chronological study bible introduction

8/16/2019 Chronological Study Bible Introduction

1/18

The ChronologicalS T U D Y B I B L E

NE W K IN G JA M E S V E RS I O N®

www.ThomasNelson.com

http://www.thomasnelson.com/http://www.thomasnelson.com/


2/18

The Chronological Study BibleCopyright © 2008 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.

Portions formerly published as The Life and Times Historical Reference Bible,copyright © 1997 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.

Holy Bible, New King James Version, copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.

The text of the New King James Version® (NKJV® ) may be quoted or reprinted withoutprior written permission with the following qualifications: (1) up to and including 1,000verses may be quoted in printed form as long as the verses quoted amount to less than50% of a complete book of the Bible and make up less than 50% of the total work inwhich they are quoted; (2) all NKJV quotations must conform accurately to the NKJV text.

Any use of the NKJV text must include a proper acknowledgement as follows:Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by ThomasNelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

However, when quotations from the NKJV text are used in church bulletins, orders of service, Sunday school lessons, church newsletters, and similar works in the course of religious instruction or services at a place of worship or other religious assembly, thefollowing notice may be used at the end of each quotation: NKJV.For quotation requests not covered by the above guidelines, write to Thomas Nelson, Inc.,Attention: Bible Rights and Permissions, P.O. Box 141000, Nashville, TN 37214-1000.

For credits and permissions for images used see pp. 1671-1672.

Design & Typesetting:Koechel Peterson & Associates, Inc.

Minneapolis, MN 55406www.koechelpeterson.com

All rights reservedPrinted in the United States of America1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 – 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 09 08

http://www.koechelpeterson.com/http://www.koechelpeterson.com/


3/18

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . viContributors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ixIntroduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . x

Reading Theological History . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xiiRearranging the Bible’s Canonical Order . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xiiiNew King James Version . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xix

EPOCH 1 Before the Patriarchs (Creation–2000 B.C.) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1The Beginnings of Human Civilization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

EPOCH 2 The Patriarchs, Israel’s Ancestors (2000–1500 B.C.) . . . . . . . . . . 18The Changing of the Empires . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19Egypt in the Middle Bronze Age . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51

EPOCH 3 The Rise of a Unified People (1500–1200 B.C.) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69Egypt and the Exodus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70

The Conquest of Canaan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 229

EPOCH 4 From Tribes to a Nation (1200–930 B.C.) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 257A Tribal Confederation in Israel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 258The United Monarchy in Israel. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 300

EPOCH 5 The Fall of Two Nations (930–586 B.C.) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 515The Divided Monarchy in Israel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 517The Neo-Assyrian Empire . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 576The Neo-Babylonian Empire . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 688

EPOCH 6 Exile and Return (586–332 B.C.). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 839

Exile in Babylon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 841Wisdom in the Ancient Near East . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 895The Persian Empire . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 940

EPOCH 7 Between the Two Testaments (332–37 B.C.) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1057The Greek Empire . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1059The Roman Empire. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1073

EPOCH 8 The Coming of the Messiah (37 B.C.– A.D. 30) . . . . . . . . . . . . 1076Introductions to Jesus Christ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1078Early Lives of John the Baptist and Jesus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1079Beginning of Jesus’ Ministry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1089The Galilean Ministry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1096

From Galilee to Jerusalem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1158 Jesus’ Final Journey . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1165Final Ministry in Judea . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1183 Jesus’ Final Week in Jerusalem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1195

EPOCH 9 The Church Age ( A.D. 30–100). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1249The Gospel to the Jews. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1251The Gospel to the Gentiles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1263The Gospel to the Gentile World . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1272The Gospel from Jerusalem to Rome . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1344Apocalyptic Writings and the End Time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1408

Cultural and Historical Topics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1431Glossary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1449Concordance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1469Index of Scripture Passages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1665Daily Reading Plans . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1671


4/18

Epoch 1Egypt’s First Dynasties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12The Millenniums . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

Epoch 2Dating Abraham From the Exodus . . . . . . . . 34Egypt and the Middle Kingdom . . . . . . . . . 41The Old Babylonian Period . . . . . . . . . . . . 53

Epoch 3Egypt and the New Kingdom . . . . . . . . . . . 75Two Dates for the Exodus . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86Israel’s Annual Feasts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139Israel’s Sacred Times . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181Law Codes of Ancient Mesopotamia . . . . . . 202The Literature of Ugarit . . . . . . . . . . . . . 252

Epoch 4The Cycles of t he Judges (Part 1) . . . . . . . . 266The Cycles of t he Judges (Part 2) . . . . . . . . 275Kingdoms of Syria and Palestine . . . . . . . . 356Absalom’s Crime and Rise to Power . . . . . . 383Solomon the Builder. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 508

Epoch 5Rehoboam and Jeroboam Divide

the Kingdom. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 520Asa and Baasha Fight Over Ramah . . . . . . 529Omri Begins a New Dynasty . . . . . . . . . . . 530

Jehoshaphat and Ahab Form an Alliance . . . 534Brothers, In-Laws, Uncles, and Nephews. . . . 545Attacks on Judah’s Royal Family . . . . . . . . 561Hazael Attacks Judah and Israel. . . . . . . . . 566Israel Is Victorious Over Judah . . . . . . . . . 572

Coregencies, Long Reigns, and Prosperity . . . 575Assassinations in Israel. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 610An Officer Assassinates the King . . . . . . . . 611Assyria Comes to Judah and Israel . . . . . . . 617 Judah After Israel’s Fall. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 638An Idolatrous King in Judah . . . . . . . . . . . 675 Josiah Pursues Reform in Judah . . . . . . . . . 705The Sons of Josiah Rule on Judah. . . . . . . . 739Deportations from Jerusalem to Babylon . . . . 741

Jeremiah’s Call and Ministry . . . . . . . . . . . 782The Last Kings of Judah . . . . . . . . . . . . . 810

Epoch 6Dates in the Book of Ezekiel . . . . . . . . . . . 853The Dates of Haggai and Zechariah . . . . . . 952The Ministries of Ezra and Nehemiah . . . . . 991

The Persian Kings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1011

Epoch 7The 70 Years of Jeremiah . . . . . . . . . . . . 1066

Epoch 8Luke and the Career of Quirinius . . . . . . . 1095Herod and Judea Under Rome’s Augustus . . 1139The Temples of Yahweh . . . . . . . . . . . . 1189Division of Herod’s Kingdom . . . . . . . . . . 1201

Epoch 9Evidence for Dating New Testament Events . 1314

The Roman Empire Rules Palestine . . . . . . 1339Writers of the Early Church . . . . . . . . . . 1367The Persecution of the Church . . . . . . . . . 1384Quotations of Greek Literature . . . . . . . . 1387The Fate of Jerusalem. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1417

TIME CHARTS


5/18


6/18

IN-TEXT MAPS

Epoch 1The Ancient Near East After 2000 B.C. . . . . . 11

Epoch 2 Journeys of Abraham . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32Changing Empires of the Near East . . . . . . . 37 Jacob Returns to Canaan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46 Joseph Goes to Egypt. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52The Hyksos Empire . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57

