The Captivity to the
end of the Old Testament
Period of about 200 years
* * * * *
PROPHETS JEWISH EVENTS DATE B.C. CONTEMPORARY
HISTORY
Jer. 36-39, 46 First captivity (Daniel, 605 Battle of Carchemish
et al.)
Jer. 39:1-10 Second captivity 597
2 Kin. 25:1-21 (Jerusalem captured)
Jer. 43-44 Third captivity 586 Nebuchadnezzar
(temple destroyed) beseiges Tyre
Ezek. 17-21 Last of Ezekiel's 571 Evil Merodach,
prophecies Babylon, 562
2 Kin. 25:28 Jehoiachin released 562 Temple of Diana,
Ephesus, 552 (?)
Public library at
Athens, 544
Babylon taken by
Cyrus, 539
Dan. 5 Belshazzar's feast 539 First year of Cyrus, 538
Dan. 6 Daniel in den of lions 538 Pythagoras, 582-507
2 Chr. 36:22,23 The decree for the return 538
Ezra 1:1 End of first reckoning of Pisistratus, Athens, 605-527
70 years
Ezra 1:5-2:70 First return 538 Nabonidus, Babylon, 556
50,000 under Zerubbabel
Ezra 3-6 Temple foundation laid 537-6 Darius in Babylon, 521
Long delay
Ezra 4:24 Temple building resumes 520 Roman Republic, 510
Ezra 6:15 Temple dedicated 516 Marathon, 490
End of Second Reckoning 516 Xerxes I (Ahasuerus),
of 70 years 486-465/64
Invasion of Greece, 480
Esther 1 Feast of Ahasuerus 483 Herodotus Sophocles
(Xerxes I)
Esther 2 Esther becomes queen 479
Esther 3-7 Haman's plot 474 First decemvirate, Rome, 451
Socrates 470
Ezra 7:1, 8, 9 Second return under Ezra 458 Pericles, Athens, 444
Neh. 2:1 Return under Nehemiah 445 Parthenon, Athens, 443-438
Neh. 6:15 Wall of Jerusalem 444 Peloponnesian War, 431-404
Plato, 427
Neh. 10 Reforms Xenophon's retreat, 401
Death of Nehemiah 400
NOTE: The 70 years of exile prophesied by
Jeremiah begin with the destruction of the
temple in 586, and end with the second temple completed in 516.
The Time of the Kings | Chronology of the Bible |Jewish Calendar