Read as a chapter
For an older reader — or for a household that would rather read the whole timeline as one connected essay — the same story is written below as a running chapter of twelve movements. Both cover the same ground; use whichever fits your family better.
1. Creation and the fall — 'in the beginning' (Genesis 1–11)
God creates the heavens and the earth in six days and rests on the seventh. He makes man and woman in his image. They fall. Cain kills Abel. Noah is preserved through the flood. The peoples are scattered at Babel. All of this is prologue — the great backdrop before the story of one family begins.
2. The patriarchs — Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph (Genesis 12–50, c. 2000–1700 BC)
God calls Abraham out of Ur and promises: 'in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed' (Gen 12:3). Isaac is born; Jacob is renamed Israel; Jacob's twelve sons become the twelve tribes. Joseph goes down into Egypt. The family follows.
3. Slavery, exodus, wilderness (Exodus – Deuteronomy, c. 1450 BC)
Four hundred years pass. Israel becomes a nation in Egypt — and a nation of slaves. God raises up Moses. Ten plagues. Passover. The Red Sea. Sinai and the Ten Commandments. Forty years in the wilderness. Moses dies on Mount Nebo in sight of the promised land.
4. Conquest and judges (Joshua – Ruth, c. 1400–1050 BC)
Joshua leads Israel across the Jordan into the land. The walls of Jericho fall. The land is divided among the tribes. For three centuries Israel is ruled by judges — Deborah, Gideon, Samson, Samuel — as the people wander in and out of faithfulness.
5. The kings — united and divided (1 Samuel – 2 Chronicles, c. 1050–586 BC)
Saul is anointed. David succeeds him and takes Jerusalem. Solomon builds the temple. After Solomon the kingdom splits: the ten northern tribes (Israel, capital Samaria) and the two southern tribes (Judah, capital Jerusalem). Prophets — Elijah, Elisha, Isaiah, Jeremiah — speak to both kingdoms. Assyria destroys the north in 722 BC. Babylon destroys the south and burns the temple in 586 BC.
6. Exile in Babylon (Daniel, Ezekiel, c. 586–538 BC)
The people of Judah are carried away to Babylon. Daniel serves in the court. Ezekiel prophesies in the camps by the river Chebar. The temple lies in ruins for seventy years.
7. Return and rebuilding (Ezra, Nehemiah, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi, c. 538–430 BC)
Cyrus of Persia lets the Jews go home. They rebuild the altar, then the temple (under Zerubbabel and Joshua), then the wall of Jerusalem (under Nehemiah). Ezra reads the law aloud to the people. Malachi is the last prophet.
8. The four hundred silent years (c. 430 BC – birth of Christ)
No new Scripture. Persia falls to Alexander the Great; the Greeks are succeeded by the Ptolemies and Seleucids; the Maccabees revolt; Rome comes. The temple is standing. The Jewish nation is waiting for the promised Messiah.
9. The Word made flesh (the four Gospels, c. 4 BC – AD 30)
In Bethlehem, a baby. In Nazareth, a carpenter. In Galilee, a preacher and healer. On a Roman cross outside Jerusalem, the atonement. From an empty tomb, the resurrection. In an upper room, the promise of the Spirit.
10. The Church spreads (Acts, c. AD 30–62)
The Holy Spirit is poured out at Pentecost. Peter preaches. Stephen is stoned. Paul is converted on the Damascus road. The Gospel goes from Jerusalem to Judea, to Samaria, to Antioch, to Ephesus, to Corinth, to Rome — 'unto the uttermost part of the earth' (Acts 1:8).
11. Letters to the churches (Romans – Jude, c. AD 50–95)
Paul writes thirteen letters. Peter, John, James, and Jude write more. The Church learns how to live — how to love, how to suffer, how to worship, how to wait.
12. Revelation (Revelation, c. AD 95)
John, exiled on Patmos, sees the risen Christ, the seven churches, the throne room of heaven, and the new Jerusalem coming down from God — 'and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes' (Rev 21:4). Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus.
