Bible Chronology - Rick Aschmann

Chronology of the Bible

   Bottom of main chart
   Sources
   Background information
        Chronologies of the Kings
        Chronology of the Early Church
   Format, Searching, and Printing
   Secular Chronologies
   History of Additions and Adjustments

   Future Additions and Adjustments
   About the Author
   Appendix: Various Church Timelines

—————————

New Testament Chronology Expanded

New Testament Chronology panoramic view

Page last updated

Español

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.

(Aschmann.net/BibleChronology has now been simplified to biblechronology.net. Click here for details.)

Main Bible chronology chart

↑ Bottom of main chart (move up to see). ↑

Sources

          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 major changes to Peter’s Three Denials of Jesus (referenced in Chronology of the Four Gospels), mainly dividing it into sections for clarity and adding sections 5 and 6, which help make clear what we really mean by the “inerrancy” of the Bible. (9-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 one important change to A Bird’s Eye View of Jesus’ Ministry (referenced in Chronology of the Four Gospels), adding the section entitled Another Confirmation. (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)
Oops! The links in Chronology of the Four Gospels to the new article A Bird’s Eye View of Jesus’ Ministry were bad. I have now fixed them. (11-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 Chronology and Locations of the Writing of Acts and Paul’s Letters (now referenced four times in NT Chronology expanded), including adding comments about Onesiphorus, among others, and adding endnotes 9, 19, 20, and 21. (5-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 very minor changes to A Translation Guide to the Chronological Data in Kings and Chronicles, mainly in the header, which did not affect the content at all. (25-Jan-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 minor changes to The Meaning of the Word “Hebrew” in Genesis, correcting some links and some spelling. (Referenced in the main chart around 2020 B.C.) (19-Jan-2022)

At the suggestion of my daughter Anne I adjusted the background color of the main page, and added a Return to Menu button. (31-Dec-2021)

I made minor changes to Chronology of Noah and the Flood (referenced around 2240 B.C.) and minor changes to The Natural Reading of Noah’s Flood as a Local Flood (referenced in Chronology of Noah and the Flood), only involving adjusting and updating links that had gone obsolete. (18-Dec-2021)

I made fairly major changes to Peter’s Three Denials of Jesus (referenced in Chronology of the Four Gospels), clarifying many details and making the format and the time flow easier to follow. I also made very minor changes to Chronology of the Four Gospels, all in the Trial Before the Jewish Authorities section. (17-Nov-2021)

I made fairly major changes to Why does Bible Chronology Matter? (listed in the menu at the top of this page), including adding links to the Plan of Salvation and inviting input from readers. (29-Oct-2021)

I made major changes to Bible Characters Mentioned Outside the Bible in Contemporary Sources (referenced around 2085 and 1760 B.C.), all in the bullet point about the pharaohs during the life of Moses in section 2.1.1. I also added three footnotes in this bullet point and removed one. (15-Oct-2021)

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 Domínguez 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 God Doesn’t Have Favorite Languages, included updating some links. (Referenced in the main chart around 2050 B.C.) (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 two minor but important changes to The Seventy Sevens of Daniel 9 (referenced around 460-350 B.C. and again in the New Testament period). (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 Józef Andrzejewski from Poland pointed them out to me. Thanks, Józef! 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 insignificant or cosmetic changes to McFall’s summary chart for the kings of Judah and Israel (referenced around 680 B.C.). (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 fairly major changes to Kings of Babylon, Media, and Persia in the Bible (referenced around 570 B.C.). (17-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)

I fixed a couple of very minor errors on the map in Chronology and Locations of the Writing of Acts and Paul’s Letters (referenced four times in NT Chronology expanded). (3-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 major changes to The Twelve Apostles (referenced several times in Chronology of the Four Gospels), mainly adding a new section 5. Other Possible Identifications with multiple subsections. (21-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 one minor change to Chronology and Locations of the Writing of Acts and Paul’s Letters (referenced four times in NT Chronology expanded), changing “8 in all” to “9 in all” in May-June 58 at the end of the Third Missionary Journey. I just can’t add! (11-Jul-2019)

