John P Meier A Marginal Jew Doubleday 1991 vol 1 407 Jesus of Nazareth was born most likely in Nazareth not Bethlehem ca 7 or 6 B C a few years before the death of King Herod the Great 4 B C He was dead by the evening of Friday April 7 30 He was about thirty six years old p 406 We have seen that it is likely that Jesus began his ministry in A D 28 and died on Friday April 7 20 p 229 During the reign of King Herod the Great and if Matthew is to be believed toward the end of his reign therefore somewhere between 7 4 B C a Jew named Yeshia Jesus was born perhaps in Bethlehem of Judea but more likely in Nazareth of Galilee at any rate in a small town somewhere within the confines of Herod s kingdom p 375 This helps set vague limits for Jesus lifea as a whole he was not born after 4 B C his ministry took place around the late twenties or early thirties A D and he was crucified somewhere between A D 28 and 33