Biblical Events

The LORD God formed the man (הָֽאָדָם) of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature (Genesis 2:7). This is the point at which the genealogical line this timeline follows begins. The text does not specify what interval, if any, separates this event from the days of creation in Genesis 1.

The serpent deceived the woman, and Adam and his wife ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, which God had commanded them not to eat (Genesis 3:1-7). As a result they were driven out from the garden of Eden (Genesis 3:23-24).

God brought a flood of waters upon the earth to destroy all flesh, sparing Noah, his family, and the animals in the ark (Genesis 6-9). The text states the waters came in the six hundredth year of Noah's life, in the second month (Genesis 7:11).

The people of one language built a city and a tower with its top in the heavens; the LORD confused their language and dispersed them over the face of the earth (Genesis 11:1-9). The place was named Babel because there the LORD confused the language of all the earth.

God called Abram to leave his country and go to a land he would be shown, promising to make him a great nation and to bless all the families of the earth through him (Genesis 12:1-3). The text states Abram was 75 years old when he departed from Haran (Genesis 12:4).

God made a covenant with Abram, promising him offspring as numerous as the stars and the land from the river of Egypt to the Euphrates (Genesis 15). This covenant was confirmed with the sign of circumcision and the change of his name to Abraham when he was 99 years old (Genesis 17).

In the third month after leaving Egypt, Israel camped at Mount Sinai, where the LORD descended in fire and spoke to the people (Exodus 19). God gave the Ten Commandments and the law that formed the covenant with Israel (Exodus 20:1-17).

After the tenth plague and the first Passover, Pharaoh released the Israelites, and they went out of Egypt (Exodus 12:31-42). The LORD divided the sea so Israel passed through on dry ground while the pursuing Egyptian army was drowned (Exodus 14:21-31). This date follows 1 Kings 6:1, placing the Exodus 480 years before Solomon's temple.

The tabernacle was erected on the first day of the first month in the second year after the Exodus (Exodus 40:17). When the work was finished, the cloud covered the tent of meeting and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle (Exodus 40:34-38).

Under Joshua, Israel crossed the Jordan on dry ground as the priests carrying the ark stood in the riverbed (Joshua 3:14-17). Twelve stones were set up at Gilgal as a memorial of the crossing (Joshua 4).

Deborah the prophetess summoned Barak to lead ten thousand men against Sisera, commander of Jabin's army, declaring that the LORD would sell Sisera into the hand of a woman (Judges 4:4-9). The LORD routed Sisera and all his chariots, and Jael the wife of Heber killed Sisera with a tent peg, so that God subdued Jabin king of Canaan (Judges 4:14-24).

The LORD reduced Gideon's army to three hundred men, lest Israel boast that its own hand had saved it (Judges 7:1-8). With trumpets, empty jars, and torches the three hundred surrounded the Midianite camp by night, and the LORD set every man's sword against his companion throughout the camp (Judges 7:16-22).

The Spirit of the LORD rushed upon Samson, and with the fresh jawbone of a donkey he struck down a thousand men of the Philistines (Judges 15:14-16). Captured and blinded, he was brought out to entertain the Philistines at the temple of Dagon; he prayed once more, grasped the two central pillars, and brought the house down on the rulers and the people gathered there (Judges 16:23-30).

In the days when the judges ruled, a famine drove Naomi's family to Moab, and Ruth the Moabitess returned with her to Bethlehem, pledging that Naomi's people would be her people and Naomi's God her God (Ruth 1:1-18). Ruth married Boaz and bore Obed, the father of Jesse, the father of David, placing her in the line of David (Ruth 4:13-17).

Samuel took a flask of oil and poured it on Saul's head and kissed him, saying that the LORD had anointed him to be prince over his people Israel (1 Samuel 10:1). This marks the beginning of the monarchy in Israel.

The LORD sent Samuel to Jesse of Bethlehem to anoint one of his sons as king in place of Saul (1 Samuel 16:1-5). After Jesse's seven older sons passed by, Samuel anointed David, the youngest, in the midst of his brothers, and the Spirit of the LORD rushed upon David from that day forward (1 Samuel 16:11-13). This is Samuel's private anointing at Bethlehem, distinct from David's later public enthronement over Israel.

David came against the Philistine Goliath in the name of the LORD of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel whom Goliath had defied (1 Samuel 17:45). He struck the giant with a stone from his sling, and with no sword in his hand he took Goliath's own sword and cut off his head (1 Samuel 17:49-51).