I made major changes to Chronology and Locations of the Writing of Acts and Paul’s Letters (referenced four times in NT Chronology expanded), including adding two more individuals who appear in more than one context in Paul’s ministry, Aristarchus and Demas (and who show a notable contrast in faithfulness), adding footnotes 1 and 12, and many more details. (8-Jul-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 made minor but important changes to Chronology of Noah and the Flood (referenced around 2240 B.C.), one in footnote 1 and two in footnote 2. (25-Apr-2019)

I made lots of minor notational changes to Reflexes of Proto-Semitic sounds in daughter languages (Referenced in Semitic Alphabets.), which had not changed since 2014, to make the notation more consistent, but made no substantive changes. (25-Apr-2019)

I fixed various bad links on various pages, in particular on Chronology and Locations of the Writing of Acts and Paul’s Letters (now referenced four times in NT Chronology expanded), and made other non-significant or cosmetic changes to various pages. (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)

Made several very minor corrections to Bible Characters Mentioned Outside the Bible in Contemporary Sources (referenced around 2085 and 1760 B.C.), all on the last two pages, all simple typographical errors that did not affect the content. (6-Mar-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 major changes to Chronology and Locations of the Writing of Acts and Paul’s Letters (now referenced four times in NT Chronology expanded), which include adding lots of early material from the conversion of Paul through the founding of the Antioch church, since many of these chronological details are provided in Galatians. Also added a discussion of the change of Saul’s name to Paul. (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 other fairly minor changes to Chronology and Locations of the Writing of Acts and Paul’s Letters (referenced three times in NT Chronology expanded), mainly for clarification but also including some new information. (11-Feb-2019)

Made a minor change to the map in Chronology and Locations of the Writing of Acts and Paul’s Letters and to the map in Paul’s Life After his First Imprisonment (both articles referenced in NT Chronology expanded), in both cases correcting the link to the parent article in the bottom left corner of the map. I have not made these links clickable on the map, so this is only important if someone views the map separate from the web page. (11-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)

I added a new article, Peter’s Three Denials of Jesus (referenced in Chronology of the Four Gospels) to explain why I had to seriously rearrange the timeline around these. (31-Jan-2019)

Made major changes to Chronology of the Four Gospels, adjusting material all through the chronology. (Link provided in the main chart and in the NT Chronology expanded chart, under “Ministry of Jesus”.) (30-Jan-2019)

Made fairly minor changes to The Twelve Apostles (referenced several times in Chronology of the Four Gospels), adding some information about Judas Iscariot and adding information to several footnotes. (30-Jan-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)

I added a new article, Why does Bible Chronology Matter? (listed in the menu at the top of this page). (11-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 major changes to The Twelve Apostles (referenced several times in Chronology of the Four Gospels). (18-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)

Made fairly minor changes to Harmony of the Life of Hezekiah (referenced three times around 700). (12-Dec-2018)

Made major changes to Bible Characters Mentioned Outside the Bible in Contemporary Sources (referenced around 2085 and 1760 B.C.), mainly adding two new sections about the pharaohs. (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 fairly minor changes to The Twelve Apostles (referenced several times in Chronology of the Four Gospels), including clarifying what the blue boxes meant. (16-Nov-2018)

Made one minor but important change to Chronology and Locations of the Writing of Acts and Paul’s Letters (referenced three times in NT Chronology expanded), changing the word “period” to “periods” in footnote 3. (15-Nov-2018)

Made fairly minor changes to Chronology and Locations of the Writing of Acts and Paul’s Letters (referenced three times in NT Chronology expanded), including correcting the phrase “This is ~~the~~ obviously the earliest possible time” by removing the first “the” in the “Acts (written by Luke)” row, making minor adjustments to the map, and adding various notes below the map. (13-Nov-2018)

