Chronology of
בית ראשון
BEIT RIŜON

Symbolic collage with hewn stone, a cut tree trunk, metalwork, and dark timber.
Symbolic collage for the First Temple chronology. AI-generated illustration for TJD, 2026-09-07.

שלמה ŜLOMO built בית ראשון BEIT RIŜON in ירושלים YERUŜALAYIM; later rulers restored its worship, and Babylonian forces destroyed it. The sequence follows a national institution from construction and public gathering to siege, loss of sovereignty and exile.1

The AM years below follow the received סדר עולם SEDER OLAM chronology, except for the explicitly disputed AM 3340 placement of the fugitive’s report. Entries without an AM year retain the source's month and day. Conventional historical dating places יהויכין YEHOYACHIN's capture in 597 BCE and the destruction in 587/586 BCE; those reconstructions must not be merged with the received AM sequence.2

Construction and dedication

ב׳ באייר ב׳תתקכ״ח 2nd 𝑜𝑓 Iyar, AM 2928Precision: day · Basis: not-assessed

שלמה ŜLOMO began construction in his fourth regnal year.

ב׳ באייר ב׳תתקכ״ח 2nd 𝑜𝑓 Iyar, AM 2928: שלמה ŜLOMO began construction in his fourth regnal year.3

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חשוון ב׳תתקל״ה Ḥeŝvan, AM 2935Precision: month · Basis: not-assessed

Construction ended in his eleventh regnal year.

חשוון ב׳תתקל״ה Ḥeŝvan, AM 2935: Construction ended in his eleventh regnal year. No numbered day is preserved.4

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ח׳ בתשרי ב׳תתקל״ו 8th 𝑜𝑓 Tiŝrei, AM 2936Precision: day · Basis: not-assessed

The seven-day altar dedication began in the received Masoretic sequence.

ח׳ בתשרי ב׳תתקל״ו 8th 𝑜𝑓 Tiŝrei, AM 2936: The seven-day altar dedication began in the received Masoretic sequence.

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Its beginning is calculated backward from סוכות SUKOT; ancient textual witnesses differ over the additional dedication week.5

י״ד בתשרי ב׳תתקל״ו 14th 𝑜𝑓 Tiŝrei, AM 2936Precision: day · Basis: not-assessed

The dedication week ended.

י״ד בתשרי ב׳תתקל״ו 14th 𝑜𝑓 Tiŝrei, AM 2936: The dedication week ended.

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The following week was סוכות SUKOT, not another week of dedication.6

כ״א בתשרי ב׳תתקל״ו 21st 𝑜𝑓 Tiŝrei, AM 2936Precision: day · Basis: not-assessed

The two consecutive weeks were completed.

כ״א בתשרי ב׳תתקל״ו 21st 𝑜𝑓 Tiŝrei, AM 2936: The two consecutive weeks were completed.

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כ״ב בתשרי ב׳תתקל״ו 22nd 𝑜𝑓 Tiŝrei, AM 2936Precision: day · Basis: not-assessed

שמיני עצרת ŜEMINI AẒERET followed the festival.

כ״ב בתשרי ב׳תתקל״ו 22nd 𝑜𝑓 Tiŝrei, AM 2936: שמיני עצרת ŜEMINI AẒERET followed the festival.

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כ״ג בתשרי ב׳תתקל״ו 23rd 𝑜𝑓 Tiŝrei, AM 2936Precision: day · Basis: not-assessed

דברי הימים ב׳ DIVREI HA-YAMIM BET dates the assembly's departure.

כ״ג בתשרי ב׳תתקל״ו 23rd 𝑜𝑓 Tiŝrei, AM 2936: דברי הימים ב׳ DIVREI HA-YAMIM BET dates the assembly's departure.

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מלכים א׳ MELAḪIM ALEF instead describes dismissal on the eighth day. The linked article preserves both formulations.7

Restoration under חזקיהו ḤEZKIYAHU

ט״ז בניסן 16th 𝑜𝑓 NisanPrecision: unresolved-year-day · Basis: not-assessed

Purification of בית ראשון BEIT RIŜON was completed in חזקיהו ḤEZKIYAHU's first regnal year.

ט״ז בניסן 16th 𝑜𝑓 Nisan: Purification of בית ראשון BEIT RIŜON was completed in חזקיהו ḤEZKIYAHU's first regnal year.

