BIBLE TIMELINE

Abram's Birth

2150 BCE

Abraham was born in or near the city of UR around 2150. It was very hard to find a specific date.

Abram leaves the city of UR to go to Haran

2075 BCE

Abram leaves the city of UR to go to the city of Haran.

Abram rescues Lot

2072 BCE

Abram rescues Lot from the town of Sodom.

Ishmael's Birth

2064 BCE

Ishmael was born in the year 2064 BCE. This was 11 years after Abram was in Haran. Abram was 86 years old when Ishmael was born!

Abraham's Circumcision

2051 BCE

Abram gets circumcised to become Abraham. Abram makes a covenant with God and gets the new name "Abraham".

Sodom'a destruction

2051 BCE

Sodom was destroyed by God's angels.

Isaac's Birth

2050 BCE

Isaac is born in the year 2050 BCE. Isaac was born after Abraham returned from Gerar and was born in Beersheba.

Isaac's wife!

2010 BCE

Isaac gets married to Rebekah!

Isaac's two sons

1990 BCE

Isaac has two sons! He has Jacob and Esau.

Abraham's Death

1975 BCE

Abraham dies of old age at the age of 175 years!

Exodus

1460 BCE

The law of exodus was given to the Israelites through Moses at Mt. Sinai. The law was added to the promises because of the transgressions of the Israelites. And God warned the Israelites that if they didn't obey the laws fully that he would scatter them throughout the land.

King David conquers

1040 BCE

Kind David conquers Jerusalem.

King David bought the Temple site

1010 BCE

King David purchased the land of where the future Temple in Jerusalem would be.

Start of King Solomon's Reign

1000 BCE

End of Kind David's Reign

1000 BCE

The first Temple

990 BCE

King Solomon built the Temple on the site that David (his father) has bought previously.

Division of Israel

960 BCE

The ten tribes of Israel established a separate kingdom in the north. While Judah and Benjamin had a kingdom in the south with Jerusalem as its capital.

End of King Solomon's reign

960 BCE

Under King Solomon, Israel occupied almost all the land that God promised to the offspring of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

The Assyrians conquer Naphtali and the Israelite tribes

727 BCE

This is the start of the first exile and the scattering of the Jewish people had now begun.

Assyrians conquered the northern kingdom of Israel

722 BCE

The survivors of the ten tribes were then taken into exile.

Assyrians attack Judah

680 BCE

The cities were destroyed, but Jerusalem was not.

Egyptians took King Jehoahaz captive

608 BCE

King Jehoahaz was taken captive by Egypt.

The promise of a new convent was made through the prophet Jeremiah

590 BCE

Nebuchadnezzar conquered Judah

586 BCE

The First Temple in Jerusalem was destroyed by the Jews were taken into exile in Babylon.

Cyrus the Persian conquered Babylon

539 BCE

King Cyrus made a proclamation to rebuild the Temple of Jerusalem. There were only a few thousand Jews that returned to Israel after the exile, and most of them remained scattered out of the land.

Zerubbabel built the Second Temple in Jerusalem

520 BCE

Fun Fact: The second Temple was a shadow of the former Temple, but hundreds of years later King herald would spend 46 years making it immaculate.

Canonization of the Torah

500 BCE

The Torah was the law of Moses. it is the first of the three major divisions in the Hebrew bible that was accepted by the rabbis as authoritative.

Nehemiah rebuilt the wall around Jerusalem

450 BCE

Israel was slowly recovering from its desolation and the first scattering. The regathering was partial and the Jews did not return from all quarters of the world.

Canonisation of the Neviim

400 BCE

The Neviim – the Prophets – the second of the three major divisions of the Hebrew Bible – were added to the canon.

Canonisation of the Ketuvim

350 BCE

The Ketuvim – the Holy Writings – the third of the three major divisions of the Hebrew Bible – were added to the canon. By the time of Jesus the full canon of Hebrew Scripture – known as the Tanach, an acronym of the Hebrew for the Law, the Prophets, and the Holy Writings – had been accepted by the Jews for hundreds of years.

Alexander the Great conquered Persia

333 BCE

Alexander brought Greek culture and thinking, and the Greek language, to Israel and the Middle East of the time.

Septuagint

250 BCE

The Hebrew Bible was translated into Greek.

Revolt of the Maccabees

165 BCE

The Seleucid empire had succeeded Alexander. Under the rule of Antiochus, the Temple had been defiled. The Jews, led by the Maccabees, captured Jerusalem and rededicated the Temple. Jews celebrate the event with the non-biblical Feast of Dedication, also called Hanukkah. John 10:22 shows that Jesus observed this feast.

The Essene sect of the Jews established a monastry at Qumran on the edge of the Dead Sea

150 BCE

Observant Jews were trying to live out the Law isolated from Greek influences and then the corruption of the priesthood in Jerusalem.

The Romans occupied Israel

63 BCE

Rome became the dominant power in the world and established peace through ruthless suppression of all dissent.

Herod the Great

37 BCE

Herod, and his successors, owed allegiance to Rome. Herod the Great was famous for his many building projects. The Second Temple renovations were started in 18 BC and would take 46 years, being completed after his death. The disciples of Jesus would, like everyone else, be impressed with the huge stonework but Jesus would be dismissive.

Jesus was born in Bethlehem

6 BCE

The death and resurrection of Jesus

30

The New Testament was written by Jewish believers in Jesus

40

Gentiles came to faith in Jesus in large numbers through the missionary works of the apostle Paul.

Deaths of the apostles Paul and Peter

60

First Jewish Revolt against Roman rule

66

The Romans under Titus captured Jerusalem

70

Death of the apostle John

90

Second Jewish Revolt under Bar Kochba

132

The Romans put down the revolt with great ferocity. Hundreds of Jewish communities in Israel were destroyed. The Jews were scattered from the Promised Land for the second time.

The Romans conquered Israel

135

The Temple Mount was plowed with salt and Jews were banished from Jerusalem on pain of death.