Made minor adjustments to the map and added various notes below the map in Paul’s Life After his First Imprisonment (referenced in NT Chronology expanded). (10-Nov-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)

Made fairly major changes (changes in pink) to Chronology and Locations of the Writing of Acts and Paul’s Letters (referenced three times in NT Chronology expanded), mainly in relation to Priscilla and Aquila. I also explained how the two-year period in Antioch from late 51 to late 53 was calculated. (8-Sep-2018)

Made minor changes to Chronology of Noah and the Flood (referenced around 2240 B.C.), all in section 2. A Local Flood. (6-Sep-2018)

Made insignificant changes to The Natural Reading of Noah’s Flood as a Local Flood, only making the links with asterisks work better. (6-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)

Made minor edits to Chronology and Locations of the Writing of Acts and Paul’s Letters (referenced three times in NT Chronology expanded), adjusting comments about Apollos and Paul between 53 and 57 A.D. (23-Jun-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 fairly major changes to When Was Hebrew First Written? (Referenced around 1660 B.C.), and minor changes to The Genesis 10 Table of Nations and Y-Chromosomal DNA (referenced in When Was Hebrew First Written? and in Bible Genealogies). In both cases the changes are mainly to make clear that my “Ancestral Canaanite” theory for Proto-Semitic is just that, a theory rather than a demonstrated fact. I had also been using “Proto-Canaanite” with two completely different meanings, but I have now corrected this, calling one of them “Ancestral Canaanite”. (29-May-2018)

Added a distance scale to the map in Chronology and Locations of the Writing of Acts and Paul’s Letters and to the map in Paul’s Life After his First Imprisonment (both articles referenced in NT Chronology expanded). (21-May-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)

Made minor changes to The Natural Reading of Noah’s Flood as a Local Flood, only adding footnotes 3 and 4, providing more information about hills and mountains in Hebrew. (12-May-2018)

Made minor changes to When Was Hebrew First Written?, adding the third to last paragraph about Rameses. (Referenced around 1660 B.C.) (27-Apr-2018)

Made minor cosmetic changes to the main chart at the top of the Judges section. (23-Apr-2018)

Made minor changes to The Natural Reading of Noah’s Flood as a Local Flood, only affecting the phonemic transcription of Hebrew words, which I have made more consistent. (19-Apr-2018)

Made major changes to When Was Hebrew First Written?, mainly adding the section “Appendix 2: Did Moses write the Pentateuch?”. (Referenced around 1660 B.C.) (19-Apr-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 insignificant changes to Chronology of the Four Gospels. (Link provided in the main chart and in the NT Chronology expanded chart, under “Ministry of Jesus”.) (5-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 major changes to When Was Hebrew First Written?, mainly adding the section “But wasn’t Hebrew the original language?”. (Referenced around 1660 B.C.) (5-Apr-2018)

Made fairly major changes to The Meaning of the Word “Hebrew” in Genesis, in the process of translating it into Spanish. (Referenced in the main chart around 2020 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)

Made fairly minor changes to Kings of Babylon, Media, and Persia in the Bible (referenced around 570 B.C.). (26-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 fairly major changes to God Doesn’t Have Favorite Languages, in the process of translating it into Spanish. (Referenced in the main chart around 2050 B.C.) (15-Mar-2018)

Made fairly major changes to When Was Hebrew First Written?, in the process of translating it into Spanish. (Referenced around 1660 B.C.) (15-Mar-2018)

Made more mostly cosmetic changes. (10-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 major changes to The Natural Reading of Noah’s Flood as a Local Flood, mainly adding an adjustment of “heaven” or “the heavens” to “the sky”. (8-Mar-2018)

Made minor edits to Chronology and Locations of the Writing of Acts and Paul’s Letters (referenced three times in NT Chronology expanded), in the fifth paragraph and in the discussion of the Council in Jerusalem. (1-Mar-2018)

