A.D.) (15-Feb-2022)
I made fairly major
changes to Chronology of the Four Gospels,
including adding a link to the new article mentioned
below, adding various clarifying details, and adding
endnote 5. I also decided that it was very probable, not
just possible, that the unnamed disciple in John 1:35-41
was the Apostle John. (Link provided in the main chart
and in the NT Chronology expanded chart,
under �Ministry of Jesus�.) (9-Feb-2022)
Once again I
added a new article to
this site, A Bird�s Eye View of Jesus� Ministry (referenced in Chronology of the Four Gospels),
which is a
chronological summary of the material in Chronology of the Four Gospels
that gives a bird�s eye view of the three and a half
years of Jesus� ministry. I realized that this was
needed to give the big picture of Jesus� ministry,
which was not clear simply from Chronology of the Four Gospels.
Let me know if you find this helpful! This brings the
total number of distinct
articles on this website up to 32! (I had posted
an earlier version of this article on 30-Jan-2022, but I
completely revised it and expanded it and made it a PDF,
so the older form is no longer even posted.)
(9-Feb-2022)
I made major changes to Paul�s Life After his First
Imprisonment (referenced in NT Chronology expanded),
after teaching it in our Thursday morning Mister Bagel
breakfast Bible study, since I realized that
there was a lot more that could be told than
I had included. It continues to amaze me how much
more I learn by teaching than just by
studying!(3-Feb-2022)
I made major changes to the main
chronological chart (these changes can be seen on this page, which shows the
changes in the searchable equivalent of the chart).
Most of the changes are in Genesis. I realized that I
had left out various passages in Genesis, and that
this was confusing, especially since several sections
of Genesis are not in chronological order, so I tried
to include a reference to every verse from Genesis
11:26 through 1 Samuel 12. However, during the story
of Joseph (particularly Genesis 41 through 47) this
was impossible, since too many events occurred in too
few years. Fortunately this section is in strict
chronological order, so it is clear how the missing
passages fit in. (19-Jan-2022)
I made major changes to Chronology and Locations of the
Writing of Acts and Paul�s Letters (now
referenced four times in NT Chronology expanded), among
them adding more information about: Timothy�s age in
the first and later parts of his life and ministry,
the planting of the church in Philippi in late 49
A.D., and other hardships Paul had experienced
mentioned in 2 Cor.
11:23-27. I also added new footnotes 6 and
17. (14-Sep-2021)
I made minor but important changes to
Chronology of Noah and the Flood
(referenced around 2240 B.C.), the main one being an
error detected by contributor Diego Dom�nguez of
Argentina. He pointed out that 40 days after the
17th day of the 2nd month would be the 27th day of
the 3rd month, not the 7th day of the 4th month, as
I had it. Thanks, Diego! I also adjusted the format
of the brackets and added a couple for
clarification. (15-May-2021)
I made
more fairly major changes to Chronology of the Four Gospels.
One interesting detail is that I clarified how
Matthew 11:20-24 relates to Jesus sending out the 72
mentioned in Luke 10:1-20. I had formerly listed
Matthew 11:20-24 under �Jesus sends the
seventy-two�, even though no mention of this is made
in Matthew. Instead, it corresponds specifically to
Luke 10:12-16, and I have now made a separate line
for these, labelled �Woe on unrepentant towns�.
Contributor Marc Transparenti drew this confusion to
my attention. Thanks, Marc! Other changes include
further information about the Ministry in Perea, the
addition of green lines to show where sequential
breaks occur, and the addition of endnotes 11, 12,
22, and 24. (Link provided in the main chart and in
the NT Chronology expanded chart,
under �Ministry of Jesus�.) (15-Apr-2021)
I made fairly major changes to Chronology of the Four Gospels,
essentially all of them in the endnotes: I greatly
expanded endnote 1, added a new endnote 6, and
expanded what is now endnote 8. (Link provided in
the main chart and in the NT Chronology expanded chart,
under �Ministry of Jesus�.) (13-Jan-2021)
I made 3
minor but important corrections to Chronology and Locations of the
Writing of Acts and Paul�s Letters (referenced
four times in NT Chronology expanded): I
corrected two of the links in the row about the
writing of 2 Corinthians in Fall 57 so that they
actually pointed to the intended commentaries, and I
corrected the following phrase in the rows about the
writing of Romans in Winter 57-58: �at the same time
that Paul would have baptized this Gaius�
was changed to �at the same time that Paul would
have been staying with this Gaius�.
This was simply an error I had not spotted before,
and it makes a huge difference, since the two events
happened 7 years apart! (17-Dec-2020)
I made
more fairly major changes to Chronology and Locations of the
Writing of Acts and Paul�s Letters (referenced
four times in NT Chronology expanded), the
main addition being a discussion of Epenetus, �who
was the first convert to Christ in [the province of]
Asia�, around late 51 A.D. In the process I also
added footnote 7. The other changes were mainly
minor clarifications and adjustments of format to
make things more consistent. Again this was at the
suggestion of another member of the Mister Bagel
breakfast Bible study, Armando Dureel of Texas.
Thanks, Armando! (7-Dec-2020)
I made
more major changes to Chronology and Locations of the
Writing of Acts and Paul�s Letters (referenced
four times in NT Chronology expanded),
several of them in response to pointed questions
asked by members of the same Mister Bagel breakfast
Bible study. One member, Ron Borman, asked, �If
Silas and Timothy were both sent back to Philippi in
1 Thessalonians 3:1-5, why does it say �We sent
Timothy� in verse 2? Who else was with him?� I had
assumed that Silas and Timothy left together based
on Acts 18:5, where they appear to return together.
But Ron�s question showed that this was faulty
reasoning (even though some commentators thought so
too). To make sense of both passages it is far more
logical that they went to different places at
different times, and then both returned around the
same time. Another member, Jim Childs, asked me to
talk about when the 4 gospels were written. I knew
we didn�t have much information about that, but I
realized that I could put down what we do know, so I
added a fourth section to the article. Again,
thanks, guys for the help. (24-Nov-2020)
I made fairly major changes to Chronology and Locations of the
Writing of Acts and Paul�s Letters (referenced
four times in NT Chronology expanded), since
I realized that I had not taken into account at all
the implications of Acts 15:41 in late 49 A.D. to
Paul�s activities during his 5 years in Tarsus in 38-43 A.D. I only realized that I had
ignored this verse when I was teaching on Paul�s
life and ministry in our Thursday Mister Bagel
breakfast Bible study (online for now, sadly).