Samuel anointed David in the midst of his brothers, and the Spirit of the LORD rushed upon him (1 Samuel 16:13). The men of Judah later anointed David king over the house of Judah at Hebron (2 Samuel 2:4), and the elders of Israel anointed him king over all Israel (2 Samuel 5:3).

David brought up the ark of God from the house of Obed-edom to the city of David with rejoicing (2 Samuel 6:12). David danced before the LORD with all his might, and the whole house of Israel brought up the ark with shouting and the sound of the horn (2 Samuel 6:14-15).

Through the prophet Nathan the LORD promised David that he would raise up his offspring after him and establish the throne of his kingdom forever (2 Samuel 7:12-13). The LORD declared that David's house and kingdom would be made sure forever, and his throne established forever (2 Samuel 7:16).

Solomon began building the temple in the fourth year of his reign, 480 years after the Exodus (1 Kings 6:1). At its dedication the priests brought in the ark, and the glory of the LORD filled the house so that fire came down and consumed the offerings (1 Kings 8; 2 Chronicles 7:1-3).

Two women each claimed to be the mother of one living child; Solomon called for a sword to divide the child in two (1 Kings 3:16-25). When the true mother pleaded that the child be given to the other rather than killed, Solomon awarded the child to her, and all Israel saw that the wisdom of God was in him to do justice (1 Kings 3:26-28).

When Rehoboam refused to lighten the labor imposed by his father Solomon, the ten northern tribes rejected him and made Jeroboam king (1 Kings 12:1-20). Only the tribe of Judah, with Benjamin, remained loyal to the house of David (1 Kings 12:21-24).

Elijah challenged the prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel, calling on the LORD to answer by fire (1 Kings 18:20-24). The fire of the LORD fell and consumed the offering, the wood, the stones, and the water, and the people declared that the LORD is God (1 Kings 18:36-40).

The king of Assyria captured Samaria after a three-year siege and carried Israel away into exile (2 Kings 17:5-6). The text states this came because Israel had sinned against the LORD and served other gods (2 Kings 17:7-23), ending the northern kingdom.

Sennacherib king of Assyria came up against the fortified cities of Judah, and his commander taunted the people to give up trust in the LORD (Isaiah 36:1-20; 2 Kings 18:13-35). Hezekiah spread the threat before the LORD, and Isaiah brought word that the city would be spared; the angel of the LORD struck down the Assyrian camp, and Sennacherib withdrew and was later killed by his own sons (Isaiah 37:14-38; 2 Kings 19:14-37).

The word of the LORD came to Jeremiah, telling him that before he was formed in the womb God had known him and appointed him a prophet to the nations (Jeremiah 1:4-5). Though Jeremiah protested that he was only a youth, the LORD touched his mouth and set him over nations and kingdoms, to pluck up and to plant (Jeremiah 1:6-10).

During the repair of the temple, Hilkiah the high priest found the Book of the Law, and it was read before King Yoshiyahu (2 Kings 22:8-10; 2 Chronicles 34:14-18). When Yoshiyahu heard its words he tore his clothes and inquired of the LORD, moving the nation toward repentance and covenant renewal (2 Kings 22:11-13; 2 Chronicles 34:19-21).

Daniel resolved not to defile himself with the king's food and wine, and asked the chief eunuch to test him and his companions on vegetables and water for ten days (Daniel 1:8-14). At the end of the ten days they appeared better in flesh than all who ate the king's food (Daniel 1:15).

Daniel interpreted the king's dream of a great image with a head of gold, chest of silver, middle of bronze, legs of iron, and feet of iron mixed with clay, as a succession of kingdoms (Daniel 2:31-43). A stone cut without human hands struck the image and became a mountain filling the earth, which Daniel declared to be a kingdom that God would set up and that would never be destroyed (Daniel 2:44-45).

Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon besieged and captured Jerusalem, burned the temple and the city, and broke down its walls (2 Kings 25:1-10). The people of Judah were carried into exile in Babylon (2 Kings 25:11-21; Jeremiah 52:12-27), ending the southern kingdom.

For refusing to worship the golden image, the three men were bound and thrown into a furnace heated seven times its usual heat (Daniel 3:19-23). The king saw four men walking unbound in the fire, the fourth like a son of the gods, and called them out unharmed, not a hair singed, blessing the God who sent his angel to deliver them (Daniel 3:24-28).

