A Biblical Timeline

This chart is an outline of Biblical history. Many dates given are approximate, since it is difficult to accurately establish the dates of almost any Biblical personality or story. In presenting the common dates, I have used the generally accepted years. The third column in this chart contains dates which are calculated using the Bible's own material. To illustrate: the Jewish calendar begins at year 0; adding the ages of the individuals listed in בראשית ה ,  we can determine the year of the flood in בראשית ז :  1656. Using intervals scattered throughout the Bible, we can date events based on their distance from creation. Historical reckoning takes archaeological and other sources into account. Discrepancies invariably arise between the Bible's method and the scientific approach. For example: the accepted date for the destruction of the First Temple is 586 BCE (Before the Common Era). Adding the numbers in the Bible, however, puts this event at 3338 years after creation, which corresponds to 422 BCE. I have not attempted to reconcile these two systems, but have presented them side by side. (The first three dates in the second column are the common era equivalents to the Bible's dates, not external estimates.)