Thanks, guys for the help. (13-Nov-2020)
I
corrected many dead links on the main page and on
the New Testament pages. (10-Nov-2020)
I made minor changes to Detailed Chronology of the Exodus
from Egypt (Referenced around 1430 B.C.), none
of which really affect the structure of the
chronology, but which clarify a few details. I also
adjusted the information with green and pink
backgrounds to follow more consistently the format I follow throughout this
website. (10-Nov-2020)
I made minor changes to When Was Hebrew First Written?
(Referenced around 1660 B.C. and now also around
1900 B.C.), fixing a number of dead links, and
fixing the appearance of some of the Hebrew text,
which was displayed incorrectly. (10-Nov-2020)
I added
an initial paragraph in the Sources
section above that points out that this chronology
represents the consensus of conservative,
Bible-believing scholars. (10-Nov-2020)
I fixed
the erroneous dates of the prophet Samuel�s birth
and weaning from 1056 and 1053 to 1096 and 1093,
after contributor J�zef Andrzejewski from Poland
pointed them out to me. Thanks, J�zef! These are the
kind of small but important errors that I need you
contributors to help me track down! (20-Oct-2020)
In the Family
Tree of the Patriarchs box at the top of the
main chart, in the bottom right corner, after the
phrase �Forbidden in Mosaic Law� I added the phrase
�(though this was not yet in force)� to make it
clear that Abraham and Sarah were not technically in
breach of the Mosaic Law, since this did not come
into being until hundreds of years later, and many
commentators suggest that this was not forbidden at
this early date. (As for what Lot�s daughters did, I
think that even then it would have been viewed as
unnatural and repugnant!) (23-Sep-2020)
At the
encouragement of my family, particularly my
15-year-old son Nathan, I have begun to make the
color scheme and presentation of this site more
interesting, as can be seen in the layout at the top
of this page, and hopefully we can continue doing so
in the future. My son also made me a very nice logo
and icon for the site, which makes it look a lot
more professional. Thanks, Nathan! (23-Sep-2020)
I added a
new article to this
site, Leslie McFall�s A Translation Guide to the
Chronological Data in Kings and Chronicles.
Since it is such a groundbreaking article for Old
Testament chronology, I was asked to translate it
into Spanish by a pastoral training group I
participate in. In the process of converting it to
text and translating it I found a number of
typographical errors and formatting issues, and
found a lot of issues that merited clarification.
Because of this I decided to repost the edited
English article on this site as well as its Spanish
translation. However, I have faithfully retained all
of the original article. For more details see the
article itself at the link above. (I redirected all
links to the original article to this edited
article.) This brings the total number of distinct
articles on this website up to 31!
(18-Sep-2020)
I made minor but important changes to
Harmony of the Life of Hezekiah
(referenced four times around 700), mainly
concerning when Manasseh was taken captive,
repented, and was restored, which included adding
footnote 5. (18-Sep-2020)
I made major changes to Chronology of the Four Gospels,
including �unpacking� several sections in which I
had simply summarized a large section by saying
something like �Material that only Luke relates�,
which was actually composed of 11 separate events or
teachings! Several people have written in and said,
�You left out such and such a parable!�, when in
actuality it was contained in such a summarized
section. I finally realized that people typically go
searching for a particular event or teaching, and
ought to be able to find it! So I have now made this
chart as complete as possible, including every event
or teaching. This expansion is most notable in the
Sermon on the Mount on page 2, in the Ministry in
Perea on page 4, in the Olivet Discourse on page 5,
and at the end of the Lord�s Supper on page 6. I
also added many cross-references and changed the way
these are handled, and made other formatting
improvements, which are all explained on the last
two pages. (Link provided in the main chart and in
the NT Chronology expanded chart,
under �Ministry of Jesus�.) (18-Jun-2020)
I found a
way to better automate the tracking down of bad
links, and fixed a number of links and other
nonsubstantive formatting issues. This affected many
of the files, which I have simply updated without
comment. (18-May-2020)
I made
several very minor changes to Bible Characters Mentioned Outside
the Bible in Contemporary Sources (referenced
around 2085 and 1760 B.C.), all in the chart in
section 2.1.1. The changes were not
substantive, but only for clarification. However, I
also decided to put a very tentative link to a
possible identification of some of the pharaohs of
the Exodus on the main page, and mentioned this on
this page. (18-May-2020)
I made
one minor change to Chronology of the Four Gospels,
correcting �Mary Magdalena� to �Mary Magdalene�;
this was because this page was originally only in
Spanish, and was translated into English in 2017,
but it took me 3 years to notice this mistake! (Link
provided in the main chart and in the NT Chronology expanded chart,
under �Ministry of Jesus�.) (16-May-2020)
By
popular demand I have decided to keep both
versions of my New Testament chronology, calling the
larger one the NT Chronology expanded
chart, and the smaller one the New Testament Chronology panoramic
view chart! One contributor said she liked
both versions, one for the detail and one for the
panoramic view, and frankly, I also use them both
for the same reasons. So, I will continue to update
both! (14-May-2020)
I made
minor changes to Detailed Chronology of the Exodus
from Egypt (Referenced around 1430 B.C.),
essentially just formatting changes in the
Deuteronomy column. These changes are explained in
the first paragraph of the Detailed Chronology
of the Exodus section, and in endnote 1.
(23-Mar-2020)
I made major changes to Detailed Chronology of the Exodus
from Egypt (Referenced around 1430 B.C.),
adding lots of details to the already existing
chronology to show more clearly how the chronology
was calculated, though not really changing the
chronology. The only substantive changes are at very
end of the main chart, where I had inadvertently
left out a month, which makes quite a difference!
(20-Mar-2020)
I added
more dating information in purple in the left margin
of the NT Chronology expanded
chart around 35-38 A.D. to show how these dates
depend on other dates. (12-Dec-2019)
I made
two very minor changes to the NT Chronology expanded
chart, adding the 2-year figures for Paul�s
imprisonments in Caesarea from 58 to 60 and in Rome
from 61 to 63, and showing the verse that provides
this figure in each case. (10-Dec-2019)
As a
result of enlarging the NT Chronology expanded chart,
I realized that it makes better sense to date Paul�s
arrival in Ephesus during his Third Missionary
Journey to mid 54 instead of early 54, since he
spent 3 years there and left in mid 57. Of course, I
realize that the 3 years should not be considered a
precise figure, but simply to give a general
estimate of his time frame there, so this change
doesn�t make a real difference, but if we take the 3
years at face value this would be the time he
arrived. (In any case all of these figures are
somewhat approximate, since they are calculated by
adding together all of the figures given in Acts,
and calculated backwards from the accession of
Porcius Festus in the summer of 60 A.D.) I also made
this change in Chronology and Locations of the
Writing of Acts and Paul�s Letters, in quite a
few places (referenced four times in NT Chronology expanded).