For praying to his God against the king's decree, Daniel was cast into the den of lions (Daniel 6:16-17). At dawn the king found him alive; Daniel said his God had sent his angel and shut the lions' mouths because he was found blameless before God, and he was taken up out of the den unharmed (Daniel 6:19-23).

In his first year, Cyrus king of Persia issued a decree permitting the exiles of Judah to return to Jerusalem and rebuild the house of the LORD (Ezra 1:1-4). Isaiah 44:28 names Cyrus in advance as the one who would say of Jerusalem that it shall be built and of the temple that its foundation shall be laid; the timeline flags this as a prophecy noted by the text itself.

The returned exiles finished building the second temple in the sixth year of the reign of Darius the king (Ezra 6:15). They dedicated the house of God with joy and reestablished the priests and Levites for the service of God (Ezra 6:16-18).

Under Nehemiah's leadership the wall of Jerusalem was finished in fifty-two days, on the twenty-fifth day of the month Elul (Nehemiah 6:15). The completion despite opposition is recorded as accomplished with the help of God (Nehemiah 6:16).

Ezra the scribe brought the Book of the Law of Moses before the assembly and read from it from early morning until midday (Nehemiah 8:1-3). The Levites helped the people understand the reading, giving the sense so that they understood it (Nehemiah 8:7-8).

The prophecy of Malachi (~430 BC) is traditionally regarded as the last of the Old Testament writings. It closes by calling Israel to remember the law of Moses and by promising Elijah before the great day of the LORD (Malachi 4:4-6). After this the Hebrew canon records no further prophetic voice until the New Testament era.

In 332 BC Alexander of Macedon brought Judea under Greek rule, an event attested by external history rather than direct biblical narrative. Daniel 8 describes a male goat from the west with a conspicuous horn that tramples the ram of Media and Persia (Daniel 8:5-8), and the text itself names the goat as the king of Greece (Daniel 8:21). The connection to Alexander is prophetic/typological, not a direct narrative report of the conquest.

In 167 BC Antiochus IV set up a desolating sacrilege on the altar of the Jerusalem temple, recorded in the apocryphal history as the 'abomination of desolation' (1 Maccabees 1:54). Daniel 11:31 uses the same language of forces who profane the temple, take away the regular burnt offering, and set up the abomination that makes desolate.

In 167 BC the priest Mattathias refused to sacrifice to pagan gods, killed the officer enforcing the decree, and fled to the hills with his sons, igniting the revolt against Seleucid rule (1 Maccabees 2:15-28).

In 164 BC Judas Maccabeus and his brothers cleansed the temple, built a new altar, and rededicated the sanctuary, appointing an eight-day annual feast (1 Maccabees 4:36-59). John 10:22 refers to this observance obliquely as the Feast of Dedication, kept in Jerusalem in winter.

In 63 BC the Roman general Pompey captured Jerusalem, bringing Judea under Roman power and ending Hasmonean independence. This is historical context surrounding the close of 1 Maccabees rather than a narrated biblical event. Daniel 2:40 describes a fourth kingdom, strong as iron, that breaks and crushes all others; the identification of that kingdom with Rome is a common interpretive reading, not stated in the text.

Around 20 BC Herod the Great began an extensive rebuilding and expansion of the Jerusalem temple. The New Testament itself references the length of this project when the people tell Jesus, 'It has taken forty-six years to build this temple' (John 2:20).

Around 5 BC John was born to the priest Zechariah and Elizabeth in their old age, his birth foretold by the angel Gabriel (Luke 1:5-25). At his circumcision his father's speech was restored and he named the child John, as the angel had commanded (Luke 1:57-66).

Around 4 BC Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea. Matthew records the conception by the Holy Spirit and the naming of Jesus (Matthew 1:18-25); Luke records the census of Caesar Augustus and the birth in a manger because there was no place for them in the inn (Luke 2:1-7).

Around 27 AD Jesus was baptized by John in the Jordan; the Spirit descended like a dove and a voice from heaven declared him the beloved Son (Matthew 3:13-17). Luke notes he was about thirty years old at the start of his ministry (Luke 3:21-23).

Early in his Galilean ministry Jesus went up on the mountain, sat down with his disciples, and taught the crowds, beginning the discourse recorded in Matthew 5-7 (Matthew 5:1-2).