Epoch 3Moses’ Flight and Return to Egypt . . . . . . . . 73The Route of the Exodus . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84The Approach to Transjordan . . . . . . . . . . 186The Conquest of Canaan

(Central and Southern Campaigns) . . . . . 237

The Conquest of Canaan(Northern Campaign) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 241Cities of Refuge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 249

Epoch 4Gideon’s Campaign . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 269The Ministry of Samuel . . . . . . . . . . . . . 297The Davidic Kingdom. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 445Solomon’s Administrative Districts . . . . . . . 468Geography in the Song of Solomon. . . . . . . 500The Spread of Solomon’s Fame . . . . . . . . . 510

Epoch 5

Assyrian Campaigns in Palestine . . . . . . . . 614Assyrian Campaign Against

Israel and Judah . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 629The Neo-Assyrian Empire . . . . . . . . . . . . 702The Neo-Babylonian Empire . . . . . . . . . . . 750Nebuchadnezzar’s Campaigns Against Judah . 799 Jeremiah’s Journey to Egypt . . . . . . . . . . . 821

Epoch 6The Persian Empire . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 973The Return from Exile . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 988Alexander’s Greek Empire . . . . . . . . . . . 1055

Epoch 7Ptolemaic Control of Palestine . . . . . . . . . 1068Seleucid Control of Palestine . . . . . . . . . . 1069Expansion of Palestine Under

the Maccabees . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1071

Epoch 8Herod’s Kingdom at Jesus’ Birth . . . . . . . . 1082The Journeys of Jesus’ Birth . . . . . . . . . . 1089

Jesus’ Baptism and Temptation . . . . . . . . 1096 Jesus’ Galilean Ministry . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1106

Last Journey to Jerusalem. . . . . . . . . . . . 1168 Jewish Pilgrimage to Jerusalem . . . . . . . . 1182Roman Control of Palestine. . . . . . . . . . . 1190The Appearances of the Risen Christ . . . . . 1244

Epoch 9The Nations of Pentecost . . . . . . . . . . . . 1255Paul Goes to Galatia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1273Paul Goes to Greece . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1277Paul on the Road to Damascus . . . . . . . . . 1278Asia and Greece Revisited . . . . . . . . . . . 1299On to Rome . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1356Regions of the Dispersion. . . . . . . . . . . . 1385

Sites of the Transfiguration . . . . . . . . . . 1389The Seven Churches of Revelation . . . . . . 1409


7/18

Timothy B. Cargal, Ph.D., served as UniversityLecturer in Philosophy and Religion at WesternKentucky University (Bowling Green, KY), and ispastor of Northwood Presbyterian Church (SilverSpring, MD). Dr. Cargal is author of Restoring the

Diaspora: Discursive Structure and Purpose in the Epistle of James.

Mark W. Chavalas, Ph.D., is Associate Professorof History at the University of Wisconsin— LaCrosse (La Crosse, WI). Dr. Chavalas is editor of

New Horizons in the Study of Ancient Syria and Emar: The History, Rel igion, and Culture of a Bronze Age Town in Syria. He has had nine seasonsof archaeological field work in Syria.

James R. Edwards, Ph.D., served as chair of theDepartment of Religion at Jamestown College(Jamestown, ND) and is Professor of Religion atWhitworth College (Spokane, WA). A specialist inNew Testament studies, Dr. Edwards contributed to

Nelson’s New Illustrated Bible Dictionary and is au-thor of Romans in The New International Biblical Commentary.

John O. Gooch, Ph.D., served as curriculum editorfor the United Methodist Church (Nashville, TN)and as Assistant Professor of Religion, Metropoli-tan College, St. Louis University. He is the only

known youth minister with a doctorate in Patristics.Dr. Gooch is coauthor of A Pocket Guide to the

Bible.

Lowell K. Handy, Ph.D., serves as Senior Lecturerin Scripture at Loyola University Chicago (Chicago,IL), and is Indexer/Analyst for the American Theo-logical Library Association (Evanston, IL). Dr. Handyis author of Among the Host of Heaven: The Syro-

Palestinian Pantheon as Bureaucracy and The Edu-cated Person’s Thumbnail Introduction to the Bible.

Craig S. Keener, Ph.D., is Visiting Professor of

Biblical Studies at Eastern Baptist TheologicalSeminary (Wynnewood, PA). Dr. Keener focuses onNew Testament background and is author of The

IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testa-ment, as well as seven other books. He remains ac-tive in campus ministry.

David T. Landry, Ph.D., is Assistant Professor of Theology at the University of St. Thomas (St. Paul,MN). Dr. Landry is coauthor and coeditor of TheChristian Theological Tradition.

Robert Lintz, Th.D., served as Bible editor forThomas Nelson Publishers (Nashville, TN). Dr.Lintz is associate editor of The Wesley Bible, editorof The Life and Times Historical Reference Bible,and author of Shepherd’s Notes—Exodus, Ruth, Es-ther.

George Lyons, Ph.D., served as Professor of Bibli-cal Literature at Olivet Nazarene University(Kankakee, IL) and is Professor of Biblical Litera-ture at Northwest Nazarene College (Nampa, ID).

Dr. Lyons is author of Pauline Autobiography and More Holiness in Everyday Life, and is a specialistin the Gospels and Paul’s letters.

John S. Mason, Th.M., served as Professor of Biblical Studies at Daystar University College,Nairobi, Kenya, and as a missionary in Eritrea. Heis editor of the Tigrinya Grammar, and assistanteditor of the New Geneva Study Bible.

David Merling, Ph.D., is Associate Professor of Archaeology and History of Antiquity and Associ-

ate Director of the Institute of Archaeology at An-drews University (Berrien Springs, MI). Dr. Merlinghas directed archaeological digs in Jordan, and iscoeditor of Hesban After 25 Years and author of The Book of Joshua: Its Theme and Role in Archae-ological Discussions.

Gerald P. Morris, Ph.D., served as adjunct Profes-sor of Old Testament Interpretation at The South-ern Baptist Theological Seminary (Louisville, KY)and as Assistant Professor of Biblical Studies atOuachita Baptist University (Arkadelphia, AR). Dr.Morris is author of Prophecy, Poetry and Hosea.

John W. Wright, Ph.D., served as Visiting Assis-tant Professor at St. Mary’s College (Notre Dame,IN) and the University of Notre Dame and as pastorof the Winamac (IN) Church of the Nazarene. Dr.Wright contributed to The Anchor Bible Dictionaryas a specialist in Second Temple Judaism, and isAssociate Professor of Religion at Point LomaNazarene College (San Diego, CA).

CONTRIBUTORS


8/18

INTRODUCTION

The Bible was not written at one time nor by oneauthor. The books of the Old and New Testamentswere written over a period of more than 1,000 years,

and their contents cover a variety of ancient peoplesand cultures. If we are to understand and appropri-ate the Bible’s message today, we need some senseof the historical and cultural context in which its di-verse parts appeared. We read the words of theBible today under entirely different circumstancesthan those under which they were written. To ne-glect the historical and cultural background of thebiblical books is to risk misunderstanding them.