Made major edits to Chronology and Locations of the Writing of Acts and Paul’s Letters (referenced three times in NT Chronology expanded). (26-Feb-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 major changes to Chronology of Noah and the Flood (referenced around 2240 B.C.). (7-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 minor edits to the map in Chronology and Locations of the Writing of Acts and Paul’s Letters and to the map in Paul’s Life After his First Imprisonment (both articles referenced in NT Chronology expanded), adding several province names in the west, and adjusting the source information. (15-Jan-2018)

Made minor formatting changes to Kings of Babylon, Media, and Persia in the Bible (referenced around 570 B.C.). (11-Jan-2018)

Made minor changes to The Natural Reading of Noah’s Flood as a Local Flood (referenced in Chronology of Noah and the Flood, itself referenced around 2240 B.C.): I found two cases of “in the land” that I had not handled the same as all the other cases, one in Genesis 8:17 and one in Genesis 9:7, and I adjusted these. (11-Jan-2018)

Oops! Way back in March, 2017 I said that I had made major edits to Map 5: Map of Semitic Languages in Ancient Times in The Genesis 10 Table of Nations and Y-Chromosomal DNA. (The article is referenced in When Was Hebrew First Written? and in Bible Genealogies. The map is also referenced in God Doesn’t Have Favorite Languages.) I did indeed adjust the map, and uploaded it, but I failed to update the Genesis 10 article itself to show the adjusted map, though the links did indeed point to it. I have now updated the article, and made a few cosmetic changes. (1-Jan-2018)

Made another minor change in Chronology of Noah and the Flood, changing the last sentence in endnote 1. (1-Jan-2018)

Made minor changes in Chronology of Noah and the Flood (referenced around 2240 B.C.), all in the first paragraph, and added endnote 1. (30-Dec-2017)

Fixed several bad links in The Natural Reading of Noah’s Flood as a Local Flood, in Bible Genealogies (Referenced around 2250 B.C., around 1700 B.C., and again around 15 A.D.), in The Meaning of the Word “Hebrew” in Genesis (Referenced around 2050 B.C.), and in When Was Hebrew First Written? (Referenced around 1660 B.C.). (29-Dec-2017)

Made fairly major changes to The Natural Reading of Noah’s Flood as a Local Flood. Yes, I know I just posted it, but it needed adjusting! (28-Dec-2017)

I added two new articles, Chronology of Noah and the Flood (referenced around 2240 B.C.), and The Natural Reading of Noah’s Flood as a Local Flood (referenced in the first link). (26-Dec-2017)

Made minor changes to Detailed Chronology of the Exodus from Egypt, in The Hebrew Calendar section, adding the “Name used in English Bibles” lines. (26-Dec-2017)

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 greatly expanded the article Darius the Mede and changed its name to Kings of Babylon, Media, and Persia in the Bible (referenced around 570 B.C.). There are so many changes that you should simply read the whole thing again. (29-Nov-2017)

Made insignificant or cosmetic changes to Chronology of the Book of Judges. (22-Nov-2017)

I added a new article, Esau’s Choices (referenced three times between 1966 B.C. and 1915 B.C.). (22-Nov-2017)

I added a paragraph in Sources about Scripture quotations used. (22-Nov-2017)

Made various other mostly minor adjustments to the details from Terah to the Exodus. (22-Nov-2017)

Made major changes to Detailed Chronology of the Exodus from Egypt, including adding the green background described below to key chronological information. (22-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)

Made insignificant or cosmetic changes to McFall’s summary chart for the kings of Judah and Israel (referenced around 680 B.C.). (1-Nov-2017)

Made fairly major edits to Darius the Mede (referenced around 570 B.C.). (31-Oct-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 insignificant or cosmetic changes to The Meaning of the Word “Hebrew” in Genesis. (Referenced in the main chart around 2020 B.C.) (30-Oct-2017)

Made fairly major edits to When Was Hebrew First Written?. (Referenced in the main chart around 1660 B.C.) (27-Oct-2017)

