Abraham to Joseph
Gen 12:3 (KJV)lived seventy years, and begat Abram, Nahor, and Haran;
the days of Terah were two hundred and five years: and Terah died in Haran, and only then did Abram, 75 years old, leave for Canaan (Acts 7:4)
an hundred threescore and fifteen years; he dies when Isaac is 75 and Jacob and Esau are 15, and Isaac and Ishmael bury him in the cave of Machpelah
in Ur of the Chaldees; Terah takes Abram, Sarai and Lot
to go into the land of Canaan; and they came unto Haran, and dwelt there. The God of glory had appeared to Abraham
when he was in Mesopotamia, before he dwelt in Charran
Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred;
Abram was seventy and five years old when he departed out of Haran, and Lot went with him
believed in the Lord; and he counted it to him for righteousness; his seed shall be
a stranger in a land that is not theirs, for
four hundred years, and
in the fourth generation they shall come hither again
after Abram had dwelt ten years in the land of Canaan;
Abram was fourscore and six years old, when Hagar bare Ishmael to Abram
Abram was ninety years old and ninewhen the LORD makes his covenant, changes his name to Abraham and orders circumcision; Ishmael is 13, and Isaac is promised
at this set time in the next year
according to the time of life; then
the Lord rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the Lord out of heaven, and Lot escapes to Zoar. It falls between Abraham 99 and Isaac’s birth at Abraham 100
Abraham was an hundred years old, when his son Isaac was born unto him
The days of Isaac were an hundred and fourscore years; he dies when Jacob is 120 and Joseph 29, and his sons Esau and Jacob bury him
Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; the angel of the LORD stops Abraham, and
a ram caught in a thicket by his hornsis offered instead
an hundred and seven and twenty years oldwhen she died at Hebron; Abraham buys the field and cave of Machpelah from Ephron the Hittite. Isaac is 37
Isaac was forty years old when he took Rebekah to wife; Abraham is 140, and Isaac is
comforted after his mother's death
Isaac was threescore years old when she bare them, twenty years after his marriage; Esau is born first and Jacob takes hold of his heel. Abraham is 160
The whole age of Jacob was an hundred forty and seven years: 130 before he comes to Pharaoh and
seventeen yearsin Egypt
Esau was forty years old when he took to wife Judith the daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and Bashemath the daughter of Elon the Hittite; they were
a grief of mind unto Isaac and to Rebekah. Isaac is 100
a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven. Isaac is 137
I served thee fourteen years for thy two daughters, and six years for thy cattle; Joseph is born when the fourteen years are over
Joseph lived an hundred and ten years, and saw
Ephraim's children of the third generation
Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel; he meets Esau. Joseph is 6
Joseph, being seventeen years oldis sold
for twenty pieces of silverto the Ishmeelites, who bring him into Egypt, where Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh, buys him. Jacob is 108
two full yearsafter interpreting the dreams of two of Pharaoh’s servants
Joseph was thirty years old when he stood before Pharaoh king of Egypt, who sets him
over all the land of Egypt. Jacob is 121
corn as the sand of the sea; his sons Manasseh and Ephraim are born
before the years of famine came
The seven years of dearth began to come, according as Joseph had said, and
all countries came into Egypt to Joseph for to buy corn
fear not to go down into Egypt; Jacob tells Pharaoh
The days of the years of my pilgrimage are an hundred and thirty years, and Joseph settles his family
in the land of Rameses. Joseph is 39
These two years hath the famine been in the land: and yet there are five years, Joseph tells his brothers; he is 39 (30 + 7 + 2). Jacob is 130
lived in the land of Egypt seventeen years; he takes Ephraim and Manasseh as his own, blesses
the twelve tribes of Israeland dies; Joseph, 56, has him buried in the cave of Machpelah
So Joseph died, being an hundred and ten years old; he made Israel swear
ye shall carry up my bones from hence. He dies 54 years after Jacob
How the dates were worked out
The Bible gives the ages of Abraham and Isaac when their sons were born, Jacob’s age (130) when he stood before Pharaoh, and how long each of the three lived, but no BC year. The BC years on this chart are worked out from the Exodus, which this series dates to 1446 BC from 1 Kings 6:1. The Hebrew text of Exodus 12:40–41 puts 430 years between Israel’s coming to Egypt and the Exodus, so Jacob, 130 years old (Genesis 47:9), came down to Egypt in 1876 BC. Counting back, Jacob was born in 2006 BC, when Isaac was 60 (Genesis 25:26), Isaac in 2066 BC, when Abraham was 100 (Genesis 21:5), and Abraham in 2166 BC. Every other date follows from the ages in Genesis, counted from Abraham’s birth. Ages are whole years, so each date is approximate (c.). Where Genesis gives no age, the chart shows only the years between which the event must fall. Ussher’s dates, which count the 430 years from Abraham’s call and put the Exodus in 1491 BC, are 170 years later and stand in the thin italic row under the axis. One chronology for the whole series: the Bible's own numbers with the main ancient records. "c." = about; a range (e.g. 6–4 BC) = some time in that range.
Notes
1Scripture gives ages, not BC years. These dates count back from the Exodus (1446 BC) through 430 years in Egypt, then Jacob 130, Isaac 60 and Abraham 100.
2The thin row is Ussher’s: his Abraham was born in 1996 BC, 170 years after 2166 BC, because he counts the 430 years from Abraham’s call and dates the Exodus 45 years earlier.
3Terah was 70 when his sons began to be born (Gen 11:26), but he died at 205 and Abram left Haran at 75 only after that (Acts 7:4), so Abram was born when Terah was 130.
4Genesis 12:5–15:21 gives no date of its own. Hagar was given to Abram after Abram had dwelt ten years in the land of Canaan
(Gen 16:3), so it falls between Abram 75 (Gen 12:4) and 85.
5Gen 15:13 and Acts 7:6 say four hundred years
, but Exod 12:40 says 430. The dates on this chart use the 430.
6Genesis gives no age for Isaac on Moriah; he is the lad
(Gen 22:5, 12). The chapter stands after his birth (Gen 21) and before Sarah’s death (Gen 23), so the chart shows that whole range.
7Abraham calls himself an hundred years old
and Sarah ninety years old
(Gen 17:17), so she was ten years younger. She died at 127, when Abraham was 137 and Isaac 37.
8Gen 35:28–29 tells of Isaac’s death before Joseph is sold (Gen 37), but the ages put it later. Isaac was 168 when Joseph, 17, was sold (Jacob 108); he died at 180, 12 years after.
9Genesis does not give Jacob’s age when he left home. Joseph was born at the end of the 14 years’ service for Leah and Rachel, when Jacob was 91, so Jacob came to Laban at 77.
Key
dashed = reconstructed date (scholars differ). Certainty: A Stated in Scripture · B Worked out from Scripture · C Ancient record or astronomy · D Scholarly reconstruction · E Tradition / uncertain — scholars differ.
Scripture quotations: King James Version (KJV)