Unfortunately for modern readers, the individ-ual books of the Bible do not always provide the in-formation necessary to understand the Bible’s his-torical and cultural background. At the time thatthese books were written, readers would have al-ready been familiar with the world the writings de-scribe. But thousands of years later, the events andcustoms that the original readers would have recog-nized immediately are often confusing and onlydimly understood by modern readers.

The Chronological Study Bible will take you on a journey through the history and culture of the Bible.It will allow you to step back into biblical times anddiscover the world out of which the Bible grew. It willhelp you follow the flow of events in the Scripturesand see where sacred and secular history converge

into one story of salvation. You will learn how sacredhistory fits into the context of secular history—whyan event happened, how events relate to each other, aswell as the cultural, religious, political, and geographi-cal background that influenced the events.

Features for Historical and Cultural Learning

Several features of The Chronological Study Biblewill help you understand the history and culture of the Bible.

Chronological Bible Text The entire New King James Version text is rearranged according to the

time of the events narrated in each book or pas-sage. Every verse of the Bible is located in one of nine epochs of time.

Transition Commentary Transition Commentsexplain the placement and chronology of relatedpassages of the Bible. You will learn how differentBible passages relate to each other and how they re-late to the history of the ancient Near East and theGreco-Roman world. For instance, chapters 7 and 26of the Book of Jeremiah preserve two versions of asingle sermon. In The Chronological Study Bible,these chapters appear together under “Jeremiah’s

Temple Sermon” (p. 709), along with one of Jere-miah’s confessions that responds to the persecutionhe experienced as a result of his preaching.

Epoch Introductions An “epoch” is a period of time that is characterized by peculiar features orevents. The Chronological Study Bible will lead youthrough nine epochs, beginning with Epoch 1 (fromcreation up to Israel’s patriarchs) and finishing withEpoch 9 (the church age and the visions of the end

time). Introductions to each epoch discuss the peo-ples of that time and reveal what archaeology andthe biblical literature tell us concerning the period.

Historical Overviews The Bible story unfoldsover thousands of years. Historical Overviews pro-vide descriptions of the changing times, helping youto form a mental view of the steps along the way.You will learn the importance of happenings from“The Beginnings of Human Civilization” (p. 2) to“Apocalyptic Writings and the End Time” (p. 1408).

Background Notes At many points, the world we

read about in the Bible is related to the world out-side the Bible. Background Notes provide informa-tion on the events, the customs, the religions, the lit-erature, the politics, the places, and the personswith which the people of Bible times were familiar.For example, in “The Flood Through Other Eyes”(p. 9) you will learn of great flood stories that weretold and retold throughout the ancient Near East.

Daily Life Have you ever wondered what life wasreally like for Bible peoples? Many of their customsdiffer greatly from ours today. Daily Life insightswill acquaint you with topics such as “Cults and Su-

pernatural” and “Politics and Government.” In“Marriage and Family” (pp. 38, 59) you will see whybeing the firstborn son was a privileged position inthe ancient family.

Time Panels It is easier to grasp the passage of time when events are plotted along a time line.Time Panels treat significant topics of the Bible,such as “Paul Becomes a Missionary” (p. 1275),which shows the important occurrences of Paul’slife between his conversion and his earliest mission-ary journeys.

Time Capsules While the Bible offers some infor-mation for determining the dates of particularevents, many more events of ancient history find nomention whatsoever in Scripture. Time Capsules pro-vide dates for important episodes and occasions,grouping events inside and outside of the Biblewithin specific time periods. The list of happeningsin “Time Capsule 522 to 520 B.C.” (p. 942) and “TimeCapsule 518 to 500 B.C.” (p. 946) shows why the reignof Darius I in Persia was an opportune time for the Jews to rebuild and rededicate the Jerusalem temple.The Time Capsules appear in chronological orderthroughout The Chronological Study Bible, but no at-

tempt has been made to locate them at the exactchronological time of the Bible text. Because of un-certainties in establishing an exact date for the Biblenarratives, the Time Capsules have been placed onlywithin the approximate time period of a narrative.


9/18

Time Charts How can you organize for yourstudy the years and years of time that relate towhat you read in Scripture? Time Charts provide vi-sual overviews of important chronological topics inthe Bible. The final pages of the New Testamentwarn of Jerusalem’s demise, and “The Fate of

Jerusalem” (p. 1417) charts Jerusalem’s rocky courseof events from the temple’s desecration by Anti-ochus IV to the city being renamed Aelia Capitolinaas a Roman colony.

Maps Maps provide knowledge of the geographyof biblical times. Dozens of in-text maps appearthroughout The Chronological Study Bible showingthe Bible lands as the ancient peoples knew them.In “The Hyksos Empire” (p. 57) you will see thatduring patriarchal times foreigners ruled a regionencompassing Egypt as well as Palestine, whichwas then known as “Retenu.”

Scripture References References at the top of each page help you locate the Bible passages ap-pearing on a particular page. On each page withscripture, the first and last verse starting on thatpage are indicated.

Cultural and Historical Topics Are you inter-ested in the lives of ancient peoples? Do you want tolearn about their daily customs? The gods and god-desses they worshiped? The places where they livedand worked? The writings they read? The peoples,rulers, and nations that affected their lives? Cultural and Historical Topics (p. 1431) will help you locatesuch information in the Background Notes.

Glossary The Background Notes mention certainnames, places, and things that are unfamiliar to ustoday. The brief descriptions and explanations of these subjects in the Glossary (p. 1449) provide clari-fication when you need it.

Concordance and Index of Scripture PassagesA 195-page concordance (including people andplaces) allows you to look up passages by the wordsthey contain (p. 1469). The Index of Scripture Pas-

sages (p. 1665) follows the concordance, and pro-

vides a guide to page numbers for all of the Biblepassages in the chronological arrangement.

Reading a Chronological Text

This study Bible’s attempt to rearrange the Bibletext in the order of the events it narrates will proba-bly highlight some difficulties that many Biblereaders have never noticed. The Bible as it really is,not as we have imaginatively harmonized it in our

minds, may be a bit unsettling at first. But to recog-nize such problems will only help readers better ap-preciate the efforts of serious biblical scholars to in-terpret the Bible. One goal of The Chronological Study Bible is to help Bible readers join the scholars’quest for historical truth.

Rearranging the Bible is, of course, a falliblehuman effort. Even those who have earned ad-vanced degrees in the various fields of biblicalstudies would disagree on any particular rearrange-ment. The editors of The Chronological Study Biblehave been forced at times to make hard decisions, to

choose one location at the neglect of another that isequally plausible. In such instances, an honest ef-fort has been made to acknowledge another possi-ble arrangement and to present its case fairly. Thisallows readers to decide the issues for themselves.

In the case of debated issues The Chronologi-cal Study Bible avoids presenting a single, biasedperspective. Rather, it treats evenhandedly the en-tire spectrum of credible opinion on disputed mat-ters. It takes with equal seriousness the views of traditional, conservative Bible students and those of modern, critical scholarship. No attempt is made topersuade readers that one particular view is correct;

that determination is ultimately their prayerful andthoughtful responsibility.

