The Biblical Age of the Earth

How old is the Earth according to the Bible? Using the Greek Old Testament, the age of the Earth starts in about 5572 BC with God’s Creation of the Universe. The Hebrew Masoretic text records that God created the Universe in ~4186 BC. The Bible records the years from Adam to the end of Israel’s Babylonian Captivity. The numbers of years does not record months over forty-five generations of genealogies and does not record months through the reigns of kings that could number to as much thirty years of unmentioned months.

4186 – 3310 BC (1,656 years) – God created the heavens and the earth, all the Universe, and God made man and woman on the sixth day. The ages of the fathers of men for when the next father was born accumulates to 1,656 years starting with Adam unto the Flood (Gen 5: 130 +105 +90 +70 +65 +62 +65 +187 +182 +500 +100 =1,656). (Greek OT (LXX): 230 +205 +190 +170 +165 +162 +165 +187 +188 +500 +100 =2,262)

3310 – 2238 BC (292 years) – From two years after the Flood, there are 292 years from Arphaxad to Abraham according to the ages of fathers when their children were born (Gen 11:11–26: 2 +35 +30 +34 +30 +32 +30 +29 +70 =292).**(LXX: 2 +135 +130 +130 +134 +130 +132 +130 +79 +70 =1,072; cf. Acts 7:4)

2238 – 1948 BC (290 years) – Abraham was one hundred years old when he begot Isaac (Gen 21:5), and Isaac was sixty when he had Jacob (Gen 25:26). Jacob was one hundred thirty when he entered Egypt (Gen 47:9).

1948 – 1518 BC (430 years) – Israel’s descendants lived 430 years in Egypt unto the Exodus (Exo 12:40, cf. Gen 12:10, 15:13).

1518 – 1041 BC (477 years) – There were 480 years from Israel’s Exodus unto the fourth year of Solomon’s reign (1 Kgs 6:1).

1041 – 608 BC (433 years) – These are the 40 years of Solomon’s reign added to the 393 years of Judah’s kings unto the destruction of Jerusalem and Solomon’s Temple {2 Chr 9:30 (40 years), 12:13 (17 years), 13:2 (3), 14:1, 16:13 (41), 20:31 (25), 21:5 (8), 22:2 (1), 22:12–23:1, 11–13 (6), 24:1 (40), 25:1 (29), 26:3 (52), 27:1 (16), 28:1 (16), 29:1 (29), 33:1 (55), 33:21 (2), 34:1 (31), 36:2, 5 (11), 9, 11 (11 years)}.

608 – 538 BC (70 years) – These are the years of Israel’s captivity from Jerusalem’s destruction until Cyrus’ proclamation to rebuild the Temple in Jerusalem (2 Chr 36:20–23, Jer 25:11–13, 29:10, Ezra 1:1, 3:8, 5:13, Dan 9:1, Zech 1:12, 7:5).

538 – 457 BC (81 years) – The only gap in the Biblical chronology consists of the reigns of the Persian Kings. Yet, ancient histories agree with the Bible. “Ptolemy’s Canon” records 74 years for the reigns of Cyrus unto the beginning of Artaxerxes’ reign. This canon is a list of ancient kings written in the second century A.D. The list is confirmed by the fifth-century B.C. historian, Herodotus, who also recorded that Darius reigned for 36 years. In Artaxerxes’ seventh year, Artaxerxes commanded the restoration and rebuilding of Jerusalem (Ezra 7).

457 BC – 33 AD (490 years) – Artaxerxes sent Ezra to rebuild Jerusalem (Ezra 7). Daniel predicted that there would be the life and the death of the Messiah in 487 years from the command to restore Jerusalem (Dan 9:24–27).