Chronology of the End of the Monarchy, Exilic, Post-Exilic, and Intertestamental Periods

by Dr. Ralph F. Wilson

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Events Affecting Israel

Approx. Dates

World Rulers

Bible Books
  Tiglath Pileser III (745-727 BC), King of Assyria 2 Kg, 2 Chron, Isaiah
Hosea
Fall of Samaria, end of Northern kingdom) 722 BC Shalmanezer V (727-722) 2 Kg, 2 Chron, Isaiah, Micah
Hezekiah (716/715-687 BC)   Sargon II (722-705)
Sennacherib invades Palestine, threatens Jerusalem 701 BC Sennacherib (705-681 BC)
Hezekiah's sickness ca. 700 BC
Manasseh (687-642 BC), wicked king   Esarhaddon (681-669 BC) 2 Kg, 2 Chron, Nahum
Amon (642-640 BC), assisinated by his servants   Ashurbanipal (669-ca. 627 BC), last great king of Assyria)
Josiah (640-609 BC), "the boy king," a good king, brought many religious reforms, finally killed by Pharoah Neco II   Nabopolassar (626-605 BC), first great king of Babylonia 2 Kg, 2 Chron, Ezekiel, Jeremiah Zephaniah, Habakkuk
Fall of Nineveh, end of Assyrian dominance, beginning of Babylonian dominance 612 BC
Jehoiakim (609-598 BC), installed by Pharoah Neco II)   2 Kg, 2 Chron, Ezekiel, Jeremiah, Daniel
Battle of Carchemish, Babylonians defeat Egyptian army, end of Egyptian dominance. Daniel and others carried captive to Babylon. 605 BC Nebuchadrezzar II (605-562 BC, referred to in the Bible as Nebuchadnezzar), king of Babylonia
Jehoiakin (598-597)  
Jerusalem sacked, Jehoiakin deposed, first deportation 597 BC
Zedekiah (597-587 BC)  
Jerusalm destroyed, second deportation, end of Southern kingdom. 587 BC
Third and final deportation (Jeremiah 52:28-30) 582 BC
Jehoiachin freed from prison   Evil-Merodach (562-560 BC) Daniel
  Nabonidus  (556-539 BC),  as the last of the Neo-Babylonian kings
His son Belshazzar served as co-regent with him (c. 553-539 BC)
Fall of Babylon 339 BC Cyrus, King of Persia (539-530 BC)

Daniel's Prayer of Confession

539 BC

Cyrus' Edict

538 BC

Ezra

First return under Sheshbazzar (Ezra 1:1), about 50,000 returned

ca. 538 BC.

Construction of the Second Temple begun (Ezra 3:8)

ca. 536/37 BC

 

 Cambyses (530-522 BC)

Temple construction resumed (Ezra 4:24)

520 BC

 Darius I Hystaspes (521-486 BC)

Ezra, Haggai, Zechariah

Temple completed (Ezra 6:15)

516 BC

  

Ezra
Esther is Queen of Persia at Susa

ca. 470 BC

 Xerxes (Ahasuerus) (486-465/4 BC) Esther

Ezra and the second group of returnees go to Jerusalem

458 BC

 Artaxerxes I, Longimanus (464-423 BC)

Ezra
Fortification of Jerusalem stopped (Ezra 4:7-23)

before 445 BC
Nehemiah comes to Jerusalem and restores the walls

445 BC

 Nehemiah

Malachi prophesies

420 BC

 Darius II, Nothus (423-404 BC) and later Persian kings

Malachi

 

 

 Philip II of Macedon and Alexander the Great, rise of Macedonians and Greeks (359-323 BC)

 
Ptolemy and Seleucid rule by Greeks (320-142 BC)

Antiochus forced hellenization, builds altar to Olympian Zeus on the temple mount

 

 Antiochus IV Epiphanes (Syrian king) (175-168 BC)

1 Maccabees

Maccabean revolt under Judas, Jonathan, and Simon Maccabeus frees Israel and establishes monarchy

168-135 BC

  

1-2 Maccabees
John Hyrcanus as high priest and virtual king

134-104 BC

    
Antipater, Herod the Great, etc.

63 BC and later

 Roman domination begins under Pompey. See Flavius Josephus, Jewish Antiquities and Jewish War for more information on these periods.  

Based on chronologies in John N. Oswalt, "Chronology of the Old Testament," ISBE 1:673-685 and Roy A. Stewart and Robert J. Wyatt, "Intertestamental Period," ISBE 2:874-878.

Great Prayers of the Bible

Copyright © 2025, Ralph F. Wilson. <pastor@joyfulheart.com> All rights reserved. A single copy of this article is free. Do not put this on a website. See legal, copyright, and reprint information.

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