Prof. Dr. Larry AdamsAcademic, Author & Researcher

Appendix A: A Timeline of the Bible’s History

DateEvent
c. 15th–13th century BCMoses; the giving of the Law (dating debated)
c. 1000 BCDavid and the Psalms
586 BCFall of Jerusalem; the exile
c. 538–444 BCReturn from exile; Ezra and Nehemiah
c. 400 BCClose of the Old Testament writings
3rd century BCBeginning of the Septuagint at Alexandria
167 BCMaccabean revolt
c. 125 BCGreat Isaiah Scroll (Qumran)
c. AD 30Death and resurrection of Christ; Pentecost
c. AD 50Earliest letters of Paul
c. AD 95Revelation written
c. AD 125Papyrus P52 (John)
c. AD 140Marcion’s shortened canon
c. AD 170–180Diatessaron; Muratorian Fragment; Irenaeus on the four Gospels
AD 303–305Diocletian’s persecution and order to surrender the books
AD 325Council of Nicaea (no canon list)
AD 367Athanasius’s Festal Letter lists the 27 books
AD 382–405Jerome produces the Vulgate
AD 393 and 397Synod of Hippo and Third Council of Carthage
c. AD 930 and 1008Aleppo Codex and Leningrad Codex
c. 1382Wycliffe Bible
c. 1455Gutenberg Bible
1516Erasmus’s Greek New Testament
1522Luther’s German New Testament
1526Tyndale’s English New Testament
1535Coverdale Bible
1536Tyndale martyred
1539The Great Bible
1546Council of Trent on the canon and the Vulgate
1560Geneva Bible
1604Hampton Court Conference
1611King James Version
1769Standard Oxford text of the KJV
1804British and Foreign Bible Society founded
1844 and 1859Tischendorf finds Codex Sinaiticus
1881Westcott and Hort’s Greek New Testament; Revised Version (NT)
1942Wycliffe Bible Translators founded
1947Dead Sea Scrolls discovered