I added the section About the Author. (25-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 apostle in 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 adjusted the information in Future Additions and Adjustments, which had been inaccurate. (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 major edits to Chronology and Locations of the Writing of Acts and Paul’s Letters (referenced three times in NT Chronology expanded). (31-Aug-2017)

Made insignificant or cosmetic changes to many pages: Jewish Priests in the New Testament, The Seventy Sevens of Daniel 9, Paul’s Life After his First Imprisonment, Detailed Chronology of the Exodus from Egypt, Chronology of the Book of Judges, Kings of Aram-Damascus, Darius the Mede, Harmony of the Life of Hezekiah, and McFall’s summary chart for the kings of Judah and Israel, primarily to make the layout more consistent. (16-31-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)

Made minor edits to Jewish Priests in the New Testament (referenced at the bottom of the main chart and in NT Chronology expanded), in the first and last paragraphs. (22-Jul-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 major edits to the discussions about the writing of Ephesians and Colossians in Chronology and Locations of the Writing of Acts and Paul’s Letters (referenced three times in NT Chronology expanded). (10-Jul-2017)

Made minor edits to Chronology and Locations of the Writing of Acts and Paul’s Letters (referenced three times in NT Chronology expanded), only in the discussion about Ephesians, in the interlinear text and in the last paragraph, adding the comment about Ephesians 1:15 at the suggestion of my colleague Eduardo Contreras. (3-Jul-2017)

Made very minor edits to the map in Chronology and Locations of the Writing of Acts and Paul’s Letters (referenced three times in NT Chronology expanded). (3-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)

Made more fairly major changes to Chronology and Locations of the Writing of Acts and Paul’s Letters (referenced three times in NT Chronology expanded), in a number of places. (27-Jun-2017)

Made major edits to Chronology and Locations of the Writing of Acts and Paul’s Letters (referenced three times in NT Chronology expanded), adding a lot of detail at the beginning of the Second Missionary Journey and at the beginning of the Third Missionary Journey, info about Apollos, and more info about Paul’s second visit to Corinth not mentioned in Acts, among other things. (23-Jun-2017)

Added a Site Map, which should make it easier to see what all is on the site, and the progress of translating pages into Spanish. (22-Jun-2017)

Made minor, mostly cosmetic changes to Chronology of the Book of Judges and to Chronology and Locations of the Writing of Acts and Paul’s Letters (referenced three times in NT Chronology expanded). (21-Jun-2017)

Corrected one error in Chronology of the Four Gospels, changing John 6:15-17a to John 6:16-17a. (17-Jun-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)

Made more major changes to Chronology of the Four Gospels, including correcting more errors in translation from Spanish, but the biggest change is that I am now highlighting passages that are not in chronological order in one or more of the gospels. I made similar major changes to the Spanish version Cronología de los cuatro evangelios. (2-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 major changes to Chronology of the Four Gospels, including correcting various errors in translation from Spanish, and similar major changes to the Spanish version Cronología de los cuatro evangelios. (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 Cronología 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 Xšayārša, 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)

Made minor edits to Chronology and Locations of the Writing of Acts and Paul’s Letters, adjusting footnote 2 and making insignificant changes to the map. Also made insignificant changes to the map in Paul’s Life After his First Imprisonment. (Both articles referenced in NT Chronology expanded.) (3-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)

Replaced the maps at the end of Chronology and Locations of the Writing of Acts and Paul’s Letters and Paul’s Life After his First Imprisonment with new maps that I made, since I did not really have the rights to the ones I was using. (Both articles referenced in NT Chronology expanded.) (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 major edits to Map 5: Map of Semitic Languages in Ancient Times in The Genesis 10 Table of Nations and Y-Chromosomal DNA. (The article is referenced in When Was Hebrew First Written? and in Bible Genealogies. The map is now also referenced in God Doesn’t Have Favorite Languages.) (2-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 very minor revisions to Semitic Alphabets, the only essential one in the first paragraph. (Referenced in When Was Hebrew First Written?) (4-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 changes to Detailed Chronology of the Exodus from Egypt, and to the Spanish version Cronología detallada del Éxodo de Egipto, separating Deuteronomy 27 and 28, the blessings and cursings, from Moses’ second Deuteronomy address, which actually ended with chapter 26. (Referenced around 1430 B.C.) (13-Dec-2016)

