The BibleGospel Companion
Building · Return and Restoration516 BC

The second temple is finished and dedicated

Dated from the sources quoted below

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 100536 BC — Cyrus decrees that the house of God be rebuilt520 BC — Haggai and Zechariah stir the people to build516 BC — The second temple is finished and dedicated458 BC — Ezra goes up from Babylon with the king's decree433 BC — Nehemiah returns to the king and comes back to reformThe altar is set up and the foundation laid — placed by its order in the narrativeThe work is stopped by the peoples of the land — placed by its order in the narrativeEsther is made queen in Susa — placed by its order in the narrativeHaman's plot fails; the Jews keep Purim — placed by its order in the narrativeNehemiah hears of the broken walls and prays — placed by its order in the narrativeThe wall of Jerusalem is finished in fifty-two days — placed by its order in the narrativeEzra reads the Law and the people weep — placed by its order in the narrativeMalachi, the last prophet of the Old Testament — 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

Ezra 6:13–22Then Tattenai, the governor beyond the River, Shetharbozenai, and their companions did accordingly with all diligence, because Darius the king had sent a decree.
Opening words from the World English Bible (public domain); the passage list is in-house

Who and where

ZerubbabelJeshuaDariusJerusalem ›
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

ISBE's Old Testament chronology (1915) gives 516 BC.

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

The sources, word for word

“The second temple, begun with the Return under Zerubbabel, was completed in the 6th year of Darius, i.e. 516.”

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (1915) · CHRONOLOGY OF THE OLD TESTAMENT · gives 516 BC

Sources