Rearranging the order of the Bible’s booksmay appear to some readers to be a violation of theintegrity of the Bible. The goal of The Chronologi-cal Study Bible is not to replace the time-honoredcanonical arrangement, but instead to honor time asthe setting in which the biblical record appeared.Readers who study this Bible will return to theirtraditional Bibles better equipped to read them. Nolonger will its words be disconnected holy pro-nouncements out of the blue. They will be seen for

what they really are: words “fitly spoken ... like ap-ples of gold in settings of silver” (Prov. 25:11). Toacquire a sense of the flow of the Bible’s story willput flesh and blood on its message.

Cyrus Cylinder. Terracotta, Babylonian, ca. 539-530 B.C.From Babylon, southern Iraq

photo by Marco Prins and Jona Lendering

INTRODUCTIONxi


10/18

READING

THEOLOGICAL HISTORY

One goal of The Chronological Study Bible is to helpreaders acquire a greater appreciation for the his-

torical dimensions of the biblical message. TheBible is not a theology book arranged according totopics: God, man, sin, salvation, etc. Nor is it simplya chronicle of events from creation to the final con-summation. Historical events are often the Bible’ssubject matter, but these events are always reportedfrom a particular perspective. That perspective istheological history. It is in the arena of history thatGod has chosen to make Himself known.

History and the Old Testament

The Old Testament is centered in history. It de-scribes historical events and is addressed, at onelevel at least, to a specific historical audience: theHebrew people. This makes the faith taught in theBible very different from the beliefs of other ancientNear Eastern peoples.

The peoples surrounding the Hebrews builttheir religious beliefs on the rhythms of nature. Theworld had visible patterns, but to its inhabitantsthese rhythms were unexplainable, uncontrollable,and therefore attributed to the gods. There weregods to represent all the phenomena of nature: godsof the sun, moon, rain, storms, rivers, seas, and theearth itself. The typical religious expression of such

religion was the myth, a story that explained theseunexplainable features of nature. For instance, al-most every people had a myth of a deity who wasdead for part of the year and alive for the rest of the year—a story that explained the recurring cycleof the seasons.

The God of the Old Testament is very differ-ent. Most importantly, He is one God. All the phe-nomena that other peoples regarded as gods aresimply the creations of the one God. In the other re-ligions of the ancient Near East, nature was divine;

in the Bible, God both created nature and was morethan nature. The God of the Bible deals with Hiscreation not in recurring, regular patterns, but inone-time, extraordinary moments of self-revelation.Moreover, these moments when God acts on earthare not described in vague, mythic language (“long

ago, in the land of the gods”), but occur in real time,in recognizable locations on earth.

For this reason, the Old Testament’s primarymode of communication is not myth, but history. Is-rael was not interested in describing how God actsin continual repetition in nature; Israel wanted totell how God had performed unique, one-time ac-tions in human history. They wanted to tell how atspecific moments in history, God chose Abraham,blessed Jacob, and saved Abraham’s and Jacob’s de-scendants from slavery in Egypt. They wanted totell how God established His chosen king over Is-

rael, how God allowed that kingdom to be de-stroyed, and how once again God rescued His peo-ple from captivity. To tell their very different sort of faith, the Israelites used the art of history writing,and the Old Testament itself contains some of thevery earliest examples of this art.

Of course, not all of the Old Testament con-sists of history writing. But even the parts of theOld Testament that are not history writing them-selves usually appear in some historical context.The oracles, speeches, and poetry of the prophetsare not history, but they are addressed to real peo-ple in real historical situations. They recall God’s

mighty acts of the historical past; they promise thatGod can and will act in history again. Books of wis-dom and philosophy that do not speak of history atall, like Proverbs and Ecclesiastes, are neverthelessidentified with the historical context of KingSolomon’s court. Even the psalms, intended for reg-ular repetition in public worship, often provide ahistorical background, such as Ps. 3, superscribedas “A Psalm of David when he fled from Absalomhis son.”


11/18

Israel understood God as a God who acts inhistory, and for this reason almost every religiousutterance was read in light of the history of God’smighty acts. Therefore, to understand the Old Tes-tament as it is meant to be understood, the readermust have some grasp of the historical events that

lie behind each chapter and book. Unless the readerknows the history of Israel and the ancient NearEast, the Bible will always be to some extent aclosed book.

The New Testament and the Old

The Old Testament was the Bible of the New Testa-ment writers. Old Testament images and conceptsfilled their minds. Allusions to the Old Testamentappear on nearly every page of their writings. Theteaching of the Old Testament was basic to theirthought.

These New Testament writers also believedthat Christ was God’s final revelation, the One whobrought the earlier revelation into proper focus(Heb. 1:1, 2). Indeed, the risen Christ Himself hadexplained to His disciples how He fulfilled the Scrip-tures (Luke 24:27). Thus New Testament writers un-derstood Him to be the One who brought to comple-tion God’s plan of salvation recorded in the earlychapters of Genesis.

History writing in the New Testament is cer-tainly a theological history. The authors believed thatthe purpose and meaning of history could be foundin Christ. Therefore, the history of which they wrote

was salvation history. God’s earlier saving workslooked forward to the Cross. God’s bringing Hispeople out of Egypt became a pattern for Christ’satoning work. At the Passover meal commemorat-ing this deliverance from bondage, Christ made thebread and wine symbols of His death and of thenew covenant (Luke 22:19, 20). History had reachedits highest point in Him. So Paul, the most influen-tial teacher of Christianity, wrote about the Jesus whoappeared to him on the Damascus Road, describingthe risen Christ as the one “through whom are allthings, and through whom we live” (1 Cor. 8:6).

The Message and the Historical SettingWhile both the Old and New Testaments presenttheir message on a historical frame, the messagetakes precedence to the historical setting. The writersof biblical history did not write in the same manneras a modern historian. Ancient history writers werenot as interested in “when something happened” asthey were in the meaning of the events they wererecounting. Therefore the reader of biblical historymust be aware that many of the concerns that dom-inate modern history writing (specific dates, discus-sions of natural causes) simply were not very im-

portant to most of the biblical writers.

REARRANGING THE

BIBLE’S CANONICAL ORDER

The individual books included in the Old and NewTestaments as authoritative are called “the canon.”

For some readers, the placement of these books inour English Bibles (called “canonical order”) isslightly confusing, since it does not always followchronological order. Rather, it follows the order of the Latin Vulgate translated by Jerome in the 4thcentury A.D.

A reader can follow the Old Testament chron-ology easily for the first dozen books (Genesisthrough 2 Kings), but after that the chronologicalorder often disappears. The books of Chroniclesthrough Esther backtrack and retell many of theevents already described. Portions of the books of

Psalms and Proverbs refer to times that are cen-turies apart, and the prophetic writings, speakingof widely different times, are not presented instraight chronological order.