(3-Dec-2019)
I had
realized for a while that the
chart in NT Chronology expanded
was extremely cramped, which made it confusing and
hard to follow, and the more information I added the
more cramped it got! So I have now enlarged it vertically to double
its size! In my opinion this made it much,
much clearer to read and understand, and allowed me
to add various important details that there had not
been room for before, including additional
information in the left margin (in purple) showing
which dates depend on each historical anchor. In
particular, this made much more readable and
understandable the chronology of Paul�s Second
Missionary Journey and especially of his Third
Missionary Journey. However, I
would like your opinion: I have retained
the original unstretched version,
and have updated it, though I may not continue to do
so in the future. Does anyone
prefer the original version to the new one?
(The only reason I can think of is that you can see
a broader time frame at a glance.) I would love to
hear opinions on either side. (3-Dec-2019)017
I made a
minor change to Chronology of the Four Gospels,
splitting the last row on page 1 into two rows,
since they were really two separate events, and the
second one shows one more glimpse of the disciples
of John the Baptist while he was imprisoned, which
is an important thread in our chronology. (Link
provided in the main chart and in the NT Chronology expanded chart,
under �Ministry of Jesus�.) (26-Oct-2019)
I made
more major changes to Chronology of the Four Gospels,
mostly in The Last Week of the Ministry of Jesus,
which now follows more fully the traditional
chronology, and added 2 footnotes. (Link provided in
the main chart and in the NT Chronology expanded chart,
under �Ministry of Jesus�.) (11-Oct-2019)
Made
minor changes to The Twelve Apostles
(referenced several times in Chronology of the Four Gospels),
adjusting the last sentence in footnote 5 and
adjusting the format of the table. (21-Sep-2019)
I made
more fairly major changes to Chronology of the Four Gospels,
just to clarify a few key times and events. I found
that these were not clear when I taught an overview
of the ministry of Jesus in a Bible study using this
page! It continues to amaze me how much more I learn
by teaching than just by studying! (Link provided in
the main chart and in the NT Chronology expanded chart,
under �Ministry of Jesus�.) (20-Sep-2019)
I made
more major changes to Chronology of the Four Gospels,
making the title information more like all my other
pages, moving background information to the end (and
adding some important information to it), making
various minor edits, and adding new footnotes 4 and
5. (Link provided in the main chart and in the NT Chronology expanded chart,
under �Ministry of Jesus�.) (10-Sep-2019)
I made
minor changes to Detailed Chronology of the Exodus
from Egypt, making a minor correction to one
of the 40-day periods in the first table, changing
�June� 4 to �June� 11, and fixing a minor graphic
problem (the braces in the first table).
(8-Jul-2019)
I made
more major changes to Chronology of the Four Gospels,
mostly to clarify how the chronology was arrived at,
including marking key events that allow us to
construct this chronology with the symbol �, and
adding footnotes 1 and 2. I also removed the
question mark from most of the references to the
years 27 through 30, since I consider that these are
attested by multiple evidences. (Link provided in
the main chart and in the NT Chronology expanded chart,
under �Ministry of Jesus�.) (20-Jun-2019)
I made
more major changes to Chronology of the Four Gospels,
much of it involving additional temporal detail
showing the temporal relationship between
consecutive events, even when such events cannot be
dated in the larger context. All such information is
now colored purple to
distinguish it from the key temporal detail, which
is colored red, so all
time information should now be colored either purple or red. I also moved the Colors
and Formatting section to the end, and thus
removed the first two footnotes. (Link provided in
the main chart and in the NT Chronology expanded chart,
under �Ministry of Jesus�.) (5-Jun-2019)
I made major changes to Chronology of the Four Gospels,
mainly reorganizing the Last Supper section and
adding footnote 4, and fixing some bad links. (Link
provided in the main chart and in the NT Chronology expanded chart,
under �Ministry of Jesus�.) (25-May-2019)
I made major changes to When Was Hebrew First Written?
(Referenced around 1660 B.C. and now also around
1900 B.C.), adding several sections about the book
of Job, since this book is directly affected by the
question in the title. This doubled the size of the
article! I also added another link to this in
reference to Job in the main article around 1900
B.C. (25-Apr-2019)
I made
one minor but important change to Esau�s Choices (referenced
three times between 1966 B.C. and 1915 B.C.),
changing the erroneous year 1829 to 1929.
(25-Apr-2019)
I
realized that if someone printed out one of these
web pages and passed on copies to others, there was
no way for the recipients to find the web site they
came from, since the web address was not spelled out
anywhere on the pages. Many have told me that they
have done this or have asked permission to do this,
and I have no problem with this as long as proper
attribution is made, something which the lack of
this address made a lot harder. Therefore I spelled out the web address of
each page on the page itself. This
affected all the pages except the main page and NT Chronology expanded, but of
course is not a substantive change. (25-Apr-2019)
I
adjusted the transliteration of Hebrew words back to
the more traditional representation, replacing Ɂ
with ʾ and ʕ with ʿ, since ע was not always
pronounced as ʕ in ancient Hebrew. (See When Was Hebrew First Written?
for an explanation.) This affected quite a few
pages, but of course is not a substantive change. I
also added stress marks on many phonetic and Hebrew
transliterated words. (25-Apr-2019)
I removed
the question mark from the year 27 A.D. in the main
chart and other places, since I believe that this
date is confirmed from multiple sources, as I
explain in my chronology. (6-Mar-2019)
Made
minor changes to the chart in NT Chronology expanded, mainly
adding or adjusting a number of links between 43 and
61 to make clearer which dates depend on my three anchor dates.
(6-Mar-2019)
Made major edits to The Seventy Sevens of Daniel 9
(referenced around 460-350 B.C. and again in the New
Testament period), including the addition of three
main sections and a table of contents. (27-Feb-2019)
Made more
major changes to Chronology of the Four Gospels,
making many needed adjustments at the bottom of the
first page as a result of having to prepare a sermon
on Mark 2:1-12. (Hopefully I won�t feel the need to
do that every time I prepare a sermon on the
gospels!) I also realized that I had left out some
verses, and listed some verses twice, and these have
now all been fixed. I also realized that I had not
always marked one of the passages in bold as the key
passage, and I have now done this (these will not
appear in the major changes link above, since they
are just formatting changes). (Link provided in the
main chart and in the NT Chronology expanded chart,
under �Ministry of Jesus�.) (9-Feb-2019)
Made some
minor but important corrections to the main chart,
changing 39? (A.D.) to 38? (it was correct in New Testament Chronology Expanded
but not here) and changing 20 (B.C.) to 20-19 (also
adjusted the link to point to more relevant
information). (30-Jan-2019)
Made fairly major changes to Semitic
Alphabets. (There is already
pink text in the file,
but never where any of the changes were made, so
these are still marked with pink.)