Noted in Sources that The Narrated Bible is now out of print. (6-Dec-2016)

Made extremely minor cosmetic changes to the main page, to Detailed Chronology of the Exodus from Egypt, and to the Spanish version Cronología detallada del Éxodo de Egipto. (Referenced around 1430 B.C.) (6-Dec-2016)

Made minor changes to Detailed Chronology of the Exodus from Egypt, only in footnotes 3 and 4. Made many more changes (all marked in pink) to the Spanish version Cronología detallada del Éxodo de Egipto. (Referenced around 1430 B.C.) (5-Dec-2016)

Made many changes to Month-by-month Chronology of the Exodus from Egypt, changed the name to Detailed Chronology of the Exodus from Egypt, and added a Spanish version, called Cronología detallada del Éxodo de Egipto. (Referenced around 1430 B.C.) (3-Dec-2016)

Made changes to footnote 4 of Month-by-month Chronology of the Exodus from Egypt, to make clear a confusing sentence. (Referenced around 1430 B.C.) (28-Nov-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)

Made major edits to The Genesis 10 Table of Nations and Y-Chromosomal DNA, throughout the article. (Referenced in When Was Hebrew First Written? and in Bible Genealogies.) (10-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 minor edits to Where and When Paul’s Letters were Written, mainly in reference to Sosipater/Sopater. (Referenced in NT Chronology expanded.) (19-Aug-2016)

Made major edits to The Genesis 10 Table of Nations and Y-Chromosomal DNA, throughout the article, but especially in section 6.1. Also made changes to maps 1, 4, and 5. (Referenced in When Was Hebrew First Written?) (18-Aug-2016)

Made several adjustments to Where and When Paul’s Letters were Written, mainly in reference to Gaius and Erastus. (Referenced in NT Chronology expanded.) (9-Apr-2016)

Made a few minor corrections of typos, and added a description of the Narrated Bible in Sources. (1-Feb-2016)

Made major edits to The Genesis 10 Table of Nations and Y-Chromosomal DNA, adding sections 3.1, 3.2, and 6.1, footnotes 9 and 37, and footnote b in Table 1, plus many other changes. (Referenced in When Was Hebrew First Written?) (30-Jan-2016)

Made many adjustments to the main chart, mainly around the time of Hezekiah, and added Harmony of the Life of Hezekiah. Also made many adjustments to the Chronologies of the Kings section. (30-Jan-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 minor edits to NT Chronology expanded and to Where and When Paul’s Letters were Written, mainly adding references to Paul’s celestial vision in 43 (or possibly 44). (13-Aug-2015)

Made minor edits to The Genesis 10 Table of Nations and Y-Chromosomal DNA. (Referenced in When Was Hebrew First Written?) (10-Aug-2015)

Made minor edits to The Genesis 10 Table of Nations and Y-Chromosomal DNA, mostly concerning haplogroup HIJK. (Referenced in When Was Hebrew First Written?) (4-Aug-2015)

Made more edits to The Genesis 10 Table of Nations and Y-Chromosomal DNA. (Referenced in When Was Hebrew First Written?) (25-Jul-2015)

Made major edits to The Genesis 10 Table of Nations and Y-Chromosomal DNA. (Referenced in When Was Hebrew First Written?) (7-Jul-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)

Adjusted map in Paul’s Life After his First Imprisonment. (Referenced in NT Chronology expanded.) (27-Jun-2015)