Jesus called to him those whom he desired, and appointed twelve whom he named apostles, that they might be with him and be sent out to preach and to have authority over unclean spirits (Mark 3:13-19). He gave the Twelve authority over unclean spirits and to heal every disease and affliction (Matthew 10:1-4).

Jesus took Peter, James, and John up a high mountain, where he was transfigured before them; his face shone like the sun and his clothes became white as light (Matthew 17:1-2). Moses and Elijah appeared talking with him, and a voice from the bright cloud declared, 'This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him' (Matthew 17:3-8).

The final days of Jesus's ministry: Triumphal Entry, Last Supper, Crucifixion, Resurrection, Ascension, and Pentecost. Click to open the Passion Week timeline.

As Saul traveled to Damascus to arrest believers, a light from heaven flashed and the risen Jesus confronted him; blinded, he was led into the city and restored through Ananias, then baptized (Acts 9:1-19).

After his testimony before the council, Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of God (Acts 7:54-56). The crowd cast him out of the city and stoned him; he called on the Lord and prayed that this sin not be held against them, and then he fell asleep (Acts 7:57-60).

While staying with Simon the tanner in Joppa, Peter fell into a trance and saw a sheet lowered from heaven holding all kinds of animals, with a voice telling him to kill and eat, and not to call common what God had made clean (Acts 10:9-16). While he was puzzling over the vision's meaning, men sent by Cornelius from Caesarea arrived at the house; the Spirit told Peter to go with them, and he lodged them for the night. Peter later gives his own interpretation of the vision — that it was about not calling any person common or unclean — after arriving at Cornelius's house in Caesarea (Acts 10:28).

Peter arrives at Cornelius's house in Caesarea and declares that God has shown him not to call any person common or unclean, so he did not hesitate to come (Acts 10:28). As he preaches Christ to the assembled Gentiles, the Holy Spirit falls on all who hear the word — the first recorded outpouring on Gentile believers — and Peter has them baptized in the name of Jesus Christ (Acts 10:44-48).

The church at Antioch, directed by the Holy Spirit, set apart Barnabas and Saul and sent them off, and they sailed to Cyprus (Acts 13:1-4). After preaching through Cyprus and the cities of Asia Minor, they sailed back to Antioch, where they had been commended to the grace of God, and reported all that God had done (Acts 14:26-28).

Around 49 AD the apostles and elders gathered in Jerusalem to decide whether Gentile believers must be circumcised and keep the law of Moses, and sent a letter with their judgment to the Gentile churches (Acts 15:1-29).

Paul chose Silas and departed, commended by the brothers to the grace of the Lord, and went through Syria and Cilicia strengthening the churches (Acts 15:40-41). The journey carried the gospel into Macedonia and Greece, including Philippi, Thessalonica, Athens, and Corinth, before Paul went down to Antioch (Acts 18:22).

Paul set out again and went from place to place through the region of Galatia and Phrygia, strengthening the disciples (Acts 18:23). After an extended ministry centered on Ephesus and travel through Macedonia and Greece, he returned to Jerusalem, where the brothers received him gladly (Acts 21:17).

Around 57 AD Paul wrote to the believers in Rome, introducing himself as a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle and set apart for the gospel of God (Romans 1:1-7).

The city was stirred up and the people seized Paul in the temple, dragging him out and seeking to kill him (Acts 21:30-31). The Roman tribune came with soldiers, arrested Paul, and bound him with two chains, then asked who he was and what he had done (Acts 21:32-33).

Around 60 AD Paul arrived in Rome and was allowed to stay by himself under guard, where for two years he received all who came to him, proclaiming the kingdom of God and teaching about the Lord Jesus with all boldness (Acts 28:16-31).

When it was decided that they should sail for Italy, Paul and other prisoners were delivered to a centurion named Julius (Acts 27:1). After a violent storm and shipwreck, all reached land safely; they came ashore on Malta, and after three months Paul at last arrived in Rome (Acts 28:1-16).

The New Testament identifies James as the Lord's brother, whom Paul saw in Jerusalem (Galatians 1:19), and shows him leading the church there and speaking at the Jerusalem Council (Acts 15:13). His death around 62 AD is not narrated in the New Testament; it is attested by external history in the writings of the Jewish historian Josephus. The scripture references here establish his identity and role, not the manner of his death.