However, most of these changes are simply
adjustments for consistency of notation, mainly
adding lots of phonetic pronunciation next to
transliteration forms, and a number of stress marks
to phonetic pronunciations. The only really
important changes can be viewed in this file, mainly added
additional information about Arabic, and phonetic
pronunciations of Greek words. (Referenced
in When Was Hebrew First Written?)
(30-Jan-2019)
Made a
minor correction to the main chart, changing �Gen.
12:2-3� to �Gen. 12:1-3� in reference to the call of
Abram, sometime before 2091. (11-Jan-2019)
I added
the option to subscribe to my update list.
(20-Dec-2018)
Made a
minor change to The Twelve Apostles
(referenced several times in Chronology of the Four Gospels),
changing �mid 28� to �early 28� near the top of the
�Official� Call column, since the calling of
the 4 fishermen clearly occurred before Matthew�s
call, though not by much. (17-Dec-2018)
I linked
the ministry of Isaiah in the main chart (around
730) to the Harmony of the Life of Hezekiah
(now referenced four times around 700), since this
file shows as much of Isaiah�s chronology as we
know. (13-Dec-2018)
Made
major changes to the main chart, adding a lot of
information about the Egyptian pharaohs and removing
a lot of the clutter by moving many comments to
other places. (12-Dec-2018)
I added a
new article, Archaeological Finds and Ancient
Documents that Verify the Bible (referenced 9
times in the main chart, in the lavender boxes). This
allowed me to remove a lot of the clutter from the
main chart by moving this information to this
article. (12-Dec-2018)
Made major changes to Bible Genealogies. (Referenced
in the main chart above, around 2250 B.C., around
1700 B.C., and again around 15 A.D.) (9-Nov-2018)
Fixed a
link in NT Chronology expanded and
added a note in the left margin of the chart
clarifying what range of dates depends on the
accession of Porcius Festus. (8-Sep-2018)
Rearranged
some things in the Format
section, but no real changes. (5-Sep-2018)
Made fairly major changes to Chronology of the Four Gospels,
including removing footnote 1 (old info), adding
footnotes 3-5, and adding several links to the
article in the next line. (Link provided in the main
chart and in the NT Chronology expanded chart,
under �Ministry of Jesus�.) (4-Sep-2018)
I added a
new article, The Twelve Apostles
(referenced several times in Chronology of the Four Gospels),
which includes a comparative chart of the various
lists of apostles, plus additional info.
(4-Sep-2018)
I added a
new article, Bible Characters Mentioned Outside
the Bible in Contemporary Sources (referenced
around 2085 and 1760 B.C.), whose main point is
that, before the period of the kings of Judah and
Israel, no one mentioned in the Bible appears in the
contemporary archaeological record, but that this is
not a problem for biblical inerrancy. (23-Jun-2018)
Made
minor changes to Chronology of the Four Gospels,
adding �the Baptist� after �John� in three places on
the first page. (Link provided in the main chart and
in the NT Chronology expanded chart,
under �Ministry of Jesus�.) (21-May-2018)
Made
minor changes to When Was Hebrew First Written?,
in the last sentence of the paragraph that begins
�In any case, as I already mentioned above�.
(12-May-2018)
As of
5-Apr-2018 I have now translated all of these web
pages into Spanish, except 3 which are quite technical,
and which I do not plan to translate into Spanish
unless some readers explicitly request it. These
are marked with an asterisk in the Site Map.)
(9-Apr-2018)
Made
minor changes to God Doesn�t Have Favorite
Languages, the only important one being the
addition of footnote 5. (Referenced in the main
chart around 2050 B.C.) (5-Apr-2018)
Made
minor edits to The Seventy Sevens of Daniel 9
(referenced around 460-350 B.C. and again in the New
Testament period), correcting �44 B.C.� to �444
B.C.� in the discussion of verse 25, and adding �as
we can see by the first sentence in verse 27� in the
second part of the discussion of verse 26.
(28-Mar-2018)
I changed
the titles of the main time periods in the main
chart from black to dark red
to make them stand out better. (26-Mar-2018)
I
adjusted a lot of the information in the line at
1876 B.C. in the main chart. (26-Mar-2018)
I greatly
expanded the first box under Slavery in Egypt around
1750 B.C. (21-Mar-2018)
I noticed
that the dates given in The Narrated Bible for Babylonian
kings� reigns from the end of Nebuchadnezzar�s reign
to the beginning of Belshazzar�s reign were one year
later than both secular and Biblical scholarship
have established. I had mostly followed The Narrated Bible
for these dates, and I have now adjusted them, plus
a few others in the same time range. This affects
dates from 563 to 551 B.C. (20-Mar-2018)
Made
various cosmetic changes to the main chart and to
the chart in NT Chronology expanded, and in
the latter added green
and pink
backgrounds to various figures and references to
show their source. (9-Mar-2018)
Made
additional space at the top of the chart, since it
was very cramped, and rearranged a lot of the
information. In particular, the first sky-blue box
is now around 2300 instead of 2240-2250.
(16-Feb-2018)
Added the
third paragraph in the first sky-blue box in the
main chart, around 2240 B.C., and rearranged some of
the other material at the top of the chart.
(15-Feb-2018)
Made
fairly major edits to Bible Genealogies, in the
process of translating it into Spanish. (Referenced
in the main chart above, around 2250 B.C., around
1700 B.C., and again around 15 A.D.) (3-Feb-2018)
Made
quite a few insignificant or cosmetic changes to the
main chart. (12-Dec-2017)
Added a
link in Chronology of Esther
(referenced around 473 B.C.), in 486. (12-Dec-2017)
Made
minor edits to Harmony of the Life of Hezekiah
(referenced three times around 700), removing
speculations that different editions of The
Narrated Bible (now called The
Daily Bible) might show significant
differences, since the author has let me know that
this is not the case. (1-Dec-2017)
I
adjusted some of the information about F. LaGard
Smith in Sources and added a
sentence in parentheses about him in Kings of Babylon, Media, and
Persia in the Bible (referenced around 570
B.C.) and in Chronology of Esther
(referenced around 473 B.C.). I also corrected a few
mistakes in the latter. (1-Dec-2017)
I added a
new article, Chronology of Esther
(referenced around 473 B.C.), since it was
impossible to show on the main chart all of the
chronological detail provided in the book, nor how
it dovetails so perfectly with extra-biblical
historical events. (29-Nov-2017)
I made more
explicit how the chronology is derived from Terah
to Caleb, by means of phrases like �Isaac born (Abraham 100, Gen.
21:5)�. This kind of information, which
makes explicit the progression of the chronology,
will from now on have a green background to make
it easier to follow the chronology along.