Made major edits to Where and When Paul’s Letters were Written, mainly comments about Luke and writing of Acts, and the map. (Referenced in NT Chronology expanded.) Also made minor adjustments to the main chart and the chart in NT Chronology expanded, adding the date of Acts. (27-Jun-2015)

Made major edits to The Genesis 10 Table of Nations and Y-Chromosomal DNA. (Referenced in When Was Hebrew First Written?) (May-2015)

Adjusted map in Paul’s Life After his First Imprisonment. (Referenced in NT Chronology expanded.) (26-May-2015)

Made major edits to Where and When Paul’s Letters were Written, including changing the format to make it more readable. (Referenced in NT Chronology expanded.) (25-May-2015)

Edited Where and When Paul’s Letters were Written. (Referenced in NT Chronology expanded.) (Apr-2015)

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.). (Apr-2015)

Added a new study of The Genesis 10 Table of Nations and Y-Chromosomal DNA. (referenced in When Was Hebrew First Written?) (Mar-2015)

Edited Semitic Alphabets, The Meaning of the Word “Hebrew” in Genesis and When Was Hebrew First Written?. (Dec-2014)

Made minor edits to Where and When Paul’s Letters were Written.) (24-Sep-2014)

Made minor edits to The Meaning of the Word “Hebrew” in Genesis, God Doesn’t Have Favorite Languages, When Was Hebrew First Written?, Semitic Alphabets, and Reflexes of Proto-Semitic sounds in daughter languages. (The first article is referenced in the main chart, around 2020 B.C., the second around 2050, and the third around 1650. The fourth is referenced in the third, and the fifth in the fourth.) (17-Sep-2014)

Adjusted NT Chronology expanded to clarify details of the Third Missionary Journey. (19-Aug-2014)

Edited Where and When Paul’s Letters were Written. (Referenced in NT Chronology expanded.) (4-Aug-2014)

Fixed various bad links in When Was Hebrew First Written?, Semitic Alphabets, and Reflexes of Proto-Semitic sounds in daughter languages, so that now I think all the links work. (The first article is referenced in the main chart, around 1650 B.C. The second is referenced in the first, and the third in the second.) I also made minor adjustments to the first article. (11-July-2014)

Clarified the dates in Cronología 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 Cronología 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)

Added a discussion of Jewish Priests in the New Testament and of Paul’s Life After his First Imprisonment. (13-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 insignificant adjustments to Semitic Alphabets. (22-Nov-2013)

Made minor adjustments to God Doesn’t Have Favorite Languages, adding footnote 2. (22-Nov-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)

Made minor adjustments to The Meaning of the Word “Hebrew” in Genesis, mainly concerning “the Hebrew language” in Acts. (22-Nov-2013)

Also updated Semitic Alphabets and Reflexes of Proto-Semitic sounds in daughter languages, which are referred to in the preceding articles. (1-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)

Added The Meaning of the Word “Hebrew” in Genesis. (Link provided in the main chart, around 2050 B.C.) (28-Oct-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)

Made minor adjustments to The Seventy Sevens of Daniel 9.

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.

st._paul_timeline.pdf This used to be at www.scotthahn.com/download/attachment/1514, and is by Scott Hahn, Catholic theologian and apologist. I don’t know what Philemon has to do with Paul’s birth year.
unbound.biola.edu/acts/index.cfm?item=table (original link dead, using archived link)
biblehub.com/timeline/new.htm
www.evidenceforjesuschrist.org/Pages/bible/timeline-nt-events.htm This web site used to be called errantskeptics.org, but the author, Gary Butner, is not a skeptic, but a Bible-believing Christian, so I guess he decided to change the name to avoid confusion. (Sadly, he is now deceased, in 2019, and in 2022 the website no longer works, so I am using an archived link.)
www.biblestudy.org/beginner/timelinent.html
www.newtestamenthistorytimeline.com/
www.blueletterbible.org/study/paul/timeline.cfm
www.julianspriggs.co.uk/Pages/Galatians Only a partial timeline, relating to the timeline given in Galatians.