The following dates (all b.c.) are close approximations based on correlating dates between the Bible and other ancient Near Eastern sources (largely from Assyrian accession lists, Babylonian king-lists, or Egyptian historical sources). Often dates can be confirmed between the Assyrian and Babylonian Empires by narratives recording contacts between these two countries.
### Patriarchs to Judges (c. 2166–1030)
||1446 Date for Exodus**|1260 Date for Exodus**|
|---|---|---|
|Abraham|2166–1991|2000–1825|
|Isaac|2066–1886|1900–1720|
|Jacob|2006–1859|1840–1693|
|Joseph|1915–1805|1749–1639|
|Moses’ birth|1526|1340|
|Exodus|1446|1260|
|Desert wanderings|1446–1406|1260–1220|
|Entrance into Canaan|1406|1220|
|Period of the judges|1375 to 1050–1030|1210 to 1050–1030|
### United Monarchy (c. 1050–931)
||Dates|Notes|
|---|---|---|
|Saul’s reign|1050–1030 to 1010|Numerals relating to Saul’s age and length of reign may be missing in the Hebrew text (see 1 Sam. 13:1)***|
|David’s reign|1010–971||
|Solomon’s reign|971–931||
### Divided Monarchy to Exile (931–586)
| | | |
|---|---|---|
|Kingdom divided|931|See The Divided Kingdom: Kings of Judah and The Divided Kingdom: Kings of Israel|
|Syro-Ephraimite war|740–732|Pekah (Israel) and Rezin (Syria) pressure Jotham and Ahaz (Judah) to join their opposition to Tiglath-pileser III (Assyria)|
|Fall of Samaria (Israel)|722|Shalmaneser V (727–722) and Sargon II (722–705) of Assyria|
|Josiah’s reforms|628||
|Battle of Carchemish|605|Daniel and three friends exiled to Babylon|
|Jerusalem attacked|597|Nebuchadnezzar II takes exiles to Babylon including Jehoiachin and Ezekiel|
|Fall of Jerusalem (Judah)|586|Nebuchadnezzar II takes more exiles to Babylon|
### Return from Exile (539–445)
| | | |
|---|---|---|
|Fall of Babylon|539|Cyrus of Persia (539–530)|
|1st return of exiles to Jerusalem|538||
|Temple building begins|536||
|Temple completed|516|Darius I (522–486)|
|Esther in palace of Xerxes|478|Xerxes I/Ahasuerus (485–464)|
|2nd return of exiles to Jerusalem under Ezra|458|Artaxerxes I (464–423)|
|3rd return of exiles to Jerusalem under Nehemiah|445||
*See also Historical Books Timeline; The Divided Kingdom: Kings of Judah and The Divided Kingdom: Kings of Israel.
**See The Date of the Exodus.
***Possible dates for the beginning of Saul’s reign are calculated based on other data in the OT: e.g., David’s age at accession and length of reign (2 Sam. 5:4–5); Ish-bosheth’s age when he became king (2 Sam. 2:10); and Jonathan’s probable age in relation to both Ish-bosheth and David, presuming that Jonathan was Saul’s firstborn son (1 Sam. 14:49; 31:2) and was at least 20 when referred to as a commander of troops early in Saul’s reign (1 Sam. 13:2).