(22-Nov-2017)
Made
fairly major edits to Bible Genealogies, especially
in the last table. (Referenced in the main chart
above, around 2250 B.C., around 1700 B.C., and again
around 15 A.D.) (1-Nov-2017)
I added
the reference �Daniel 1-5� for King Nebuchadnezzar
around 590 B.C. There are many, many more references
to Nebuchadnezzar, but those in Daniel are some of
the more important in giving extensive personal
details. (31-Oct-2017)
Made
fairly major edits to Bible Genealogies, mainly
fixing links that had changed. (Referenced in the
main chart above, around 2250 B.C., around 1700
B.C., and again around 15 A.D.) (25-Oct-2017)
I added a
link to the Battle of Qarqar in the lavender box at 853 B.C. in
the main chart. (20-Oct-2017)
Made
minor edits to Kings of Aram-Damascus
(referenced twice, around 875 and 730 B.C.), mainly
fixing some bad links related to The Narrated
Bible. (20-Oct-2017)
Made
insignificant or cosmetic changes to the web pages
that I had changed in the last few days.
(19-Oct-2017)
I added
the phrase in quotes �James the Lord�s brother� at
year 38 in NT Chronology expanded to make
it clear which James it was, since the apostle James
(brother of John) was still alive, though the former
was already apparently a leader in the church, since
he is also called an apostlein Galatians 1:19.
(18-Oct-2017)
Made
minor edits to Harmony of the Life of Hezekiah
(referenced three times around 700), mainly fixing
some bad links related to The Narrated
Bible. (18-Oct-2017)
I added a
sentence at the end of the discussion around 2220 in
the main chart about how Abram�s brother Haran�s
name and the name of the city Haran are distinct in
Hebrew. (17-Oct-2017)
I added
additional information about Isaac and Esau and
their movements in the main chart between 1991 and
1900. (7-Sep-2017)
I added
the second sentence in the last paragraph at the
beginning of this section above, to encourage more
readers to contribute their insights. (31-Aug-2017)
Made
corrections to the chart in NT Chronology expanded,
changing Acts 11:19-28 to Acts 11:19-26 and Acts
11:25 to Acts 11:26 between 43 and 44. (19-Aug-2017)
I added
the second paragraph at the beginning of this
section above. (22-Jul-2017)
Made
minor edits to The Seventy Sevens of Daniel 9,
the only important ones being in the first paragraph
and in the new first footnote (referenced around
450-350 B.C. and again in the New Testament period).
(17-Jul-2017)
I added
an introductory paragraph to the Background
Information section above. (11-Jul-2017)
Made
minor edits to Paul�s Life After his First
Imprisonment and to the accompanying map. All
of these are insignificant or cosmetic except that I
had said that Nicopolis was in Achaia in the text,
but placed it in Macedonia on the map. Now I am
frankly not sure, and will have to research it once
I get back to my reference books in Ecuador in
September, so I removed �in Achaia� from the text.
(Referenced in NT Chronology expanded.)
(3-Jul-2017)
Added
instructions for how to print the main chart in the
Format section, which is now called Format,
Searching, and Printing. (17-Jun-2017)
Made a
few cosmetic changes to the dark-red timeline bars
on the two sides. (17-Jun-2017)
Added
additional information at 1900 B.C., mainly to make
it clear that here Jacob was reunited with Isaac,
and settled in Hebron, probably until the final move
of the Israelites to Egypt. The evidence for this is
minimal, based only on the information that he is
still there two years later in Genesis 37:14, and
that in Genesis 46:1-5 he travels through Beersheba
on the way to Egypt from wherever he is living, but
in the absence of evidence to the contrary it seems
probable. (16-Jun-2017)
Made major changes to Chronology of the Four Gospels,
making various corrections and adjustments, and
adding various additional information. One is at the
top of page 2 where the disciples pick grain on the
Sabbath: I showed why this must have been in April
or May, which is why it comes right after the
Passover of John 5. Another is that I fleshed out
the feeding of the 5000 at the top of page 3 and
preceding and following events. For the others click
on the major changes link. (Link provided in the
main chart and in the NT Chronology expanded chart,
under �Ministry of Jesus�.) (12-Jun-2017)
I
adjusted the comment about The Narrated Bible on
the left of the period of the Judges. (9-Jun-2017)
Made
minor cosmetic changes to the main chart and the NT Chronology expanded chart,
and added the second paragraph at the top of this
section. (8-Jun-2017)
Finally!
Completed the Spanish version of the main page,
which turned out to be a lot more work than I
expected! But it is much needed! (Most of the other
pages are still only in English, but I will be
translating them as I have time. I will generally
not be listing changes to the Spanish pages here in
the future, but for those who are interested you can
consult the corresponding history on the Spanish
page.) (7-Jun-2017)
Made many
more minor mainly cosmetic changes to the main page
in the process of preparing the text for translation
into Spanish, which is almost ready. (18-May-2017)
Found
that some of the links did not work, especially in
the box about the Old Testament Canon around 520,
and fixed these. (18-May-2017)
Made
minor edits to the kings of Aram-Damascus, adding
a footnote about the names Syria and Aram. Also
added the name Syria to the box about Aram-Damascus
in the main chart around 770. (16-May-2017)
Fixed bad
reference around 1730: Genesis 13:15 should have
been Genesis 15:13. (9-May-2017)
Made many
minor cosmetic changes to the main page in the
process of preparing the text for translation into
Spanish, for which I found it necessary to produce a
(messy but) searchable version of just the
text contained in the chart. If you really want to
search for something in the chart, you now can,
after which you will need to go back to the main
chart to see the graphical context of that text.
(8-May-2017)
Corrected
the end of Nabopolassar�s reign, removed the
supposed co-regency of Nebuchadnezzar, and adjusted
the early details of Daniel�s life. (3-May-2017)
Adjusted
a few of the reign dates of the kings to conform to
McFall�s chronology, which I am now following
exactly. (3-May-2017)
Made many
more minor changes, mostly cosmetic, to the main
page in the process of preparing the text for
translation into Spanish, a process which is not yet
complete. (3-May-2017)
Made a
minor change to the summary chart for the kings of
Judah and Israel that follows McFall�s
chronology, adding a link to his main web page which
mentions his recent death (referenced around 680
B.C.). (3-May-2017)
I
realized that the identification of Darius the Mede
in the context of extra-biblical sources was more
complex and uncertain than I had indicated, so made
an external page to discuss the
issue (referenced around 570 B.C.). (29-Apr-2017)
I
realized that the Scriptures refer to 3 kings named
Darius, not just 2, and that the king referred to as
�Darius the Persian� in
Nehemiah 12:22 was not the same as �Darius king of Persia�
mentioned in Ezra 4 and simply called Darius
elsewhere in Ezra and in Haggai and Zechariah.