The New Testament reader also faces somechronological uncertainty. The life of Jesus appearsin four Gospels, and while all four Gospels reportinformation about Jesus in general chronological or-der, none do so strictly. Certain sayings or eventsappear in differing sequences in the variousGospels. Each of the authors had a slightly differ-ent purpose and audience in mind, and structuredhis materials in order to achieve the greatest effec-

tiveness. Determining the events of Paul’s life is notsimple since the information from his letters doesnot always connect directly with the narrative of the Book of Acts.

Thus the canonical order presents a dilemma.To understand the Bible the reader must under-stand something of the history to which the Biblerefers. At the same time, though, that historicalbackground is not readily apparent from the orderof the books in the Bible itself. The Chronological Study Bible makes the Bible’s historical backgroundmore accessible by rearranging the Bible text ac-cording to nine epochs of time.

Moving Whole Books. To begin with, wholebooks of the Bible are relocated according to thehistorical time period narrated in the books. Thisreordering disrupts the canonical order of thebooks, and though this might seem irreverent tosome people, it actually continues an ancient prac-tice. The order of books in the Septuagint (theGreek Old Testament) differs from that of the olderHebrew Bible, and some of the Septuagint reorder-ing is reflected in our English Old Testaments.

The early Greek translators, thinking a chrono-logical order would make more sense, moved such

books as Ruth, Ezra, and Nehemiah from their posi-tions in the Hebrew manuscripts. The Book of Ruthdoes not appear after the Book of Judges in the He-brew Bible, but near the end of the Bible. Thebooks of Ezra and Nehemiah come before the books


12/18

REARRANGING THE BIBLE’S CANONICAL ORDER x i v

of Chronicles, even though they narrate events oc-curring later in time than those narrated by Chroni-cles. When the Old Testament was translated intoGreek during the Hellenistic era (336–37 B.C.), theconfusing chronology of the Hebrew Bible waschanged by relocating several of these books. The

Book of Ruth, which tells of events during the finalyears of the judges, was inserted between thebooks of Judges and 1 Samuel, while Ezra and Ne-hemiah were placed after 2 Chronicles.

Moving Portions of Books. Chronological con-fusion is not restricted to the order of whole books,however. The contents of certain individual booksare not in chronological order, making it difficult fora modern reader to comprehend the historical con-text. So in addition to reordering whole books, eventhe contents of individual books have been re-arranged—quite extensively in books like Isaiahand Jeremiah—to follow a chronological outline.

Combining Portions of Books. Moreover, vari-ous books have been woven together. For instance,the historical books of Kings and Chronicles are of-ten interrupted by prophetic books or passages thatpertain to the time described in the history. Thefour Gospels are combined into one presentation fol-lowing the sequence of the Gospel of Mark. Certainof Paul’s letters are inserted into the Book of Acts.

Principles of Rearrangement

Rearranging the biblical books chronologically isby no means easily accomplished, since Bible schol-

ars differ on almost every important point of chronology. The rearrangement in The Chronological Study Bible is based on two distinct chronologicalgoals. First, it provides a relative chronology, plac-ing related events together without fixed dates. Forinstance, the prophet Amos spoke in the northernkingdom of Israel during the reign of Jeroboam II,and so the history of Jeroboam II is read alongsidethe words of Amos that refer to Jeroboam’s time.Second, The Chronological Study Bible provides anabsolute chronology tied to historical informationand fixed dates (or at least tentative dates). An ab-solute chronology enables readers to place the bibli-cal history in the larger context of world history.

There are imposing difficulties with any attemptto construct either relative or absolute chronologies.Many biblical passages offer no chronological speci-ficity. Even among books and passages that providesome indication of a specific historical context, theintended context is not always clear. For instance,the oracle of Jer. 14 is dated to the time of “thedroughts,” and Jeremiah’s original audience suppos-edly had no trouble identifying this time. Modernreaders, however, are not so fortunate: Were thesedroughts during the reign of King Josiah or King

Jehoiakim or King Zedekiah? Jeremiah’s propheticcareer spans the reigns of all three kings. In theBook of Joel another prophet responds to a locust

plague that ravaged the land of Judah. But whenwas that plague? Different scholars place Joel in atleast three different centuries. All one can do in se-lecting a time period for the Book of Joel is to lookat clues within the prophecy itself and then, in allhumility, guess.

Difficulties vary with the different books of theBible because those books differ from each other inthe type of chronological issues they raise. TheChronological Study Bible addresses the uniqueproblems of each portion of the Bible.

Genesis Through Joshua

The books of the Bible that narrate the earliestevents do not provide specific years or refer to spe-cific events or names that can be dated by othermeans. Even such a central figure as the individualwho was Egypt’s pharaoh during the Exodus isnever referred to by name. Moreover, the years thatare given are often suspiciously round numbers— like 40 years, which may be simply a symbolicnumber representing one generation.

Due to this lack of specific chronological infor-mation, scholars disagree widely on exactly when todate many events of early Israelite history. The He-brews’ exodus from Egypt, for example, is dated bymany scholars in the 15th century B.C., whereasother scholars place it 200 years later, during the13th century. The choice of either of these datesdoes not affect the chronological sequence of thenarrative: by either date the Exodus precedes the

conquest. So in The Chronological Study Bible bothdates are given without stating any preference. Thedates of the Exodus, wilderness wandering, and theconquest under Joshua are interrelated; consequently,the date a person favors for the Exodus determinesthe dating of the other two events.

The Exodus and Wilderness Wandering

When presenting relative chronology, the passagesof the Bible are ordered according to the historythat is narrated in the passage, not according to thetime of the book’s writing. For instance, the booksof Exodus through Deuteronomy narrate the eventsof Israel’s departure from Egypt and the subse-quent wilderness wanderings. In The Chronological Study Bible, these books appear in the historicalcontext of the Exodus, although many scholars ar-gue that parts of these books were written muchlater. Regardless of when these books were written,their narrative can be appreciated as marvelous lit-erature telling a story set in the time of the Hebrewexodus from Egypt.

Samuel, Kings, and Chronicles

The books of 1 and 2 Kings represent historical ac-

counts that were evidently put together in their cur-rent form during the Babylonian exile (597–539 B.C.).Yet, because they narrate events as far back in timeas the death of King David (about 970 B.C.), the


13/18

books of Kings are not located in The Chronological Study Bible during their time of writing (the Exile),but rather are divided up and associated with thevarious historical eras which they narrate.

The history of the Israelite kingdoms is re-counted in two full-length histories. The first is

recorded in the books of Samuel and Kings, and thesecond appears in the books of Chronicles. The twohistories are very similar; indeed, 1 and 2 Chroni-cles often quote directly from the earlier history of Samuel/Kings. Yet there are some marked differ-ences in perspective. Whereas Samuel and Kingsemphasize the religious leadership of prophets,Chronicles emphasizes the role of the priests. In or-der to present both historical accounts in their en-tirety, while staying as close as possible to chrono-logical order, the two histories alternate. Theaccount of a particular historical time appears firstas told in Samuel or Kings, being labeled “PropheticAccount.” Then the same history as told in Chroni-cles follows, being labeled “Priestly Account.” Thisdual history begins at the reign of King Saul andcontinues until the destruction of Jerusalem, atwhich time a single chronological account resumes.

