Bible chronology

A Bible chronology tries to match events in the Bible to years AD and BC (= CE and BCE). The following is nearly all based on “Asimov’s Guide to the Bible” (1981). He notes:

“Many of the dates given in the table are approximate, or controversial”.

Asimov was an atheist, so his information would come mainly from secular Western historians. In other words, even an atheist admits at least this much is true – approximately.

Rulers in red are those the Bible uses to date events: “in the first year of Darius the Mede” and all that.

• -2000 (= 2000 BC): beginning of the patriarchal age in Canaan (Abraham)
• -1900
• -1800
• -1700
  • -1650 Israelites in Egypt (Jacob, Joseph)
• -1600
• -1500
• -1400
  • -1370 kingdoms of Moab, Ammon, Edom established
• -1300
  • -1211 possibly time of Exodus (Moses)
• -1200
  • -1170 Israelites enter Canaan; Philistines settle coast (Joshua)
  • -1150 Deborah and Barak defeats Sisera; period of judges
• -1100 Gideon defeats Midianites
  • -1080 Philistines defeat Israelites at Aphek; Shiloh destroyed
  • -1040 Samuel judges the tribes
  • -1028 Saul rules Israel
  • -1013 David rules Judah
  • -1006 David rules united Israel-Judah
• -1000 David establishes capital at Jerusalem
  • -973 Solomon rules united Israel-Judah
  • -962 Solomon completes First Temple
  • -933 Jeroboam I rules Israel; Rehoboam rules Judah
  • -928 Shishak of Egypt loots Jerusalem
  • -915 Asa rules Judah
• -900
  • -875 Ahab rules Israel; Jehoshaphat rules Judah; career of Elijah
  • -853 Battle of Ramath-gilead, death of Ahab
  • -852 Jehoram (= Joram, son of Ahab) rules Israel; career of Elisha
  • -851 Jehoram (of Judah) rules Judah
  • -843 Jehu rebels and rules Israel
  • -837 Jehoash (Joash) rules Judah
• -800 Jehoash (of Israel) rules Israel; death of Elisha
  • -797 Amaziah rules Judah
  • -780 Azariah (Uzziah) rules Judah
  • -760 Amos prophesies
  • -750 Hosea prophesies
  • -740 Jotham rules Judah; Isaiah begins to prophesy
  • -737 Pekah rules Israel
  • -736 Ahaz rules Judah
  • -732 Hoshea rules Israel
  • -730 Micah prophesies
  • -722 Assyria carries off Israelites into exile. The kingdom of Israel is gone. Only Judah remains.
  • -720 Hezekiah rules Judah.
  • -705 Sennacherib rules Assyria, makes Nineveh the capital
  • -701 Sennacherib lays siege to Jerusalem
• -700
  • -693 Manasseh rules Judah, now a tributary of Assyria
  • -638 Josiah rules Judah
  • -630 Zephaniah prophesies
  • -626 Jeremiah begins to prophesy
  • -615 Nahum prophesies
  • -608 Pharaoh Necho defeats Judah at Megiddo; Josiah killed, Jehoiachin becomes king; Jeremiah delivers Temple Sermon
  • -605 Nebuchadnezzar rules Babylonia, crushes Assyria; Habakkuk prophesies
• -600
  • -597  Nebuchadnezzer crushes Judean revolt. First Babylonian Exile. Zedekiah governs Judah.
  • -593 Ezekiel begins to prophesy in captivity.
  • -587 Zedekiah rebels against Babylonia
  • -586 Nebuchadnezzar takes Jerusalem and destroys First Temple. End of Davidic Dynasty. Second Babylonian Exile
  • -562 Evil-merodach rules Babylonia
  • -556 Nabonidus and his son Belshazzar rule Babylonia
  • -538 Cyrus takes Babylon; Jews allowed to return to Judea
  • -521 Darius rules Persia
  • -520 Haggai and Zechariah prophesy
  • -516 Second Temple dedicated
• -500 Obadiah prophesies
  • -486 Ahasuerus (Xerxes I) rules Persia
  • -465 Artaxerxes I rules Persia
  • -460 Malachi prophesies
  • -459 Ezra in Jerusalem
  • -440 Nehemiah in Jerusalem
  • -437 Walls of Jerusalem completed
• -400
  • -312 kingdom of the Greeks (Seleucid Empire)
• -300
• -200
  • -142 Simon the high priest begins Maccabean rule of an independent Judea
• -100
  • -63 Rome (Pompey) takes Jerusalem, Maccabean kingdom comes to an end
  • -37 Herod the Great takes Jerusalem
  • -4 Birth of Jesus; death of Herod the Great
• +1
  • 7 Census in Judea
  • 14 Tiberias Caesar becomes emperor of Rome
  • 18 Caiaphas high priest (till 36)
  • 26 Pontius Pilate becomes Procurator of Judea (till 36)
  • 27 Herod Antipas marries Herodias; John the Baptist begins to preach
  • 29 John the Baptist imprisoned and executed; Jesus crucified.
  • 34 Stephen stoned to death
  • 37 Paul converts
  • 48 Council of Jerusalem
  • 64 Nero persecutes Christians, Peter and Paul executed.
  • 66 Jews rebel against Rome
  • 70 Second Temple destroyed
• +100

– Abagond, +2022.

See also:

• The calendar in the Bible
• The Bible in chronological order – according to Edward Reese’s chronological Bible. Does not necessarily agree with the above post.
• Egypt: a brief history
  • Ramses II – the probable pharaoh of Exodus
• Afro-Asiatic languages
• AD (Anno Domini)
• Asimov

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