Neither of these is the same as �Darius the Mede� mentioned
repeatedly in Daniel. �Darius the Persian� must be
either Darius II or Darius III, since the priests
mentioned in the same verse served during and after
the time of Nehemiah. (29-Apr-2017)
Made many
minor cosmetic changes to the main page in the
process of preparing the text for translation into
Spanish, a process which is not yet complete.
(29-Apr-2017)
Made
cosmetic changes to The Seventy Sevens of Daniel 9,
and removed one redundant link in footnote 2
(referenced around 450-350 B.C. and again in the New
Testament period). (18-Apr-2017)
I finally
translated Cronolog�a de los cuatro
evangelios to English, as Chronology of the Four Gospels!
(Link provided in the main chart and in the NT Chronology expanded chart,
under �Ministry of Jesus�.) In the process I also
made many changes to the Spanish version. The links
now point only to the English version, though the
Spanish version is still there. I hope soon to
translate my entire chronology into Spanish.
(18-Apr-2017)
I am now
showing the name of the king referred to in Ezra 4:6
(529 B.C.) as �Ahasuerus/Xerxes�
to show that some English versions call him the one
and some the other. Since he reigned between Cyrus
and Darius the Persian, he was evidently the king
known in other sources as Cambyses II, son of Cyrus,
who ruled from 530 to 522. (Ahasuerus and Xerxes are
actually the same name, not two names for the same
king, the one Hebrew and the other Greek, both
derived from the Old Persian X�ayār�a, as
the link provided for Xerxes I around 480 shows.
(18-Apr-2017)
Made a
number of minor, non-significant adjustments to the
main chart. (18-Apr-2017)
Shortened
slightly the discussion around 2220 in the main
chart about how Abram�s brother Haran�s name and the
name of the city Haran are distinct in Hebrew.
(13-Apr-2017)
Added
Joseph�s age as stated in the text in 1898 and in
1885. (13-Apr-2017)
Made many
adjustments between 1929 and 1887 to provide
additional information, and made cosmetic
adjustments from 1885 to 1782. (12-Apr-2017)
Made many
adjustments for clarification to the chart of Jacob�s
children�s mothers and probable birth years and
birth sequence, around 2000, though the data
remains the same. (11-Apr-2017)
Expanded
the discussion around 2220 in the main chart about
how Abram�s brother Haran�s name and the name of the
city Haran are distinct in Hebrew. (11-Apr-2017)
Adjusted
the chart of the kings of Babylon around 600 to make
things less cramped, and added information about
Nergal-sar-ezer (Neriglissar), whom I had only
listed under the latter name, which I had
misspelled. I realized (from his Wikipedia article)
that he is mentioned in the Bible under the
first name, though only as an official of
Nebuchadnezzar prior to his own reign. (5-Apr-2017)
Made
minor edits to The Meaning of the Word �Hebrew�
in Genesis, correcting
some of the Hebrew, which was backwards in a few
places because of the way Unicode works with
Hebrew characters. I also changed the orientation
to portrait. (Referenced in the main chart
around 2020 B.C.) (4-Apr-2017)
Made a
minor edit to the summary chart of the kings of
Judah and Israel referred to around 920, adding the
alternate name CONIAH to JEHOIACHIN. (4-Apr-2017)
Adjusted
the endnote numbering in Chronology and Locations of the
Writing of Acts and Paul�s Letters,
added endnote 2 to enlarge on why Titus is not
mentioned by name in Acts (see the Council in
Jerusalem in AD 49), and enlarged on the discussion
in the 2 Corinthians - Fall 57 row. Did other
non-significant editing. (31-Mar-2017)
Changed
the 40-year period of peace at the time of Deborah
(starting in 1213) from black (matching a judgeship)
to white (a time of peace not necessarily matching a
judgeship), since Deborah�s judgeship began before
this time and has no specified ending year, as the
text in the chart states. Gideon�s judgeship may
have occurred at this same time, as Cragg suggests,
but the 40 year period is specifically said to be
during his time (as judge), so I left that black.
(11-Mar-2017)
Made
various nonsubstantive cosmetic adjustments to the
main chart. (11-Mar-2017)
Added a
discussion around 2220 in the main chart about how
Abram�s brother Haran�s name and the name of the
city Haran are distinct in Hebrew. (10-Mar-2017)
Added a
comment about Abraham�s remarriage and age around
2020 in the main chart. (9-Mar-2017)
Added
comments about Jacob�s age at 1900 and about Esau�s
age at 1966 in the main chart. (9-Mar-2017)
Made
various nonsubstantive cosmetic adjustments to the
main chart. (9-Mar-2017)
Added
Eliakim as an alternate name for Jehoiakim around
600 B.C. (8-Mar-2017)
Added a
link around 920 to a summary chart for the kings of
Judah and Israel that I prepared following McFall�s
chronology, with biblical references, which is
preferrable to cluttering up the chart with so many
references. (8-Mar-2017)
Added
Abijam as an alternate name for Abijah around 910
B.C. (7-Mar-2017)
Added a
small box to indicate how Judah�s story fits in with
the main narrative of Joseph from 1898 to 1877, and
adjusted the description at the top of Judah�s
story. (6-Mar-2017)
Made many
more cosmetic, nonsubstantive changes to the main
chart and to the NT Chronology expanded chart.
(4-Mar-2017)
Made more
minor edits to God Doesn�t Have Favorite
Languages, adjusting the second paragraph of 3.2
Aramaic, and adding an additional paragraph to
footnote 4. (Referenced in the main chart around
2050 B.C.) (2-Mar-2017)
Adjusted
the comment about the close of the Old Testament
Canon around 420 B.C. (1-Mar-2017)
Added
references for the 70 years from 605 to 536 or from
586 to 515. (24-Feb-2017)
Added
various details in the period from 515 to 425,
mostly additional Bible references, and added a
comment about the close of the Old Testament Canon.
(24-Feb-2017)
Made many
cosmetic, nonsubstantive changes to the main chart,
mainly marking more names of patriarchs and rulers
in red to help them stand out in the descriptions of
events. Also made a few such changes to the NT Chronology expanded chart,
including the marking of many place names that Paul
visited in red. (24-Feb-2017)
Moved the
timeline on the right side of the chart all the way
to the right, and rearranged things accordingly,
uncramping a lot of things! (22-Feb-2017)
Adjusted
some of the events and their references between 2156
and 2091 B.C. (22-Feb-2017)
Made
another minor adjustment to the �Family Tree of the
Patriarchs� box at the top of the main chart.
(22-Feb-2017)
Made some
adjustments to the first paragraph of the Format
section. (17-Feb-2017)
Made
minor edits to God Doesn�t Have Favorite
Languages, adding a web link on the first
page, adjusting the first paragraph of 3.1
Hebrew and adding a footnote there.
