Reference Library

Bible Timeline

Explore the major events of Scripture from Creation through Revelation. Click any event to learn more and generate a study.

About the dates. Scripture tells us what happened and in what order, but it does not date these events on our calendar. So no date here stands on its own. Each era shows the dating usually given for it, and tapping it shows exactly what that rests on: which passages fix it, which outside records are used, and where careful believers land differently. The Exodus is the clearest case, placed around 1446 BC by one reading of 1 Kings 6:1 and around 1260 BC by another, both argued from the text. Individual events carry their position in the story and the passage that records it, which is what Scripture actually gives.

Creation & Beginnings

Genesis 1-11

No date can be supportedShow what this dating is based on

Scripture gives no year for creation or the flood, and the Genesis genealogies are read differently by careful believers, so no figure is offered here.

1

Creation of the World

Genesis 1-2

2

The Fall of Humanity

Genesis 3

3

Cain and Abel

Genesis 4:1-16

4

Noah and the Great Flood

Genesis 6-9

5

Tower of Babel

Genesis 11:1-9

6

Call of Abraham

Genesis 12:1-9

The Patriarchs

Genesis 12-50

Roughly 2100 to 1800 BCShow what this dating is based on

Counted back from the Exodus using the 430 years in Egypt of Exodus 12:40 and the ages given in Genesis 21:5, 25:26 and 47:9. Every year here moves with whichever Exodus date is taken, so treat the range as approximate.

1

God's Covenant with Abraham

Genesis 15

2

Destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah

Genesis 18:16-19:29

3

Birth of Isaac

Genesis 21:1-7

4

The Binding of Isaac

Genesis 22:1-19

5

Jacob and Esau

Genesis 25:19-34; 27:1-40

6

Joseph Sold into Egypt

Genesis 37; 39-41

Exodus & Wilderness

Exodus - Deuteronomy

Roughly 1446 to 1406 BC, or roughly 1260 BCShow what this dating is based on

1 Kings 6:1 places the Exodus 480 years before Solomon's fourth year, giving about 1446 BC. Others read the store cities of Exodus 1:11 alongside Egyptian evidence for a date near 1260 BC. Both are argued from Scripture by believing scholars and this app does not choose between them.

1

Israel's Slavery in Egypt

Exodus 1

2

The Calling of Moses

Exodus 3-4

3

The Ten Plagues and Passover

Exodus 7-12

4

Crossing the Red Sea

Exodus 14

5

The Law Given at Mount Sinai

Exodus 19-24

6

Wilderness Wandering and Spies in Canaan

Numbers 13-14

Conquest & Judges

Joshua - Ruth

From the entry into Canaan, forty years after the Exodus, to roughly 1050 BCShow what this dating is based on

Forty years in the wilderness (Numbers 14:33-34) then the periods named through Judges. The lengths in Judges overlap regionally rather than running end to end, so the total is debated.

1

Crossing the Jordan and Fall of Jericho

Joshua 3-6

2

Conquest of Canaan

Joshua 10-21

3

The Cycle of the Judges

Judges 2:11-23

4

Deborah and Barak Defeat Sisera

Judges 4-5

5

Gideon's 300 Defeat the Midianites

Judges 6-8

United Kingdom

1 Samuel - 1 Kings 11

Roughly 1050 to 930 BCShow what this dating is based on

Reign lengths given in Scripture: Saul in 1 Samuel 13:1, David's forty years in 2 Samuel 5:4, and Solomon's forty in 1 Kings 11:42.

1

Samuel and the Rise of the Monarchy

1 Samuel 8-10

2

David Anointed and Defeats Goliath

1 Samuel 16-17

3

David Becomes King

2 Samuel 2-5

4

The Davidic Covenant

2 Samuel 7

5

Solomon Builds the Temple

1 Kings 5-8

Divided Kingdom & Prophets

1 Kings 12 - 2 Kings 25, the Prophets

930 to 586 BCShow what this dating is based on

The regnal years of Kings and Chronicles, tied to Assyrian and Babylonian records. The fall of Samaria (2 Kings 17:6) is fixed to 722 BC by Assyrian annals, which anchors the rest.

