The BibleGospel Companion
Event · Between the Testaments280 BC

The Hebrew Scriptures are translated into Greek

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 100331 BC — Alexander ends the Persian empire at Arbela323 BC — Alexander dies and his empire is divided280 BC — The Hebrew Scriptures are translated into Greek203 BC — Antiochus the Great takes Jerusalem and annexes Judea168 BC — Antiochus Epiphanes desecrates the temple168 BC — The Maccabees rise; the temple is cleansed56 BC — Rome takes Jerusalem under Pompey37 BC — Herod the Great is made king of Judea
the events of this period, each at its year — this one outlinedplaced only by its order in the narrativethe whole thread →

Told in

Daniel 9:2in the first year of his reign I, Daniel, understood by the books the number of the years about which Yahweh’s word came to Jeremiah the prophet for the accomplishing of the desolations of…
Opening words from the World English Bible (public domain); the passage list is in-house

How we know the date

ISBE dates the beginning of the Greek Old Testament by the accession of the king who encouraged it, and counts the translation among the preparations for the spread of Christianity. ISBE's Old Testament chronology (1915) gives 280 BC.

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

The sources, word for word

“Ptolemy Philadelphus, becoming king 280 BC, encouraged the translation of the Hebrew Scriptures into Greek, the result being the Septuagint version, and all it meant by way of preparation for the spread of Christianity.”

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (1915) · CHRONOLOGY OF THE OLD TESTAMENT · gives 280 BC

Sources