The Bible is vast and encompasses everything from Creation to the end of time. This brief timeline represents key events that happened in the Bible:
“In the beginning”: Creation (Genesis 1)
Very early: Adam and Eve (Genesis 2–3)
Still quite early: Noah’s flood (Genesis 6–9)
Around 2000 b.c.e.: Abraham and Sarah leave for their Promised Land in Canaan (Genesis 12–25)
Around 1250 (or 1450) b.c.e.: Moses leads the Israelites out of Egyptian slavery (Exodus 1–15)
Around 1000 b.c.e.: David begins ruling as Israel’s King (2 Samuel)
Around 950 b.c.e.: King Solomon, David’s son, builds the Temple in Jerusalem (1 Kings 6–8)
Around 925 b.c.e.: Israel splits into two kingdoms: Israel and Judah (1 Kings 12)
721 b.c.e.: The northern kingdom of Israel is conquered and exiled by the Assyrians, becoming the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel (2 Kings 17)
Around 622 b.c.e.: King Josiah enacts many religious reforms (2 Kings 22–23)
586 b.c.e.: The southern kingdom of Judah is conquered and exiled by the Babylonians, which begins the Exilic Period (2 Kings 25)
538 b.c.e.: King Cyrus of Persia allows the Jews to return to their homeland, which begins the Postexilic Period (2 Chronicles 36:22–23)
515 b.c.e.: The rebuilt Temple is dedicated under the leadership of the Judean governor, Zerubbabel, which begins the Second Temple Period (Ezra)
Around 425 b.c.e.: Nehemiah repairs the walls of Jerusalem, and Ezra and Nehemiah enact religious reforms (Nehemiah)
Around 165 b.c.e.: The Hasmoneans, under Judah Maccabee, rededicate the Temple, which is today celebrated as “Hanukkah” (1 Maccabees 4)
Around 6 b.c.e.: Jesus is born during the reign of Herod the Great, a Roman-appointed King of the Jews (Matthew 1 and Luke 2)
Around 30 c.e.: Jesus is crucified during the rule of Pontius Pilate, the Roman-appointed governor of Syria-Palestine (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John)
Around 46–64 (or 67) c.e.: The apostle Paul’s missionary journeys and letter writing (Acts 13–28 and Pauline Epistles)
70 c.e.: The destruction of the Jewish Temple by the Romans
Around 95 c.e.: Revelation, the final book of the New Testament, is completed