(Referenced in the main chart around 2050 B.C.)
(16-Feb-2017)
Made
minor edits to The Meaning of the Word �Hebrew�
in Genesis, renumbering the footnotes, fixing
a link in the first footnote, and adjusting a quote
at the bottom of page 4. (Referenced in the main
chart around 2020 B.C.) (16-Feb-2017)
Made
minor edits to the chart of the kings of Aram-Damascus, mainly
in the introductory material. Did not change any of
the information in the chart itself. (15-Feb-2017)
Adjusted
the information and links for Herod of Chalcis and
Agrippa II in the NT Chronology expanded chart.
(15-Feb-2017)
Adjusted
the box in the main chart describing the Battle of
Qarqar in 853 B.C., adding the phrase �a much more
local and thus biblically significant affair� to
describe the Battle of Ramoth-Gilead, to make clear
why it was mentioned in the Bible whereas the more
globally significant Battle of Qarqar was not. Also
made a few cosmetic changes in the New Testament
period. (15-Feb-2017)
Made one
minor adjustment to NT Chronology expanded, in the
reference for the Council in Jerusalem in 49.
(13-Feb-2017)
Made
major edits to Where and When Paul�s Letters were
Written, so many that you should just read it
through again. However, most of the important
additions have to do with Titus, so you could also
just search for Titus. I also changed the title to Chronology
and Locations of the Writing of Acts and Paul�s
Letters, and of Key Individuals and Events
Mentioned in them, since this chart covers
much more than just when and where Paul�s letters
were written. (However, the file itself still has
its original name. And since that title is so long,
I will in the future only refer to it by the first
half.) (Referenced in NT Chronology expanded.)
(13-Feb-2017)
Made a
minor adjustment to the �Family Tree of the
Patriarchs� box at the top of the main chart.
(4-Feb-2017)
Made
major rearrangements of the New Testament section at
the bottom of the main chart to make the information
less cramped. (4-Feb-2017)
Made major edits to Bible Genealogies. (Referenced
in the main chart above, around 2250 B.C., around
1700 B.C., and again around 15 A.D.) (4-Feb-2017)
Added or
adjusted various events from the life of the prophet
Samuel through the life of king David. (4-Feb-2017)
Added the
fall of Aram-Damascus to Assyria in 732 B.C. to the
main chart. (15-Dec-2016)
Made
major adjustments to the main chart, mainly adding
the first half of the Neo-Assyrian dynasty, whose
early kings, though never named in the Bible, are
shown by extra-Biblical sources to have interacted
with the Israelites as early as Shalmaneser III, and
later with Jonah. This required me to widen the
chart slightly, something I try not to do, but it
was necessary! Also made other adjustments in the
same time period, and added information and a
separate chart about the kings of Aram-Damascus, who
appear frequently in the Bible during this period,
though their actual reigns are not easy to date.
(14-Dec-2016)
Made
minor cosmetic adjustments to the main table around
1420 on the right side to make it a bit clearer
which text went with which individual. (28-Nov-2016)
Oops!
Made major edits to God Doesn�t Have Favorite
Languages since it was last posted on
17-Sep-2014, on 24-Sep-2016, but didn�t post the
main file until 24-Nov-2016, though I had posted the
edits file! (Referenced in the main chart, around
2050.) (24-Nov-2016!)
Made a
few changes to Month-by-month Chronology of the
Exodus from Egypt, mainly adding the initial
events in the conquest of Canaan, some or all of
which may have occurred in 1406. (Referenced around
1430 B.C.) (23-Nov-2016)
Added the
Amalekites to the Family Tree of the Patriarchs.
(23-Nov-2016)
Made
various adjustments around the beginning of the
period of the Judges, including adding references to
the Berlin Statue Pedestal Relief around 1350, and a
reference to it in the discussion of the Merneptah
Stele around 1210. (22-Nov-2016)
Added a
brand new article Month-by-month Chronology of the
Exodus from Egypt to show the surprising
amount of detail provided for the key years of the
Exodus from Egypt. (Referenced around 1430 B.C.)
(19-Nov-2016)
Made more
minor edits to The Seventy Sevens of Daniel 9
(referenced around 450-350 B.C. and again in the New
Testament period). (11-Nov-2016)
I added
two undatable incidents in the life of Isaac and
Rebekah and Jacob and Esau between 1991 and 1966
B.C. (10-Nov-2016)
Made a
minor but important correction in the Background
Information section above and in the chart at 1446
B.C., where in both cases I had the wrong reference
for the 480 year figure; the correct reference is
1 Kings 6:1. (14-Oct-2016)
Made
minor edits to The Seventy Sevens of Daniel 9,
which had not been significantly updated since 2013,
adjusting many links which had gone dead or moved
(referenced around 450-350 B.C. and again in the New
Testament period). (10-Oct-2016)
Made
minor edits to the main chart and to NT Chronology expanded, both
around the time of Jesus� death and resurrection.
(10-Oct-2016)
Made
minor edits to the content of Bible Genealogies, mainly just
adding section 6, which references my article The Genesis 10 Table of Nations
and Y-Chromosomal DNA. However, I
also completely changed the format, making it
portrait rather than landscape and making many
necessary adjustments. (Referenced in the main chart
above, around 2250 B.C., around 1700 B.C., and again
around 15 A.D.) (10-Oct-2016)
Made more
even more minor edits to When Was Hebrew First Written?,
correcting one more case of the Hebrew and a minor
typo. (24-Sep-2016)
Made major edits to God Doesn�t Have Favorite
Languages since it was last posted on
17-Sep-2014. (Referenced in the main chart, around
2050.) (Oops, I didn�t actually post the file until
24-Nov-2016!) (24-Sep-2016)
Made
minor adjustments to the main chart, adjusting
Nehemiah�s governorship, and adding references to a
number of non-Israelite rulers. (23-Sep-2016)
Made major edits to Bible Genealogies, mainly in
the Appendix (referenced in the main chart above,
around 2250 B.C., around 1700 B.C., and again around
15 A.D.). (23-Sep-2016)
Combined
the two Additions and Adjustments sections here,
rather than having some at the top. (21-Sep-2016)
Made
minor edits to When Was Hebrew First Written?,
correcting some of the Hebrew, which was backwards
in a few places because of the way Unicode works
with Hebrew characters, and adding footnote 2.
This article is referenced in the main chart, around
1650 B.C. (3-Sep-2016)
Made
major edits to Semitic
Alphabets, with so many
changes since it was last posted on 27-Dec-2014 that
the whole article should simply be read over again.
(Referenced
in When Was Hebrew First Written?)
