Bible Timeline in Chronological Order

God creates the heavens, the earth, and all life in six days and rests on the seventh.

When did God create the heavens and the earth?

Adam and Eve disobey God in Eden and sin enters the world.

When did Adam and Eve sin?

Cain murders his brother Abel — the first death in Scripture.

When did Cain kill Abel?

God judges the violence of the earth with a flood, sparing Noah, his family, and the animals on the ark.

When did Noah's flood happen?

Humanity unites to build a tower to heaven; God confounds their language and scatters them.

When did the Tower of Babel happen?

God calls Abram out of Ur and promises to make him a great nation through whom all families of the earth will be blessed.

When was Abraham called by God?

Fire and brimstone fall from heaven on the cities of the plain; Lot escapes.

When did God destroy Sodom and Gomorrah?

Sarah bears Isaac in her old age, the son of promise through whom the covenant continues.

When was Isaac born?

God tests Abraham; a ram is provided in Isaac's place on Mount Moriah.

When did Abraham offer Isaac on Mount Moriah?

Jacob wrestles a divine man at Peniel and is renamed Israel.

When did Jacob wrestle with God?

Joseph is sold by his brothers, rises to second in Egypt, and saves his family from famine.

When did Joseph go to Egypt?

God sends ten plagues on Egypt, ending with the death of the firstborn and the first Passover.

When did the ten plagues strike Egypt?

God parts the Red Sea; Israel walks through on dry ground and Pharaoh's army is drowned.

When did Israel cross the Red Sea?

Moses views the promised land from Mount Nebo and dies; the LORD buries him.

When did Moses die?

The LORD calls Moses from a bush that burns but is not consumed.

When did God speak from the burning bush?

God delivers Israel out of Egyptian bondage through Moses, the ten plagues, and the parted Red Sea.

When did the Exodus happen?

God descends on Mount Sinai and gives Israel the Ten Commandments and the covenant law.

When were the Ten Commandments given?

While Moses is on Mount Sinai, Aaron fashions a golden calf for Israel to worship.

When did Israel make the golden calf?

Joshua leads Israel across the Jordan and into the conquest of Canaan, beginning with Jericho.

When did Israel enter the Promised Land?

Israel marches around Jericho seven days; on the seventh the walls fall flat.

When did the walls of Jericho fall?

After Joshua, Israel cycles through apostasy, oppression, and deliverance under raised-up judges.

When was the period of the Judges?

The prophetess Deborah and Barak defeat Jabin's army; Jael slays Sisera.

When did Deborah lead Israel to victory?

With three hundred men, torches, and trumpets, Gideon routs a vast Midianite host.

When did Gideon defeat the Midianites?

Samson the Nazirite judges Israel twenty years, ending by pulling down Dagon's temple.

When did Samson judge Israel?

The Moabitess Ruth marries Boaz and becomes great-grandmother of King David.

When did Ruth glean in the fields of Boaz?

Israel asks for a king; Samuel anoints Saul son of Kish.

When did Samuel anoint Saul as Israel's first king?

The shepherd boy David slays the Philistine giant with a sling and a stone.

When did David kill Goliath?

David, a man after God's own heart, reigns over a united Israel and receives the everlasting covenant.

When did King David reign?

Solomon builds the first Temple in Jerusalem, and the glory of the LORD fills the house.

When was Solomon's Temple built?

After Solomon, ten tribes follow Jeroboam (Israel) and two follow Rehoboam (Judah).

When did the kingdom of Israel divide?

Elijah challenges the 450 prophets of Baal; fire falls and the LORD is vindicated.

When did Elijah call down fire on Mount Carmel?

Elijah is taken to heaven in a whirlwind and Elisha continues the prophetic ministry.

When did Elisha receive Elijah's mantle?

Jonah is swallowed by a great fish; Nineveh repents at his preaching.

When did Jonah preach to Nineveh?

Isaiah sees the LORD high and lifted up and is sent to a hardened people.

When was Isaiah called as a prophet?

