Interactive Bible timeline

Bible timeline: creation to Revelation

Every era of Scripture in order, from the first words of Genesis to the vision on Patmos. Search for a person or moment, filter by period, and open the exact passage that records it — the reading stays one tap away. Dates before the kings are traditional approximations; scholars place several of them centuries apart.

Beginnings

Before the patriarchs

Creation, the flood and the scattering of the nations — the prologue to Israel's story.

  1. In the beginning

    Creation

    God speaks the heavens, the earth and every living thing into being, and calls it good.

  2. In the beginning

    The garden and the fall

    Adam and Eve are placed in Eden, take the forbidden fruit, and are sent out of the garden.

  3. c. 2900 BC (traditional)

    The flood

    Noah builds the ark, the waters cover the earth, and a covenant is sealed with a rainbow.

  4. c. 2400 BC (traditional)

    Babel and the scattering of nations

    A tower is begun on the plain of Shinar; languages are confused and the peoples spread out.

The Patriarchs

c. 2100–1800 BC

Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Joseph: one family carrying a promise across the Fertile Crescent.

  1. c. 2091 BC

    The call of Abram

    God calls Abram out of Haran with the promise of land, offspring and blessing for all nations.

  2. c. 2081 BC

    The covenant of the pieces

    God swears the land to Abram's descendants and foretells four centuries in a foreign country.

  3. c. 2066 BC

    Isaac is born

    The promised son arrives to Abraham at 100 and Sarah at 90 — laughter after decades of waiting.

  4. c. 2050 BC

    The binding of Isaac on Moriah

    Abraham is tested on the mountain, and a ram caught in a thicket is provided in Isaac's place.

  5. c. 1928 BC

    Jacob's ladder at Bethel

    Fleeing Esau, Jacob dreams of a stairway to heaven and wakes to say the LORD is in this place.

  6. c. 1898 BC

    Joseph sold into Egypt

    Sold by his brothers, Joseph rises from prison to become Pharaoh's second in command.

  7. c. 1876 BC

    Jacob's family settles in Goshen

    Famine drives seventy people into Egypt, where the family grows into a nation.

Exodus and Conquest

c. 1450–1350 BC

Slavery in Egypt, the covenant at Sinai, forty years of wilderness, and entry into Canaan.

  1. c. 1446 BC

    The burning bush

    Moses is sent back to Egypt by the God who names himself I AM.

  2. c. 1446 BC

    The Passover and the exodus

    After ten plagues, Israel leaves Egypt in a single night and crosses the sea on dry ground.

  3. c. 1446 BC

    The covenant at Sinai

    The Ten Commandments are given, and Israel becomes a covenant people at the mountain.

  4. c. 1445 BC

    The tabernacle is raised

    A portable sanctuary is built to plan, and the glory of the LORD fills it.

  5. c. 1406 BC

    Jordan crossed and Jericho falls

    Joshua leads Israel into Canaan; the walls of Jericho come down after seven days.

Judges and the United Kingdom

c. 1350–930 BC

Tribal cycles of rescue, then Saul, David and Solomon and the first temple.

  1. c. 1375–1050 BC

    The age of the judges

    A repeating cycle: Israel forgets, is oppressed, cries out, and a deliverer is raised up.

  2. c. 1050 BC

    Saul anointed as Israel's first king

    Israel asks for a king like the other nations, and Samuel anoints Saul.

  3. c. 1024 BC

    David and Goliath

    A shepherd boy meets the Philistine champion in the Valley of Elah with a sling and five stones.

  4. c. 1003 BC

    David takes Jerusalem

    The city of Jebus becomes the City of David and the capital of a united kingdom.

  5. c. 959 BC

    Solomon's temple dedicated

    Seven years of building end with the ark carried in and the cloud filling the house.

Divided Kingdom and Exile

c. 930–430 BC

Israel and Judah split, the prophets speak, Jerusalem falls, and a remnant returns.

  1. c. 930 BC

    The kingdom divides

    Rehoboam's harsh answer splits the nation into Israel in the north and Judah in the south.

  2. c. 860 BC

    Elijah on Mount Carmel

    Fire falls on a drenched altar and the prophets of Baal are answered by silence.

  3. c. 780 BC

    Jonah sent to Nineveh

    A prophet runs the opposite way, and a pagan city repents anyway.

  4. 722 BC

    Assyria destroys Samaria

    The northern kingdom falls and its people are deported across the Assyrian empire.

  5. 586 BC

    Jerusalem falls to Babylon

    The city is burned, the temple destroyed, and Judah carried into exile.

  6. 538 BC

    Cyrus lets the exiles return

    A Persian decree sends a remnant home to rebuild the house of God in Jerusalem.

  7. 445 BC

    Nehemiah rebuilds the walls

    The wall is finished in fifty-two days despite ridicule and threats.

The Life of Jesus

c. 5 BC – AD 33

From Bethlehem to the empty tomb, the four Gospels in chronological order.

  1. c. 5 BC

    Jesus is born in Bethlehem

    A census brings Joseph and Mary to Bethlehem; shepherds are the first to hear.

  2. c. AD 29

    Baptised in the Jordan

    John baptises Jesus; the Spirit descends and a voice speaks from heaven.

  3. c. AD 29

    Water into wine at Cana

    The first sign in John's Gospel, at a village wedding running out of wine.

  4. c. AD 30

    The Sermon on the Mount

    The Beatitudes and the shape of life in the kingdom, delivered on a Galilean hillside.

  5. c. AD 31

    Feeding of the five thousand

    Five loaves and two fish feed a crowd, with twelve baskets left over.

  6. c. AD 32

    Lazarus raised at Bethany

    Four days in the tomb, and a dead man walks out at the sound of his name.

  7. AD 33

    The triumphal entry

    Jesus rides into Jerusalem on a donkey to shouts of Hosanna and spread cloaks.

  8. AD 33

    The Last Supper

    Bread broken and a cup poured in an upper room on the night before the crucifixion.

  9. AD 33

    The crucifixion

    Jesus is crucified at Golgotha; the temple curtain tears from top to bottom.

  10. AD 33

    The resurrection

    The stone is rolled away and the tomb is empty on the first day of the week.

The Early Church

AD 33–95

Pentecost, Paul's missionary journeys, the letters, and the vision on Patmos.

  1. AD 33

    The ascension

    Jesus is taken up from the Mount of Olives with a promise to return the same way.

  2. AD 33

    Pentecost

    Wind, fire and languages fall on the disciples, and three thousand are added in a day.

  3. c. AD 34

    Saul on the Damascus road

    The persecutor is stopped by light and a voice, and becomes the apostle to the nations.

  4. c. AD 40

    Peter and Cornelius

    A vision of a sheet and a Roman centurion open the church to the Gentiles.

  5. c. AD 46

    Paul's first missionary journey

    Sent out from Antioch with Barnabas to Cyprus and the cities of Galatia.

  6. c. AD 49

    The Jerusalem council

    The church decides Gentile believers need not first become Jews.

  7. c. AD 50

    The call to Macedonia

    A night vision turns the mission west into Europe, beginning at Philippi.

  8. c. AD 60

    Paul reaches Rome

    After shipwreck on Malta, Paul preaches for two years under house arrest in the capital.

  9. c. AD 95

    The revelation on Patmos

    John, exiled on a small island, is shown the last things and a new heaven and earth.

Read the story, not just the dates

Each entry opens in the reader, where places, people and journeys in the text stay live: tap one and a contextual panel opens beside the verse with a map, a timeline and the threads that run through the rest of Scripture.