The Kings of the Divided Monarchy

Israel and Judah kept careful records of the lengthsof reign of their rulers. The Bible’s dates for thekings are relative dates, cross-referencing them toeach other: for instance, Ahab became king of Is-rael in the 38th year of Asa king of Judah (1 Kin.

16:29). Since no definite year is given for the begin-ning of Asa’s reign, however, this information aloneis not enough to establish Ahab’s dates.

An additional problem occurs when the yearsof reign are totaled. When the years given for thekings of Israel and Judah are added up, Israel’s to-tals do not always correspond to Judah’s. These ap-parent inconsistencies may appear for various rea-sons. When one king dies and another is crowned, isthat year counted twice—as the last year of the de-ceased king and also as the first year of the newking? When a crown prince rules as regent while hisroyal father is still alive, as happens more than once,are the years of the coregency counted in the reignsof both kings? These questions make it difficult toutilize the years of reign in calculating an overallchronology. To provide a consistent presentation,The Chronological Study Bible adapts the system of dates for the kings found in The Mysterious Num-bers of the Hebrew Kings by Edwin R. Thiele.

In the later history of Israel, the dates aremuch more certain, though a few chronologicalproblems remain. Occasionally a biblical historianwill recount some event out of chronological order,usually to make a theological point. For instance,

the very last event described in the life of Hezekiahking of Judah is his entertaining of ambassadorsfrom Babylon (2 Kin. 20:12–19; Is. 39:1–8). Evidencefrom both inside and outside of the Bible reveals

that that event actually occurred earlier, certainlynot just before Hezekiah’s death (2 Kin. 20:21). Thebiblical historian evidently moved the account tothe end because of the prophet Isaiah’s warningabout Babylon. During Hezekiah’s reign, God haddelivered Judah from Assyria, but the historian

foreshadows a coming time when God would allow Judah to fall to Babylon. Emphasizing chronologicalorder, The Chronological Study Bible restores suchtemporal displacements to their probable chrono-logical contexts.

The Prophets

Other biblical books also concern the time coveredby the Samuel/Kings and Chronicles double history.In The Chronological Study Bible most of theprophetic books are inserted at the appropriate his-torical points in the “Prophetic Account.” Severalgroups of psalms as well as the words of thepriestly prophet Ezekiel appear within the “PriestlyAccount.” Books are inserted within the Propheticand the Priestly accounts according to the eventswhich are narrated or prophesied, not according tothe times when the books were written. The Book of Jonah, for instance, is often thought to have beencomposed some time in the Persian era (559–331B.C.), but events in the book are set in the lifetime of the prophet Jonah, who lived centuries earlier, dur-ing the reign of Jeroboam II (793–753 B.C.). Thus,the Book of Jonah appears in the context of Jer-oboam’s reign.

Other prophetic passages speak of times laterthan the traditional date of composition for the pas-sage itself. For example, parts of the Book of Isaiahrefer to events that took place centuries after theprophet Isaiah lived. Though Isaiah prophesied in Jerusalem during the 8th century B.C., the passageof Is. 44:28; 45:1 refers by name to Cyrus, a Persianking who lived in the 6th century. For this reason,some chapters from the Book of Isaiah appear inthe time of Cyrus (539–530 B.C.). While scholars dis-agree whether these chapters were written by Isa-iah of Jerusalem or by a later prophet during the6th century, they agree that the 6th century is thetime to which these chapters refer.

The Book of Ezekiel provides many dates,most of which indicate when the prophet received amessage from God. To calculate his dates Ezekielbegan counting from the exile of Jehoiachin toBabylon in 597 B.C. Each date is expressed as a“year of King Jehoiachin’s captivity” (Ezek. 1:2) or a“year of our captivity” (Ezek. 33:21). In providingmodern equivalents for Ezekiel’s dates, TheChronological Study Bible follows the system of dates compiled in Baby lonian Chrono logy 626 B.C. – A.D. 75 by R. A. Parker and W. H. Dubberstein.

REARRANGING THE BIBLE’S CANONICAL ORDERxv


14/18

REARRANGING THE BIBLE’S CANONICAL ORDER x v i

The Book of Jeremiah

The Book of Jeremiah, perhaps the most radicallyrearranged book in The Chronological Study Bible,is a prime example of a book that lacks chronologi-cal order in its canonical form. As one of the mosthistory-conscious of the prophetic books, Jeremiah

refers specifically to individual kings and officialsand even includes several historical narratives. Atthe same time, though, these history-minded oraclesand historical narratives are not presented in any-thing resembling chronological order. Even the his-torical narratives of Jer. 25–29; 32–40 skip back andforth in time (see Jer. 25:1; 26:1; 32:1; 36:1). Thus al-though the Book of Jeremiah is only understand-able in light of the historical events surrounding thedestruction of Jerusalem in 586 B.C., simply readingthe book from start to finish does not give thereader that necessary understanding.

Messianic Prophecies

Messianic prophecies raise a question as to the timeperiod to which a particular prophecy refers. TheNew Testament takes great care to demonstratethat many Old Testament passages ultimately referto the person and work of Jesus Christ. It wouldmake sense to locate such Old Testament passagesat pertinent places in the life of Jesus. This has notbeen done, however. Without denying that messianicprophecies are ultimately fulfilled in Christ, most of them also have significance for their original OldTestament time period. For instance, the promise in

Is. 7:14, “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and beara Son,” is quoted in Matt. 1:23 as a reference toChrist’s virgin birth. In the context of Is. 7, though,the promise is a part of the prophet Isaiah’s largermessage to Judah’s king Ahaz, providing a sign thathe should not fear the nations of Syria and Israel,for they would soon be destroyed (Is. 7:16). Thisprophecy has significance for more than one timeperiod, and in The Chronological Study Bible ap-pears in its original context, during the reign of Ahaz, even though its prophetic significance ex-tends to the later context at the birth of Christ.

Wisdom Literature and Psalms

Some of the most hotly contested debates amongOld Testament scholars concern the date when thisor that passage was composed. Fortunately, TheChronological Study Bible only seeks to place bibli-cal passages according to the setting described, a

question about which there is more agreement.Even so, complete scholarly consensus still is notpossible, and sometimes it is not certain to whichtime period various passages refer.

The wisdom literature of Proverbs, Ecclesi-astes, and Job is an example of such chronologicaluncertainty. While most of the Old Testament iscentered in history, these writings are an exception.Wisdom speaks of universal, practical matters thatapply to all people of all nations in all ages. Aproverb like “Hatred stirs up strife, But love coversall sins” (Prov. 10:12), for example, applies just as

well to every age. Most of the Book of Proverbsand all of the Book of Ecclesiastes are associatedwith the court of King Solomon, the revered head of the wisdom movement in Israel. So in The Chrono-

log ical Study Bible these passages appear inSolomon’s time. Some sections of Proverbs and thewhole Book of Job, however, defy chronologicalplacement. For this reason, these writings are sepa-rated from the chronology and located, somewhatarbitrarily, in the Babylonian exile.

