Chronology of the Bible
Masoretic Text

Chronology of the Bible

Section Title: Masoretic Text
Table Section Text: None

Masoretic Date (AM)	Event	Note

AM 1	Creation (Adam)	From Creation to Abraham, time is calculated by adding the ages of the Patriarchs when their first child is born. It seems possible that the period of the Flood is not meant to be included in the count—for example, Shem, born 100 years before the Flood, "begot" his first son two years after it, which should make him 102, but Genesis 11:10–11 specifies that he is only 100, suggesting that time has been suspended.

AM 1946	Birth of Abraham	The period from the birth of Shem's son to Abraham's migration to Canaan is 365 years, mirroring Enoch's life-span of 365 years, the number of days in a year.

AM 2236	Entrance into Egypt	The period between Abraham's call to enter Canaan (AM 2021) and Jacob's entry into Egypt is 215 years, calculated from the ages of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob; the period in Egypt is stated in Exodus 12:40 as 430 years, although the Septuagint and Samaritan texts both give only 430 years between Abraham and Moses, and Paul the Apostle of the New Testament agrees with them and against the Hebrew Bible.

AM 2666	Exodus	There is conflicting information on how long Israel is to spend in Egypt: Exodus 12:40 says 430 years, but Exodus 6:14–25 says this is made up of only four generations (Levi to Moses); similarly, Genesis 15:13 predicts the oppression will last 400 years, while Genesis 15:16 says Abraham's descendants will return in the fourth generation—the alternatives cannot be matched exactly, but the number 4 seems to play a central role in all of them.

AM 3146	Solomon's temple	The period from the foundation of the Temple in Solomon's fourth year to its destruction is 430 years, found by adding the reigns of the kings of the United Kingdom and of Judah from the fourth year of Solomon.

AM 3576	Exile	The period from the destruction of the Temple (AM 3576) to the "Decree of Cyrus" and the end of the Exile (AM 3626) is 50 years, which, added to the 430 years for which the Temple stood, produces another symmetrical period of 480 years.

AM 3626	Edict of Cyrus	Scholars have established that the exile lasted approximately fifty years, but the Book of Jeremiah puts it at 70 years, "clearly on ideological grounds" (the number 7 symbolises divine perfection, 10 symbolises fullness, and 7x10 gives 70 years).

AM 4000 (164 BCE)	Rededication of the Temple	The final period is the 374 years between the Edict of Cyrus (538 BCE) and the re-dedication of the Temple by the Maccabees (164 BCE).

Sentence(s)

Biblical texts embodies an overall scheme of 4,000 years taking the re-dedication of the Temple by the Maccabees in 164 BCE as its end-point.

final_sentence: Biblical texts embodies an overall scheme of 4,000 years taking the re-dedication of the Temple by the Maccabees in 164 BCE as its end-point.