Assyria captures Samaria and exiles the northern kingdom of Israel.

When did Assyria conquer Israel?

The Angel of the LORD smites 185,000 Assyrians; Jerusalem is spared.

When did God deliver Hezekiah from Assyria?

The book of the law is found in the temple; King Josiah leads Judah's last great reform.

When did Josiah find the Book of the Law?

Nebuchadnezzar burns the city and the Temple; Judah is carried captive to Babylon.

When did Babylon destroy Jerusalem?

Three Hebrew youths refuse to bow to Nebuchadnezzar's image and walk unharmed in the fire.

When were Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego cast into the furnace?

Daniel keeps praying to the God of heaven and is delivered from the lions.

When was Daniel cast into the lions' den?

Cyrus of Persia decrees that the Jews may return to Jerusalem and rebuild the Temple.

When did Israel return from Babylon?

Under Zerubbabel, with the preaching of Haggai and Zechariah, the rebuilt Temple is finished.

When was the Second Temple built?

Queen Esther risks her life before King Ahasuerus and exposes Haman's plot.

When did Esther save the Jews?

Nehemiah, cupbearer to Artaxerxes, rebuilds the walls of Jerusalem in fifty-two days.

When did Nehemiah rebuild Jerusalem's walls?

Ezra reads the book of the law before all the people at the water gate in Jerusalem.

When did Ezra read the Law to the people?

Four hundred years between Malachi and Matthew — empires rise and fall as God prepares the world for Christ.

What happened between the Old and New Testaments?

Judas Maccabeus drives out the Seleucids and rededicates the temple — the origin of Hanukkah.

When did the Maccabees rededicate the temple?

Jesus is born in Bethlehem in the days of Herod the king, fulfilling the prophecies of the Messiah.

When was Jesus born?

About age thirty, Jesus is baptised by John, tempted in the wilderness, and begins to preach the kingdom.

When did Jesus' ministry begin?

John preaches repentance in the wilderness of Judea and baptizes in the Jordan.

When did John the Baptist begin to preach?

Jesus teaches the Beatitudes and the law of the kingdom on a mountainside in Galilee.

When did Jesus preach the Sermon on the Mount?

On a high mountain Jesus shines as the sun; Moses and Elijah appear and the Father speaks.

When was Jesus transfigured?

Jesus is crucified at Passover under Pontius Pilate, dies, and is buried in a borrowed tomb.

When was Jesus crucified?

On the first day of the week, Jesus rises from the dead, conquering death and confirming the gospel.

When did Jesus rise from the dead?

Jesus is baptized by John in the Jordan; the Spirit descends and the Father speaks.

When was Jesus baptized?

Jesus rides into Jerusalem on a colt as the crowds cry Hosanna — Palm Sunday.

When did Jesus enter Jerusalem on a donkey?

Forty days after the resurrection, Jesus ascends from the Mount of Olives.

When did Jesus ascend to heaven?

Jesus institutes the Lord's Supper with His disciples on the night He was betrayed.

When did Jesus eat the Last Supper?

The Holy Spirit is poured out on the disciples and the church is born.

When was the day of Pentecost?

Saul of Tarsus meets the risen Christ on the road to Damascus and becomes the apostle Paul.

When was Paul converted?

Stephen, the first Christian martyr, is stoned outside Jerusalem while praying for his killers.

When was Stephen martyred?

The church at Antioch sends Paul and Barnabas; the gospel spreads to Cyprus and Asia Minor.

When did Paul begin his missionary journeys?

Apostles and elders rule that Gentile believers need not be circumcised or keep the Mosaic law.

When was the Jerusalem Council held?

After a second Roman imprisonment Paul is beheaded under Nero outside Rome.

When was the apostle Paul martyred?

Roman armies under Titus destroy Jerusalem and the Second Temple, fulfilling Jesus' prophecy.

When was Jerusalem destroyed by Rome?

The apostle John receives the Revelation of Jesus Christ while exiled on Patmos.

When was the book of Revelation written?