Bible Timeline

God creates the heavens and the earth in six days and rests on the seventh. Adam and Eve are placed in the Garden of Eden as the first covenant-bearers.

Adam and Eve partake of the forbidden fruit and are cast out of Eden. The promise of the Seed who will crush the serpent's head is given — the first messianic prophecy.

Abel offers a righteous sacrifice; Cain, rejected, murders his brother. Seth is born to replace Abel, and through him the righteous line continues.

Enoch preaches repentance, builds the City of Zion, and is translated — "God took him." The city itself is taken up into heaven.

Methuselah lives 969 years, the longest lifespan recorded in scripture. He dies the year of the Flood.

Noah builds the ark; the fountains of the great deep are broken up. The earth is cleansed by water. Noah, his family, and representatives of every creature survive. God establishes the rainbow covenant.

Humanity unites to build a tower reaching to heaven. God confounds their language and scatters them across the earth — the Jaredites depart at this time.

God calls Abram out of Ur of the Chaldees to the land of Canaan. The covenant is given: a land, a seed, and a blessing to all nations through his lineage.

After rescuing Lot from the kings of the east, Abraham meets Melchizedek, King of Salem and priest of the Most High God. Abraham pays tithes; Melchizedek gives bread and wine and blesses him.

The cities of the plain are destroyed by fire and brimstone for their great wickedness. Lot escapes with his daughters; his wife looks back and becomes a pillar of salt.

The promised son of the covenant is born. Abraham is 100, Sarah 90 — a miracle child.

Abraham is commanded to offer Isaac as a sacrifice on Mount Moriah. At the final moment the angel stays his hand; a ram is provided. The type of the Atonement is established.

Twin sons to Isaac and Rebekah. Jacob receives the birthright and blessing; the covenant line passes through him.

Fleeing Esau, Jacob dreams of a ladder between heaven and earth, with angels ascending and descending. The Lord renews the Abrahamic covenant with him.

At Peniel, Jacob wrestles with a divine messenger until dawn and obtains a new name: Israel, "he who strives with God."

Joseph's brothers sell him to Ishmaelite traders. He is taken to Egypt — the first step in God's plan to preserve the covenant family through famine.

Joseph, imprisoned unjustly, is brought before Pharaoh to interpret his dreams of seven fat and seven lean cows. He is elevated to second-in-command over all Egypt.

Jacob and all his household — seventy souls — move to Egypt to escape the seven years of famine. They settle in the land of Goshen.

Joseph dies in Egypt at age 110 after prophesying that God will bring Israel back to the promised land. His bones are carried in a coffin awaiting the Exodus.

"A new king arose which knew not Joseph." The Israelites are enslaved and forced to build Pithom and Raamses. Their numbers multiply despite harsh treatment.

Pharaoh orders all Hebrew male infants drowned. Moses is hidden in a basket on the Nile and drawn out by Pharaoh's daughter.

In the wilderness of Midian, Moses encounters the Lord in a bush that burns but is not consumed. He is called to deliver Israel. The sacred name "I AM THAT I AM" is revealed.

Blood, frogs, lice, flies, murrain, boils, hail, locusts, darkness, death of the firstborn. Each plague directly assaults an Egyptian deity and demonstrates the sovereignty of the God of Israel.

The destroying angel passes over homes marked with lamb's blood. Pharaoh releases Israel; then pursues. Moses parts the Red Sea; the Egyptian army is drowned. Israel sings the Song of Moses.

Three months after the Exodus, Israel camps at Mount Sinai. God descends in fire; the Ten Commandments are written on stone tablets. The tabernacle pattern is revealed to Moses on the mount.

While Moses is on the mountain, Aaron fashions a golden calf. Moses breaks the first tablets. The higher priesthood is withdrawn from Israel as a people; Aaron and his sons retain the lesser.

For their unbelief at Kadesh-Barnea, the generation that came out of Egypt is condemned to die in the wilderness. Only Joshua and Caleb will enter the promised land.

Moses beholds the promised land from Mount Nebo and then is translated — no man knows the place of his burial. Joshua takes command of Israel.

Israel crosses the Jordan on dry ground. Jericho's walls collapse after seven days of silent circling and a great shout. Rahab and her house are spared.

Under Joshua, Israel defeats coalitions of Canaanite kings and takes possession of the promised land. The twelve tribes receive their inheritances.

Deborah the prophetess judges Israel under a palm tree. She and Barak rout the Canaanite army of Sisera, who is slain by Jael with a tent peg.