In 64 AD a great fire swept Rome, and the emperor Nero blamed and persecuted Christians. This event is attested by external history rather than direct biblical narrative. Revelation 2:10, written later (~96 AD), speaks of coming suffering and imprisonment and calls believers to be faithful unto death; it is a general exhortation to the persecuted church rather than a report of the fire itself.

The New Testament does not narrate Paul's death; in his final letter he writes that he is already being poured out as a drink offering and that the time of his departure has come, having fought the good fight and finished the race (2 Timothy 4:6-8). He recounts that at his first defense all deserted him, yet the Lord stood by him, and expresses confidence that the Lord would bring him safely into his heavenly kingdom (2 Timothy 4:16-18). His execution around 67 AD is drawn from early church tradition rather than direct biblical narrative.

In 70 AD Roman forces destroyed Jerusalem and its temple. Jesus had foretold that not one stone of the temple would be left upon another (Matthew 24:1-2) and spoke of Jerusalem surrounded by armies and trampled by the Gentiles (Luke 21:20-24).

Around 96 AD John, exiled on the island of Patmos on account of the word of God, was in the Spirit on the Lord's day and heard a loud voice commanding him to write what he saw and send it to the seven churches (Revelation 1:9-11).

Bishop of Antioch arrested and transported to Rome for execution; along the way he wrote seven letters to churches urging unity around the bishop and faithfulness under persecution. The scripture connection is interpretive: Ignatius wrote of martyrdom as the completion of discipleship, echoing John 15:13 ('greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life'), though the text does not name him.

Marcion proposed rejecting the entire Old Testament and most of the New, keeping only a truncated Luke and ten Pauline letters; his challenge forced the church to begin formally defining what belonged in Scripture. The scripture connection is direct to the continuity Marcion denied: Galatians 4:4 ('God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law') ties the coming of Christ to the Old Testament covenant.

The oldest surviving list of New Testament books accepted by a church in the West; it includes the four Gospels, Acts, thirteen Pauline letters, Jude, 1-2 John, and Revelation. The scripture connection is direct: the fragment describes Luke's Gospel, whose prologue (Luke 1:1-4) sets out its ordered account 'that you may have certainty concerning the things you have been taught.'

Emperor Diocletian ordered the destruction of churches, the burning of Scriptures, and the execution of clergy — the most severe Roman persecution of Christians; it ended with Constantine's Edict of Milan in 313 AD. The scripture connection is interpretive: Revelation 2:10 ('Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life') addressed the church at Smyrna facing persecution, and was read as encouragement to those enduring this later suffering.

Constantine and Licinius issued a proclamation granting religious freedom throughout the Roman Empire, ending the persecutions. The scripture connection is interpretive: Romans 13:1-4 on the governing authorities as 'God's servant' was the text the church had to reckon with as Rome shifted from persecutor to patron.

About three hundred bishops gathered at Nicaea to address Arianism — Arius taught that Christ was a created being, 'there was a time when he was not.' The council affirmed the Son is 'of the same substance' (homoousios) as the Father and produced the Nicene Creed. The scripture connection is direct to the texts at the center of the dispute: John 1:1 ('the Word was God') and Colossians 1:15-17 ('image of the invisible God,' 'firstborn of all creation').

The council expanded the Nicene Creed to affirm the full divinity of the Holy Spirit against the Pneumatomachians ('Spirit-fighters'), producing the Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed still used in churches today. The scripture connection is direct to texts bearing on the Spirit: John 14:16-17 (the 'Spirit of truth') and the Trinitarian blessing of 2 Corinthians 13:14.

The North African council listed the twenty-seven books of the New Testament canon as authoritative — the same twenty-seven in use today. This was the most significant early formal statement of the NT canon; Athanasius's 39th Festal Letter (367 AD) had already listed them. The scripture connection is interpretive: 2 Timothy 3:16-17 ('all Scripture is breathed out by God') states the principle of authoritative Scripture that canon lists sought to identify.

Jerome's Latin translation of the Bible from the Hebrew and Greek originals became the standard Bible of the Western church for over a thousand years. The scripture connection is interpretive: Psalm 119:105 ('Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path') expresses the purpose of making Scripture accessible that the translation served.

The council defined Christ as one person with two natures, divine and human, 'without confusion, without change, without division, without separation.' It rejected Nestorius (who separated the natures) and Eutyches (who confused them); some Eastern churches split at this point. The scripture connection is direct to the texts in view: John 1:14 ('the Word became flesh') and Hebrews 4:15 ('tempted as we are, yet without sin').