Methodology
About the dates
Dates are compiled from the biblical text and informed by historical scholarship. Patriarchal dates are rounded, externally anchored dates are cross-checked against ancient records, and major scholarly disagreements are shown rather than flattened.
- 567
- dated events
- 7
- levels of certainty
- 132
- disputed dates
How dates are handled
Five principles
The framework
Dates are compiled from the biblical text, informed by historical scholarship, and not copied from any single reference timeline.
Patriarchal dates
Patriarchal-era dates are derived from the Bible’s internal age references and rounded to avoid false precision.
Anchored in ancient records
From Ahab onward, dates are cross-checked against Assyrian, Babylonian and Persian records.
Approximate dates
“c.” marks approximate dates.
Disputed dates
Genuinely disputed events, including the Exodus, retain the principal competing dates rather than presenting one as settled.
Date status
How certain is each date?
Every event carries a date status. This is how the 567 events divide between them; each status links to an example.
- Relatively established60 events · 11%e.g. Death of Solomon
- Approximate191 events · 34%e.g. Israel's defeat by the Philistines; the ark captured
- Traditional chronology64 events · 11%e.g. Enoch walks with God and is taken
- Disputed132 events · 23%e.g. Moses' birth and adoption by Pharaoh's daughter
- Narrative sequence only82 events · 14%e.g. Cain murders Abel
- Prophetic sequence29 events · 5%e.g. Vision of the throne room in heaven
- Unknown9 events · 2%e.g. Creation of the heavens and the earth
Across the eras
Certainty across the eras
The same statuses era by era, with each era’s span and number of events.
- 01 · UndatedCreation and Primeval History20
- 02 · c. 2095–1805 BCThe Patriarchs57
- 03 · c. 1526–1255 BCExodus and Wilderness46
- 04 · c. 1406–1050 BCConquest of Canaan and the Judges23
- 05 · c. 1105–931 BCUnited Monarchy56
- 06 · c. 931–598 BCDivided Kingdom and the Prophets63
- 07 · c. 605–433 BCExile and Restoration37
- 08 · c. 334–40 BCBetween the Testaments12
- 09 · c. 6 BC – AD 33Life of Christ121
- 10 · c. AD 33–85Early Church and the Apostolic Letters95
- 11 · c. AD 95Revelation37
Reading a date
What the notation means
Examples taken from the timeline itself.
- c. 1526 BC
Approximate
“c.” (circa) marks a date that is approximate rather than exact.
Moses' birth and adoption by Pharaoh's daughter - c. 1446/1260 BC
Competing dates
Two years joined by a slash are the principal competing dates, kept side by side.
The burning bush; God calls Moses - c. 1080–1073 BC
A span of time
A dash marks an event or period that stretches between two dates.
The ark among the Philistines and its return - Sunday, Holy Week, AD 33 (or AD 30)
An alternative
A second date in brackets gives the main alternative chronology.
Triumphal entry into Jerusalem
Every event page shows its own date status, the basis for its date and any chronology note.