The BibleGospel Companion
Battle · Conquest and Settlementc. 1451 BC

The walls of Jericho fall

Range across sources: 1480–1451 BC

True span4004 BC – AD 100
Beginnings · 4004 BC – 1996 BC · 12 eventsBeginnings4004 BC – 1996 BCThe Patriarchs · 1996 BC – 1635 BC · 34 eventsPatriarchs1996 BC – 1635 BCEgypt and the Exodus · 1635 BC – 1451 BC · 19 eventsExodus1635 BC – 1451 BCConquest and Settlement · 1451 BC – 1400 BC · 7 eventsConquest1451 BC – 1400 BCThe Judges · 1405 BC – 1095 BC · 13 eventsJudges1405 BC – 1095 BCThe United Kingdom · 1095 BC – 975 BC · 38 eventsUnited Kgdm1095 BC – 975 BCIsrael and Judah · 933 BC – 721 BC · 27 eventsIsrael & Judah933 BC – 721 BCJudah Alone · 721 BC – 586 BC · 22 eventsJudah alone721 BC – 586 BCThe Exile · 586 BC – 538 BC · 7 eventsExile586 BC – 538 BCReturn and Restoration · 538 BC – 400 BC · 13 eventsReturn538 BC – 400 BCBetween the Testaments · 400 BC – 4 BC · 8 eventsBetween400 BC – 4 BCThe Life of Jesus · 6 BC – AD 33 · 42 eventsJesus6 BC – AD 33The Apostles and the Early Church · AD 30 – AD 100 · 29 eventsThe ChurchAD 30 – AD 1001451 BC — Israel crosses the Jordan1451 BC — The walls of Jericho fall1451 BC — Defeat at Ai; Achan's sin; Ai taken1445 BC — The land is divided among the tribes at ShilohThe Gibeonite treaty; the sun stands still — placed by its order in the narrativeHazor and the northern kings defeated — placed by its order in the narrativeJoshua's farewell at Shechem; his death — placed by its order in the narrative
the events of this period, each at its year — this one outlinedplaced only by its order in the narrativethe whole thread →

Told in

Joshua 6:1–27Now Jericho was tightly shut up because of the children of Israel. No one went out, and no one came in.
Opening words from the World English Bible (public domain); the passage list is in-house

Who and where

JoshuaRahabJericho ›
Names and references: STEPBible, Tyndale House Cambridge · CC BY 4.0 · coordinates: OpenBible.info Bible Geocoding · CC BY 4.0

How we know the date

Ussher's Annals (1650) gives 1451 BC (its year of the world 2553 c); ISBE's article “Exodus, The” (1915) gives 1480 BC. The sources differ by 29 years; the year shown (1451 BC) is the one this timeline follows through this stretch, from Ussher's Annals (1650).

Written in-house from the sources below · every year is a quotation

The sources, word for word

“2553. a. … Jericho, circa ipsam arca Domini circumducta, septimo die, mcenibus sacerdotaliumn tubarum clangore sponte collapsis, expugnata, internecioni devota est; sola Rachaba, cum suis, servata* ; qua Salmonie tribu Juda postea nupta, Boazum peperit’.”

Ussher, Annales Veteris Testamenti (1650), Latin text in The Whole Works of James Ussher, vols. VIII–XI (Dublin, 1864) · vol. VIII, AM 2553 c · gives 1451 BC

“We therefore find that Joshua's conquest is placed about 1480 BC, and the Exodus about 1520 BC.”

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (1915) · EXODUS, THE · gives 1480 BC

Sources