1

The Kingdom Divides

1 Kings 12

2

Elijah Confronts the Prophets of Baal

1 Kings 18

3

Elisha's Ministry

2 Kings 2-13

4

Isaiah's Prophetic Ministry

Isaiah 6; 7:14; 9:6-7; 53

5

Fall of the Northern Kingdom (Israel)

2 Kings 17

6

Josiah's Reforms

2 Kings 22-23

Exile & Return

Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther, Daniel

586 to roughly 400 BCShow what this dating is based on

Jerusalem falls in 2 Kings 25, dated to 586 BC by Babylonian records. Jeremiah 25:11 gives seventy years, and the decree of Cyrus in Ezra 1:1 falls in 538 BC by Persian records; Daniel's deportation under Jehoiakim (Daniel 1:1) precedes the fall by about two decades.

1

Daniel in Babylon

Daniel 1-12

2

Fall of Jerusalem and the Babylonian Exile

2 Kings 25; Jeremiah 52

3

Cyrus's Decree and the Return

Ezra 1; Isaiah 44:28-45:1

4

Rebuilding the Temple

Ezra 3-6; Haggai 1-2

5

Nehemiah Rebuilds the Walls of Jerusalem

Nehemiah 1-6

Between the Testaments

Not recorded in Scripture

Roughly 400 to 5 BCShow what this dating is based on

Not recorded in Scripture at all. These years come from Greek, Jewish and Roman historians, and are included because the Gospels are hard to follow without them.

1

The Silent Years and Greek Influence

Daniel 8:21; 11:2-4 (prophetic)

2

The Maccabean Revolt

Daniel 11:31-35 (prophetic); 1 Maccabees 1-4 (historical record, outside the biblical canon)

3

Roman Rule Begins

Daniel 2:40-43 (prophetic); Luke 2:1

Life of Jesus

Matthew, Mark, Luke, John

Roughly 5 BC to AD 33Show what this dating is based on

Jesus is born in the days of Herod (Matthew 2:1), who died about 4 BC on Josephus's account, so the birth is placed shortly before. Luke 3:1 dates the start of John's ministry to the fifteenth year of Tiberius.

1

Birth of Jesus Christ

Matthew 1-2; Luke 2:1-20

2

Baptism of Jesus

Matthew 3:13-17; Mark 1:9-11

3

Temptation in the Wilderness

Matthew 4:1-11; Luke 4:1-13

4

Sermon on the Mount

Matthew 5-7

5

Miracles and Ministry in Galilee

Mark 1-8; Luke 4-9; John 2-6

6

Peter's Confession and the Transfiguration

Matthew 16:13-20; 17:1-13

7

The Crucifixion

Matthew 26-27; Mark 14-15; Luke 22-23; John 18-19

8

The Resurrection

Matthew 28; Mark 16; Luke 24; John 20-21; 1 Corinthians 15:3-8

Early Church

Acts, the Epistles

Roughly AD 33 to 100Show what this dating is based on

Acts is anchored to datable Roman officials, above all Gallio in Acts 18:12, whose term at Corinth is fixed by an inscription found at Delphi.

1

The Ascension of Jesus

Acts 1:1-11

2

Pentecost and the Coming of the Holy Spirit

Acts 2

3

Martyrdom of Stephen

Acts 6-7

4

Conversion of Saul (Paul)

Acts 9:1-19

5

Paul's Missionary Journeys

Acts 13-21; Romans; 1-2 Corinthians; Galatians; Ephesians; Philippians; Colossians; 1-2 Thessalonians

6

The Destruction of Jerusalem

Matthew 24:1-2; Luke 21:20-24

End Times & Revelation

Revelation

Traditionally about AD 95Show what this dating is based on

Irenaeus, writing in the second century, places John's vision late in Domitian's reign. Some argue for a date before AD 70 instead. Nothing in Revelation itself gives a year.

1

John's Revelation on Patmos

Revelation 1

2

Letters to the Seven Churches

Revelation 2-3

3

The Great Tribulation and God's Judgment

Revelation 6-18

4

The Return of Christ and the New Creation

Revelation 19-22

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