A Bible timeline for kids

Children rarely ask what year a story happened. They ask what came before it and what came next. This page lays the 28 stories on this site along one line, era by era, with a handful of landmarks in between so the gaps do not look empty.

By Hannah Whitford, Childhood Bible Stories · Last updated September 2026 · Data as of August 2025

Beginnings

1. about 4004 BCCreation

   God creates the world in six days: light, sky, land, creatures, and finally people made in His image. Everything is good.

   Genesis 1–2

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2. about 4004 BCAdam and Eve

   God places the first man and woman in a beautiful garden. One sad choice changes everything. But God's love never stops.

   Genesis 2–3

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3. about 2468 BCNoah's Ark

   God asks Noah to build a massive ark and fill it with animals before a great flood. A rainbow seals God's promise.

   Genesis 6–9

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4. about 2245 BCTower of BabelBetween the stories

The families God chose

1. about 1920 BCAbraham and the Promise

   God calls Abraham to leave everything and follow Him, promising to make him the father of a great nation.

   Genesis 12–21

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2. about 1753 BCLeah

   Leah feels overlooked next to her sister Rachel. But God sees her, loves her, and gives her a family of her own.

   Genesis 29–35

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3. about 1753 BCRachel

   Jacob loves Rachel and works seven years to marry her. It is a story about love, patience, and waiting on God's timing.

   Genesis 29–35

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4. about 1739 BCJoseph and His Brothers

   Joseph's brothers sell him away out of jealousy, but God stays with him and turns the worst day into a rescue for the whole family.

   Genesis 37–45

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Egypt and the wilderness

1. about 1572 BCBaby Moses

   A Hebrew mother places her baby in a basket on the river to protect him. God watches over Moses from the very start.

   Exodus 2:1–10

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2. about 1491 BCCrossing the Red Sea

   Trapped between the sea and Pharaoh's army, God's people watch Him open a dry path straight through the water.

   Exodus 13–15

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3. about 1490 BCTen Commandments GivenBetween the stories

Judges and kings

1. about 1308 BCRuth and Boaz

   A loyal young widow will not leave the mother-in-law she loves. Her kindness and hard work quietly lead to the family of King David.

   Ruth 1–4

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2. about 1155 BCSamson and Delilah

   God gives Samson astonishing strength, but Samson gives away the secret behind it. Even after his mistake, God hears his final prayer.

   Judges 13–16

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3. about 1094 BCReign of SaulBetween the stories
4. about 1063 BCDavid and Goliath

   A young shepherd boy faces a terrifying giant and wins, not through size or weapons, but through faith in God.

   1 Samuel 17

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5. about 1063 BCDavid and Jonathan

   Jonathan, the king's son, protects his friend David, one of Scripture's greatest pictures of loyal friendship.

   1 Samuel 18–20

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6. about 1011 BCConstruction of Solomon's TempleBetween the stories
7. about 974 BCNorthern Kingdom (Israel)Between the stories

A divided kingdom and exile

1. about 862 BCJonah and the Whale

   Jonah runs from God, ends up inside a great fish, and learns that God's patience leads to second chances.

   Jonah 1–4

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2. about 758 BCProphecies of IsaiahBetween the stories
3. about 538 BCDaniel and the Lions' Den

   Daniel refuses to stop praying even when the law forbids it. God protects him through a night in a lions' den.

   Daniel 6

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The life of Jesus

1. about 4 BCThe Birth of Jesus

   God becomes a baby in a manger in Bethlehem. Shepherds hear the news first, and wise men travel far to find Him.

   Luke 2 and Matthew 1–2

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2. about 4 BCBirth of John the BaptistBetween the stories
3. about AD 30Peter preaches at PentecostBetween the stories
4. about AD 32Jesus Feeds 5,000 People

   A boy shares his small lunch (five loaves and two fish), and Jesus multiplies it to feed thousands.

   John 6

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5. about AD 32The Good Samaritan

   A hurt traveler is passed by twice. Then an unexpected stranger stops, bandages his wounds, and pays for his care.

   Luke 10:25–37

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6. about AD 32Martha and Mary

   Martha works hard to serve Jesus while Mary sits and listens. Jesus gently shows Martha what matters most.