The psalms also intentionally resist chronolog-ical placement. For the most part, they do not referto any one time, but rather speak in general lan-

guage, providing words for worship in the temple.Some psalms do have superscriptions that associatethem with particular events—usually from the lifeof David—and these superscriptions have deter-mined the placement of certain psalms. Most of thepsalms, however, are timeless, and without a histor-ical context to follow can be placed only in reactionto their content. David’s hymns of praise appear, asa block, in a time when David praised God: whenhe brought the Ark of the Covenant into Jerusalem(1 Chr. 15:29). On the other hand, David’s lamentsappear at a time when David lamented: during a

plague (1 Chr. 21:30). Other psalms appear in otherhistorical contexts, from the fall of Jerusalem (Ps. 89)to the Babylonian captivity (Ps. 137) to the rebuild-ing of Jerusalem under Nehemiah (Ps. 120–134).


15/18

The Gospels

A challenging task faces us when we attempt toarrange the Gospels into a chronological presenta-tion of Jesus’ life. If early Christian tradition is cor-rect, Mark’s Gospel was not written to provide a se-quential account of the events in Jesus’ life. If the

other Synoptic Gospels—Matthew and Luke—arerelated to Mark, as most scholars believe, they arenot organized primarily along chronological lineseither. What has long been recognized about John’sGospel is probably also true of the SynopticGospels: the Gospel writers’ theological interestsand their communities’ practical needs were moredecisive than historical concerns.

None of the Gospels satisfy our modern expec-tations of a biography of Jesus. This is not the faultof the Gospel writers; they had different purposesfor writing, which will disappoint those whose only

interest is history. But when we do ask historicalquestions, what, for example, should we concludeabout the Gospel authors reporting events in the lifeof Jesus in different sequences?

The Synoptic Problem

The first three Gospels are called the SynopticGospels. The word “Synoptic” comes from two Greekwords meaning “seen together.” Matthew, Mark, andLuke tell the story of Jesus in essentially the samesequence and in nearly identical terms. The similari-ties are especially obvious when these three Gospelsare compared with John. But equally striking are

their conspicuous differences when compared closelywith each other. This creates what scholars call the“Synoptic Problem”: How can both similarities anddifferences be satisfactorily explained?

Similarities might be explained by appeal to theGospels’ divine inspiration. But this fails to accountfor their differences. Virtually all scholars today agreethat the similarities among the Synoptic Gospelsare so close as to require a literary explanation. Thatis, either all three copied from a lost earlier gospelor two of the Gospels depended on the third.

Other gospels did exist, which are called

“apocryphal” because the church never acceptedthem. The apocryphal gospels were never widelyused. Some were rejected because they seemed topromote false doctrines. Others were dismissed asmerely fanciful speculations designed to answer thecurious questions of those familiar with the canoni-cal Gospels. In any case, none of the apocryphalgospels that survive explain the similarities amongthe canonical Gospels.

Various theories have been proposed to ex-plain how the Gospels might have depended oneach other. St. Augustine proposed the theory thatMatthew was the earliest Gospel and that Luke andMark used it in writing theirs. Many modern schol-ars espouse a similar view. But since the 19th cen-

tury most scholars have presumed that Mark wasthe earliest Gospel. Even assuming that Mark waswritten first still does not account for all the similar-ities among the Synoptic Gospels. To offer more ex-planation, most scholars assume that, in addition toMark, Matthew and Luke depended on a now-lostsource. This hypothetical source is generally called“Q,” an abbreviation for the German word Quelle,meaning “source.”

Both ancient tradition and scholarly opinionseem to agree that Mark was the earliest Gospel.Since we cannot be certain of the exact sequence of events, the life of Jesus in The Chronological Study

Bible follows Mark’s order. Additional informationprovided by the other Gospels is arranged in whatseems to be the most plausible order around Mark’sframework.

Acts of the Apostles

The second task in rearranging the New Testamentbooks is to construct a chronology of importantevents that occurred during the lives of the apostlesand during the early years of the Christian church.The Book of Acts and the New Testament lettersserve as the basis for the chronology of the church

age. References to the political leaders during thistime help pinpoint certain dates.

The Book of Acts is the one book of the NewTestament which traces the development of theearly church after the ascension of Jesus. Standingbetween the Gospels and the New Testament let-ters, Acts is a bridge between the life of Jesus andthe ministry of the apostle Paul. As such, the narra-tive of Acts is one source of historical informationabout the early church.

There is little doubt that the Book of Acts andthe Gospel of Luke come from the same author.Since the author does not identify himself by name,scholars have ascribed the authorship of bothbooks to Luke, the companion of Paul (2 Tim. 4:11).Luke was closely associated with many events of Paul’s mission, and this results in greater vividnessin the latter half of Acts. At places (see Acts16:10–17), the narrative changes to the first person(“we”), indicating that Luke was personally present.Nevertheless, some scholars believe that the booksof Luke and Acts were written by an anonymouswriter who was later identified with Luke. Alsoquestioned is whether Luke is a reliable historian,since his primary motive for writing was not to

record history, but to inform his audience of the tri-umphant course of the gospel, beginning in Jesusand continuing in the church (Acts 1:1). Thus, otherscholars look to Paul’s letters for a chronology of his ministry.

REARRANGING THE BIBLE’S CANONICAL ORDERx v i i


16/18

REARRANGING THE BIBLE’S CANONICAL ORDER x v i i i

Paul’s Letters

Paul the apostle was the earliest and most influentialinterpreter of Christ’s message and teaching. As anearly Christian missionary, Paul founded and corre-sponded with several early Christian churches. UsingPaul’s letters, however, to determine a chronology of

events in his life is difficult. The letters do not pro-vide any specific dates or a sequence of events, butonly offer pieces of information which scholars tryto relate to the narrative of Acts. To make the taskmore difficult, scholars cannot agree on the sequencein which Paul wrote his letters, nor on whether allof the letters accredited to Paul were actually writ-ten by him.

The New Testament letters follow the generalcustom and form of letters which became an impor-tant form of communication in the Greek-speakingworld about 300 years before the birth of Jesus. The

Roman government provided postal service only forofficial documents, so private letters were sent byspecial messengers or friendly travelers. Lettersnormally were sent to designated parties, althoughsome were “open” or circular letters. Paul’s letters,with the possible exception of Ephesians, were ad-dressed to specific congregations.

Ancient letters normally followed a patternwhich included: (1) an introduction, listing thenames of sender and recipient, followed by a formalgreeting inquiring about the recipient’s health and athanksgiving formula; (2) a body, or purpose forwriting; and (3) a conclusion, consisting of appro-

priate remarks and a farewell. Paul’s letters followthis pattern, with some exceptions. Paul replacedthe bland greeting of inquiry about health with asalutation combining Christian grace and Hebrewpeace. His thanksgiving was likewise more than aformality; it was a sincere expression of gratitudefor the well-being of his congregations. He alsoomitted the farewell in favor of personal greetingsor a benediction.