(22-Aug-2016)
Made many
adjustments to the main chart, mainly adjusting the
birth and death years of Joshua and others before
and during the Time of the Judges, and the Chronology of the Book of Judges
page referenced there. (13-Jan-2016)
Made
minor adjustments, mainly to the Time of the Judges
in the main chart. (14-Dec-2015)
Made
minor adjustments to the main chart, correcting the
reference in 1876 and correcting a minor typo.
(14-Nov-2015)
Fixed
two bad links in footnotes 9 and 10 of When Was Hebrew First Written?
This article is referenced in the main chart, around
1650 B.C. (31-Oct-2015)
Made
minor adjustments to the Time of the Judges in the
main chart, and to the Chronology of the Book of Judges
page referenced there. (31-Oct-2015)
Made a
minor adjustment to the main chart, adding a
reference to the Merneptah Stele around 1210.
(10-Oct-2015)
Made
minor adjustments to the main chart, correcting some
lines in Judah�s story, and adjusting the wording in
the comment about the start of the Egyptian
oppression. (2-Oct-2015)
Made many
adjustments to the main chart, including: 1) Widened
it a little to put various dynasties in the right
margin. 2) Added an early dynasty of Tyre and Sidon.
3) Added the evidence for the dating of Solomon�s
temple based on the founding of Carthage. Also
adjusted the Format
section on this page. (1-Oct-2015)
Made
minor adjustments to the main chart, adjusting the
references of King David�s accession around 1010,
and added a note about Ahasuerus around 475.
(28-Sep-2015)
Made
various adjustments to the chart in NT Chronology expanded, and
very minor adjustments to some lines in the main
chart. (18-Sep-2015)
Made
minor adjustments to the main chart (lined up the
arrows for the Seventy Sevens and adjusted
formatting of when Acts and Revelation were
written), and adjusted the Format section
on this page, adding the use of the color orange.
Also rearranged some of the sections. (13-Aug-2015)
Made a
very minor formatting edit to Bible Genealogies (referenced
in the main chart, around 2250 B.C., around 1700
B.C., and again around 15 A.D.). (27-Jun-2015)
Clarified
the dates in Cronolog�a de los cuatro
evangelios (link provided in the main chart
under �Ministry of Jesus�), marking all date
information in red. Sorry, I still haven�t
translated it into English. (9-July-2014)
Added an
apparent co-regency for Tiberius from 12 B.C., which
explains how John the Baptist�s ministry began in
late 26 but was in the �fifteenth year of Tiberius
Caesar� (Luke 3:1). (Additional info at www.biblefragrances.com/studies/tiberius.html.)
(27-May-2014)
Cleaned
up and edited Cronolog�a de los cuatro
evangelios (link provided in the main chart
under �Ministry of Jesus�). Sorry, I still haven�t
translated it into English. (11-Apr-2014)
Added
links to more information on king Herod Agrippa I
and king Herod Agrippa II. (27-Feb-2014)
Added a
lot more detail in the chronology of Paul�s life and
letters, and a few corrections. (25-Jan-2014)
Completely
redid the chronology of Paul�s life, realizing that
I had made some unwarranted assumptions, and cannot
even determine where I got all of them. I also added
an expanded chart for the New Testament from 25 A.D.
to 75 A.D. to provide more detail. (13-Jan-2014)
Completed
missing page numbers from The Narrated Bible at the
end of the chart, from page 1504 on. (13-Jan-2014)
Added a
chart of Jewish high priests mentioned in the New
Testament. (30-Dec-2013)
Adjusted
HERODIAN DYNASTY information, and other detail about
Herod and his family. (28-Dec-2013)
Made
minor adjustments to When Was Hebrew First Written?,
in the last paragraph before the section A
Question of Consonants, and added
footnote 5.
(22-Nov-2013)
Updated
When Was Hebrew First Written?
with a discussion of alphabets. This
article is referenced in the main chart above,
around 1650 B.C. (1-Nov-2013)
Updated
some of the information in God Doesn�t Have Favorite
Languages, such as the count of languages, and
added a comment about Isaiah 19:18. This article is
referenced in the main chart, around 2050 B.C.
(5-Oct-2013)
Adjusted
the reigns of various kings, from Uzziah (Azariah)
to Jehoiakim, following Leslie
McFall�s adjustments to Thiele�s chronology.
(7-May-2013)
Added
King Merodach-Baladan of Babylon (722 B.C.).
(3-Oct-2012)
Added the
final dynasty of Assyria. (3-Oct-2012)
Added the
chronology of the ministry of Jesus. (Unfortunately,
this is in Spanish, which won�t work for most. I
will try to put it into English when I can.)
(14-Sep-2012)
Added the
seventy sevens in Daniel 9. (14-Sep-2012)
Future
Additions and Adjustments
This chronology is essentially complete, though I will still
be making adjustments to existing articles as time goes by. I
do not currently plan to add new articles, but I seem to keep
finding new ones that I end up adding! To see any recently
added articles, see the Site Map.
As of 5-Apr-2018 I have now translated all of these web
pages into Spanish, except 3 which are quite technical, and
which I do not plan to translate into Spanish unless some
readers explicitly request it. These are marked with an
asterisk in the Site Map.)
About
the Author
Since I find that I like to know something about the
authors of websites I find interesting, and where they are
coming from, I thought the least I could do would be to
provide that information here. I have been a missionary
since 1979, and am a pastor and a linguist. I also grew up
as a missionary kid in Mexico. My personal web site is: Aschmann.net/Rick/.
Simplified Web Address
Until January 28, 1922, this web site was called Aschmann.net/BibleChronology,
but now is called biblechronology.net.
I made this change to make the addresses simpler and more
descriptive, and to make this website easier for people to find.
But don�t worry: all of the addresses in the website will still
work in their old form as well as their new form, so any of
these addresses that anyone may have will still work. In fact, I
promise that you can continue to use the old addresses forever,
since both addresses actually point to the same place! However,
the new ones will be handier to work with, and even if you use
the old addresses, all of the links within the website will take
you to the new ones anyway. (The Spanish pages are now at cronologiabiblica.net.) (As of
18-Feb.-2022 I have now updated all of the links.)
(As of
10-Feb.-2022 all security and certificate issues now seem to
be resolved. If not, please let me know.)
Appendix:
Various Timelines for the Early Church and the Life of
Paul
I list these, mostly without comment, and in no particular
order, except to say that there is tremendous variation, and
that I have not necessarily taken information from all of these.
There are plenty more out there!
The Life and Epistles of St. Paul by
Conybeare and Howson, 1012 pages. This is almost certainly the
oldest (sometime before 1885, the death of Howson, though the
publication date of this edition is 1900) and certainly the one
with the most thorough research, which is carefully explained.
Their arguments for the dates of the Third Missionary Journey
through the end of Acts are quite convincing, and I have
followed them in my chronology.