With a pared-down army of 300 men armed with trumpets, torches, and clay jars, Gideon routs the Midianite host in the valley of Jezreel.

A Moabite widow, Ruth returns with Naomi to Bethlehem. Boaz redeems her as kinsman-redeemer; their son Obed is the grandfather of David — Christ's ancestral line passes through a Gentile.

A Nazirite from birth, Samson judges Israel twenty years. After his betrayal by Delilah and capture, he pulls down the temple of Dagon in a final act of vengeance.

The Lord calls the boy Samuel three times in the night. He becomes the last judge of Israel and the first of the great writing prophets — he anoints both Saul and David.

Israel demands a king. Samuel anoints Saul, a Benjaminite — tall and handsome. He reigns forty years but loses the kingdom through disobedience.

Samuel anoints David, the youngest son of Jesse, a shepherd boy from Bethlehem. The Spirit of the Lord rests upon him from that day forward.

A shepherd boy with a sling kills the Philistine champion, a giant of Gath. Israel triumphs; David's rise to fame begins.

After Saul's death at Gilboa, David reigns seven years in Hebron over Judah, then thirty-three years over a united Israel from Jerusalem — the city he captured from the Jebusites and made the national capital.

Through Nathan the prophet, God promises David an eternal throne — "thy kingdom shall be established for ever." The messianic hope of the House of David takes root.

Solomon ascends the throne after David's death. He asks God for wisdom and receives wealth, wisdom, and honor unsurpassed among kings.

Seven years in construction, the first temple in Jerusalem is dedicated. Fire from heaven consumes the sacrifice; the glory of the Lord fills the house. The ark of the covenant rests in the Holy of Holies.

Rehoboam refuses to lighten the heavy yoke of taxation. Ten northern tribes secede under Jeroboam; only Judah and Benjamin remain loyal. Two kingdoms emerge: Israel (north) and Judah (south).

On Mount Carmel, Elijah challenges 450 prophets of Baal. Fire from heaven consumes his water-drenched sacrifice. Baal's prophets are slain. Elijah flees from Jezebel and is fed by ravens and angels.

A chariot of fire separates Elijah from Elisha. A whirlwind carries Elijah up to heaven. His mantle falls to Elisha, who receives a double portion of his spirit.

In the year King Uzziah dies, Isaiah sees the Lord high and lifted up in the temple. Seraphim cry "Holy, Holy, Holy." A coal touches his lips and his sins are purged. He prophesies in Judah for sixty years.

After a three-year siege of Samaria, Sargon II conquers the northern kingdom. The ten tribes are deported and scattered across the Assyrian empire — the 'lost tribes.'

Hezekiah prays; Isaiah prophesies deliverance. In one night the angel of the Lord slays 185,000 Assyrian troops. Sennacherib returns to Nineveh and is assassinated by his own sons.

"Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee." Jeremiah begins a 40-year ministry to Judah, weeping over his people as he proclaims the coming Babylonian judgment.

During temple repairs, Hilkiah the priest finds the book of the Law. King Josiah tears his clothes and initiates sweeping reforms. Huldah the prophetess confirms the coming judgment on Judah.

Lehi prophesies Jerusalem's destruction, is rejected, and is commanded by the Lord to take his family into the wilderness. His line becomes the Nephites and Lamanites in the promised land.

After an 18-month siege, Nebuchadnezzar's forces breach Jerusalem. The temple is burned, the walls broken down, and the people carried captive to Babylon. Zedekiah's eyes are put out.

In the first deportation, the young Daniel and his three friends are taken to the court of Nebuchadnezzar. Daniel will interpret dreams, refuse the king's meat, and prophesy through the Persian period.

Among the exiles in Babylon, Ezekiel sees the wheel-within-a-wheel chariot vision of God's glory. He ministers to the exiles with visions of the dry bones, the new temple, and the restoration of Israel.

Persia conquers Babylon. Cyrus the Great decrees the Jews may return to Jerusalem to rebuild the temple — exactly as Isaiah had prophesied 150 years earlier (Isaiah 44–45).

Under Zerubbabel the governor and Joshua the high priest, encouraged by Haggai and Zechariah, the second temple is completed and dedicated — exactly seventy years after the first was destroyed.

A scribe and priest, Ezra brings a second wave of returnees to Jerusalem. He reads the Law publicly in the square; the people weep and renew the covenant.

Cupbearer to Artaxerxes, Nehemiah leads Jerusalem's wall reconstruction against local opposition — sword in one hand, trowel in the other. The walls are completed in 52 days.