Since Paul’s letters do not provide a sequenceof events, The Chronological Study Bible follows thenarrative sequence of Acts. In the Old Testament,

books were rearranged based on the description of the narrative. Since the New Testament letters de-scribe themselves as communication written from aparticular sender to intended recipients, individualletters have been placed according to this descrip-tion, if possible. In canonical Bibles, the Pauline let-ters are arranged in the New Testament accordingto length, from the longest (Romans) to the shortest(Philemon). In The Chronological Study Bible theyhave been arranged, as much as possible, accordingto information given in the salutations, greetings,and bodies of the letters.

The Prison Epistles

The Book of Acts ends with Paul in prison in Rome.Four letters—Philippians, Philemon, Colossians,and Ephesians—are known as the Prison Epistles,since all make reference to Paul being in prison.Paul, however, was imprisoned in Caesarea and

possibly in Ephesus, besides Rome, so the place-ment of any one of the Prison Epistles must be con-sidered tentative.

The Pastoral Letters

The chronology from Paul’s imprisonment on isdrawn from inferences in the New Testament letters,which have been arranged in The Chronological Study Bible according to their salutations, wherepossible. The Pastoral Letters—1 and 2 Timothyand Titus—have been placed according to the belief of some that Paul was released from Roman impris-

onment to continue missionary work in Macedonia.If Paul was martyred while in prison, however, pos-sibly in A.D. 64, these letters would have been com-piled much later, by an unknown editor.

The Last New Testament Writings

The final books of the New Testament offer littlehelp in determining a chronology. According to tra-dition, Peter was martyred in A.D. 64, so the lettersof 1 and 2 Peter have been placed in The Chrono-

logical Study Bible just before that time. Those whothink one or both of the letters were written by anunknown author would place them later. Writings

such as Hebrews and the letters of 1, 2, and 3 Johnindicate some time in the last half of the 1st cen-tury A.D., but a more precise dating is impossible.The Book of Revelation appears last in TheChronological Study Bible. Its contents are not lim-ited to a specific time; the author wrote about God’splan for his own day and for the far future.


17/18

NEW KING JAMES VERSION

The Bible Text

The format of the New King James Version is de-signed to enhance the vividness and devotionalquality of the Holy Scriptures:

—Subject headings assist the reader toidentify topics and transitions in thebiblical content.

—Words or phrases in italics indicate ex-pressions in the original languagewhich require clarification by additionalEnglish words.

— Oblique type in the New Testament in-dicates a quotation from the Old Testa-

ment. —Prose is divided into paragraphs to indi-cate the structure of thought.

—Poetry is structured as contemporaryverse to reflect the poetic form andbeauty of the passage in the originallanguage.

—The covenant name of God was usuallytranslated from the Hebrew as “LORD”or “GOD” (using capital letters as shown)in the King James Old Testament. Thistradition is maintained. In the present

edition the name is so capitalized when-ever the covenant name is quoted in theNew Testament from a passage in theOld Testament.

The Old Testament Text

For the New King James Version the Old Testa-ment text used was the 1967/1977 Stuttgart edi-tion of the Biblia Hebraica, with frequent com-parisons being made with the Bomberg edition of

1524–25. The Septuagint (Greek) Version of theOld Testament and the Latin Vulgate also wereconsulted. In addition to referring to a variety of ancient versions of the Hebrew Scriptures, theNew King James Version draws on the resourcesof relevant manuscripts from the Dead Seacaves. In the few places where the Hebrew was soobscure that the 1611 King James was compelledto follow one of the versions, but where informa-tion is now available to resolve the problems, theNew King James Version follows the Hebrewtext. Significant variations are recorded in the

footnotes.

The New Testament Text

The King James New Testament was based on thetraditional text of the Greek-speaking churches,first published in 1516, and later called the Tex-tus Receptus or Received Text. Although basedon the relatively few available manuscripts, thesewere representative of many more which existedat the time but only became known later. Oneviewpoint of New Testament scholarship holdsthat the Byzantine Text that largely supports the

Textus Receptus has as much right as theAlexandrian or any other tradition to be weighedin determining the text of the New Testament.

Since the 1880s most contemporary transla-tions of the New Testament have relied upon arelatively few manuscripts discovered chiefly inthe late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.Such translations depend primarily on two man-uscripts, Codex Vaticanus and Codex Sinaiticus,because of their greater age. The Greek text ob-tained by using these sources and the related pa-pyri (our most ancient manuscripts) is known asthe Alexandrian Text. The Critical Text (so calledbecause it is edited according to specific princi-ples of textual criticism) depends heavily uponthe Alexandrian type of text.

A third viewpoint of New Testament scholar-ship favors a text based on the consensus of themajority of existing Greek manuscripts. This textis called the Majority Text. Most of these manu-scripts are in substantial agreement. Even thoughmany are late, and none is earlier than the fifthcentury, usually their readings are verified by pa-pyri, ancient versions, quotations from the earlychurch fathers, or a combination of these. TheMajority Text is similar to the Textus Receptus,but it corrects those readings which have little orno support in the Greek manuscript tradition.


18/18

NEW KING JAMES VERSION xx

Because the New King James Version is thefifth revision of a historic document translatedfrom specific Greek texts, the editors decided toretain the traditional text in the body of the NewTestament and to indicate major Critical and Ma- jority Text variant readings in the footnotes. Al-though these variations are duly indicated in thefootnotes of the present edition, it is most impor-tant to emphasize that fully eighty-five percent of the New Testament text is the same in the TextusReceptus, the Alexandrian Text, and the Major-ity Text.

New King James Footnotes

Significant explanatory notes, alternate transla-tions, and cross-references, as well as New Testa-ment citations of Old Testament passages, aresupplied in the footnotes.

Important textual variants in the Old Testa-ment are identified in a standard form.

The textual notes in the present edition of the New Testament make no evaluation of read-ings, but do clearly indicate the manuscriptsources of readings. They objectively present thefacts without such tendentious remarks as “thebest manuscripts omit” or “the most reliablemanuscripts read.” Such notes are value judg-ments that differ according to varying view-points on the text. By giving a clearly defined setof variants the New King James Version benefitsreaders of all textual persuasions.

Where significant variations occur in theNew Testament Greek manuscripts, textual notesare classified as follows:

1. NU-TextThese variations from the traditionaltext generally represent the Alexandrianor Egyptian type of text described pre-viously in “The New Testament Text.”They are found in the Critical Text pub-lished in the twenty-seventh edition of the Nestle-Aland Greek New Testament(N) and in the United Bible Societies’fourth edition (U), hence the acronym,“NU-Text.”

2. M-TextThis symbol indicates points of varia-

tion in the Majority Text from the tradi-tional text, as also previously discussedin “The New Testament Text.” It shouldbe noted that M stands for whateverreading is printed in the publishedGreek New Testament According to the Majority Text, whether supported byoverwhelming, strong, or only a dividedmajority textual tradition.

The textual notes reflect the scholarship of the past 150 years and will assist the reader to

observe the variations between the different man-uscript traditions of the New Testament. Suchinformation is generally not available in Englishtranslations of the New Testament.

chronological study bible introduction

Documents