   Luke 10:38–42

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7. about AD 33The Lost Sheep

   A shepherd leaves 99 sheep to search for the one that went missing, a picture of how God pursues every person.

   Luke 15:3–7

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8. about AD 33The Prodigal Son

   A son takes his inheritance and leaves home. He learns his father has been watching the road, ready to run to him, all along.

   Luke 15:11–32

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9. about AD 33Jesus Heals Ten Lepers

   Ten people are healed of a terrible disease. Only one comes back to thank Jesus. And Jesus notices.

   Luke 17:11–19

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10. about AD 33Palm Sunday

    Jesus enters Jerusalem on a donkey while crowds wave palm branches and shout 'Hosanna!' to welcome their king.

    Matthew 21 and Luke 19

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11. about AD 33Easter: Death and Resurrection

    Jesus is crucified and buried. Three days later He rises from the dead. The most important story of all.

    Matthew 27–28 and Luke 24

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What we know about one story on the line

The same who, where and when sits behind every entry above. Here is how it looks for a single story.

People, places and years are drawn from Theographic Bible Metadata. The dot maps are rough positions only, with no scale and no borders: ancient sites are located approximately and several are still argued over.

Read them in the same order

The starter pack turns this line into something a child can hold: a reading plan with a box beside every story, plus coloring pages and verse cards. All free, all printable at home.

Their place on the line

Somewhere on that line, a child hears their own name.

Little Prayers is our bedtime prayer book, starring your child. Build their look once and they appear in all ten prayer spreads, with their name on the cover. Hardcover $49.99, softcover $39.99.

See their book →

Questions about the Bible timeline

• How old is the Bible timeline?

  The traditional reckoning used on this page starts at about 4004 BC and runs to the first years of the church, so a little over four thousand years. That start date comes from adding up the ages and reigns recorded in Scripture, which is how the traditional chronology was built. Many Christians read those early chapters differently and do not treat 4004 BC as a calendar date.

• Are these dates certain?

  No, and the page says so beside every one of them. The dates here come from the traditional chronology, which is a careful reading of the numbers Scripture gives. Historians and archaeologists date several of these events differently, and the further back a date sits, the wider the disagreement. Use the order, which is well attested, and hold the years loosely.

• What order did the events of the Bible happen in?

  Broadly: beginnings, the families God chose, Egypt and the wilderness, judges and kings, a divided kingdom and exile, the years between the testaments, the life of Jesus, then the early church. That is the order this page groups the stories into, and it is not the same as the order the books sit in on a shelf.

• Why are the parables of Jesus on a timeline?

  They are placed at the moment Jesus told them, not at the moment the events inside them happened, because the events inside a parable are a story he made up to make a point. So the Prodigal Son sits in the same year as the other teaching he gave that season.

• Is there a printable version of this timeline?

  Not yet as a wall chart. The reading plan on our printables page covers the same stories in the same order with a tick box beside each one, which is what most families are after when they ask.

Methodology and sources

Each story on this site cites a passage. We take that passage, collect the verses inside it, and read off the years, people and places that Theographic has tagged there. The era headings are our own grouping of those years, chosen to match the reading order this site already teaches.

• Years, people, places and landmark events

  Theographic Bible Metadata (Robert Rouse). View the source.

  Licence: CC BY-SA 4.0 · Source file dated August 2025 · Pulled September 2026

  Theographic follows the traditional chronology, so every year here is labelled traditional dating. Where a passage spans years, the entry uses the first. Landmark events are a short hand-picked list of well known moments between our stories; their titles and years are Theographic's, unchanged.

• Coordinates for the dot maps

  OpenBible.info Bible Geocoding, with Theographic Bible Metadata as fallback. View the source.

  Licence: CC BY 4.0 (OpenBible.info). Fallback rows are CC BY-SA 4.0 (Theographic Bible Metadata). · Source file dated August 2026 · Pulled September 2026

  Only the places our stories name are kept. Positions are approximate and a handful are disputed, which is why the maps carry no scale and no borders.

Story titles and summaries are our own. The reading plan covers the same stories in the same order.

By Hannah Whitford, Childhood Bible Stories · Last updated September 2026 · Data as of August 2026

A timeline is easier to hold once you have read the stories.

Twenty three gentle retellings in the order they happened, free to read tonight, one at a time.