Malachi rebukes priestly corruption and prophesies the coming of Elijah before "the great and dreadful day of the Lord." After him the voice of prophecy falls silent in Judah for four centuries.

Alexander conquers the Persian empire. Jewish tradition records that the high priest Jaddua showed him the prophecies of Daniel concerning his coming; Alexander spared Jerusalem.

In Alexandria, seventy scholars translate the Hebrew scriptures into Greek — the Septuagint (LXX). This is the Bible most of the New Testament writers quote.

Antiochus Epiphanes desecrates the temple with a pig's blood on the altar — the abomination of desolation. Judas Maccabeus and his brothers lead a Jewish revolt, cleanse the temple, and found the Hasmonean dynasty. Hanukkah commemorates the rededication.

General Pompey takes Jerusalem, enters the Holy of Holies, and places Judea under Roman authority. The Hasmonean kingdom ends; Herodian and Roman procurators follow.

Herod the Great undertakes a massive reconstruction of the second temple — still ongoing in Jesus' day. This is the temple Jesus would enter and drive out the money-changers from.

The angel Gabriel appears to the virgin Mary in Nazareth and announces she will conceive the Son of God by the Holy Ghost.

In Bethlehem, Mary brings forth her firstborn son. Angels announce the birth to shepherds. Later, magi from the east follow a star and present gold, frankincense, and myrrh.

At roughly age 30, Jesus comes to the Jordan. John baptizes Him; the Holy Ghost descends as a dove; the Father's voice: "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased."

After forty days of temptation in the wilderness, Jesus returns to Galilee. He calls His first disciples, heals the sick, and proclaims the gospel of the kingdom.

On a hillside above the Sea of Galilee, Jesus delivers the great foundational sermon of His ministry — the Beatitudes, the Lord's Prayer, and the new law of the gospel.

With five loaves and two fish Jesus feeds a multitude; twelve baskets of fragments remain. He then walks on the Sea of Galilee to His disciples.

On a high mountain (traditionally Mount Tabor or Hermon), Jesus is transfigured before Peter, James, and John. Moses and Elijah appear with Him; keys of the priesthood are conferred.

Four days dead, Lazarus is called forth from the tomb. The greatest public miracle of the ministry; the Sanhedrin moves to kill Jesus as a result.

Jesus rides into Jerusalem on a colt, fulfilling Zechariah's prophecy. The crowds spread palm branches and cry "Hosanna!" The final week of the mortal ministry begins.

At the Passover meal Jesus institutes the sacrament, washes His disciples' feet, and gives His high-priestly prayer. In Gethsemane He bleeds from every pore, bearing the weight of the atonement.

After trials before Annas, Caiaphas, Pilate, and Herod, Jesus is crucified between two thieves. At the ninth hour He cries "It is finished" and gives up the ghost. The veil of the temple rends in two.

Early the first day of the week Mary Magdalene finds the tomb empty. The angel declares: "He is not here, for he is risen." Jesus appears to Mary, to the disciples, to the 500, and later ascends from the Mount of Olives.

Fifty days after Passover, the Holy Ghost falls on the apostles as tongues of fire. Peter preaches; three thousand are baptized. The Church is born.

Stephen preaches to the Sanhedrin, sees the glory of God, and is stoned. Saul of Tarsus holds the coats of the executioners. The first persecution scatters the Church.

On the road to Damascus the risen Lord appears to Saul in blinding light. Struck down and renamed Paul, he becomes the apostle to the Gentiles.

Peter sees the vision of the unclean beasts; the Holy Ghost falls on Cornelius's household. The gospel is formally opened to the Gentiles.

Paul undertakes three missionary journeys across the Roman empire, planting churches in Asia Minor, Macedonia, Greece, and beyond. He writes most of the New Testament epistles during this decade.

The apostles meet to settle whether Gentile converts must keep the law of Moses. Peter, Paul, and James concur: salvation is through faith in Christ — the law of Moses is not required.

Under Nero, Paul is beheaded and Peter is crucified upside-down in Rome. The first generation of apostles begins to pass from the earth.

As Jesus had prophesied, Titus Vespasian's legions sack Jerusalem, burn the temple, and leave not one stone upon another. The Jews are scattered for nearly 1,900 years.

Exiled to the isle of Patmos by Domitian, the aged apostle John receives the Revelation of Jesus Christ — the Apocalypse. The New Testament canon closes with his vision of the Lamb on the throne.