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Work began on א׳ בניסן 1st 𝑜𝑓 Nisan and reached the entrance on ח׳ בניסן 8th 𝑜𝑓 Nisan. The source supplies the regnal year, not an AM year.8

Babylonian capture, siege and destruction

ב׳ באדר 2nd 𝑜𝑓 AdarPrecision: unresolved-year-day · Basis: not-assessed

Babylonian forces took ירושלים YERUŜALAYIM and captured יהויכין YEHOYACHIN; the conqueror installed a replacement king and exacted tribute.

ב׳ באדר 2nd 𝑜𝑓 Adar: Babylonian forces took ירושלים YERUŜALAYIM and captured יהויכין YEHOYACHIN; the conqueror installed a replacement king and exacted tribute.

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The Chronicle's date is 2 Addaru in Nebuchadnezzar's seventh year, not a conversion into the later fixed עברית IVRIT calendar.9

י׳ בטבת 10th 𝑜𝑓 TevetPrecision: unresolved-year-day · Basis: not-assessed

Babylonian forces began the final siege in צדקיהו TZIDKIYAHU's ninth regnal year.

י׳ בטבת 10th 𝑜𝑓 Tevet: Babylonian forces began the final siege in צדקיהו TZIDKIYAHU's ninth regnal year.10

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ט׳ בתמוז ג׳של״ח 9th 𝑜𝑓 Tamuz, AM 3338Precision: day · Basis: not-assessed

Babylonian forces breached the walls after famine had overtaken the city.

ט׳ בתמוז ג׳של״ח 9th 𝑜𝑓 Tamuz, AM 3338: Babylonian forces breached the walls after famine had overtaken the city.

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This follows ירמיהו YIRMIYAHU and the Babylonian תלמוד TALMUD. The competing account follows תלמוד ירושלמי TALMUD YERUŜALMI's י״ז בתמוז 17th 𝑜𝑓 Tamuz tradition; it is not a second independently established breach.11

י׳ בתמוז ג׳של״ח 10th 𝑜𝑓 Tamuz, AM 3338Precision: day · Basis: not-assessed

A later calendar tradition places the capture of צדקיהו TZIDKIYAHU after his flight from the city.

י׳ בתמוז ג׳של״ח 10th 𝑜𝑓 Tamuz, AM 3338: A later calendar tradition places the capture of צדקיהו TZIDKIYAHU after his flight from the city.

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תנ״ך TANAḪ (the Bible) narrates the capture but does not give this numbered day.12

ז׳ באב ג׳של״ח 7th 𝑜𝑓 Av, AM 3338Precision: day · Basis: not-assessed

Babylonian forces entered and began desecrating בית ראשון BEIT RIŜON, according to the rabbinic reconciliation.

ז׳ באב ג׳של״ח 7th 𝑜𝑓 Av, AM 3338: Babylonian forces entered and began desecrating בית ראשון BEIT RIŜON, according to the rabbinic reconciliation.

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ט׳ באב ג׳של״ח 9th 𝑜𝑓 Av, AM 3338Precision: day · Basis: not-assessed

They set it alight near nightfall.

ט׳ באב ג׳של״ח 9th 𝑜𝑓 Av, AM 3338: They set it alight near nightfall.

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י׳ באב ג׳של״ח 10th 𝑜𝑓 Av, AM 3338Precision: day · Basis: not-assessed

Most of the building burned.

י׳ באב ג׳של״ח 10th 𝑜𝑓 Av, AM 3338: Most of the building burned.

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תענית TAʾANIT 29a interprets the seventh-day notice in מלכים ב׳ MELAḪIM BET and the tenth-day notice in ירמיהו YIRMIYAHU as stages of one destruction.13

After the destruction

ג׳ בתשרי ג׳של״ט 3rd 𝑜𝑓 Tiŝrei, AM 3339Precision: day · Basis: not-assessed

The received calendar places the assassination of גדליה בן אחיקם GEDALIAH BEN AHIKAM, Babylon's appointed governor, here.

ג׳ בתשרי ג׳של״ט 3rd 𝑜𝑓 Tiŝrei, AM 3339: The received calendar places the assassination of גדליה בן אחיקם GEDALIAH BEN AHIKAM, Babylon's appointed governor, here.

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The new AM year begins at א׳ בתשרי 1st 𝑜𝑓 Tiŝrei, after the destruction in אב AV.14

ה׳ בטבת ג׳ש״מ 5th 𝑜𝑓 Tevet, AM 3340Precision: day · Basis: not-assessed

A fugitive told יחזקאל YEḤEZKEL that ירושלים YERUŜALAYIM had been taken.

ה׳ בטבת ג׳ש״מ 5th 𝑜𝑓 Tevet, AM 3340: A fugitive told יחזקאל YEḤEZKEL that ירושלים YERUŜALAYIM had been taken.

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The retained AM 3340 placement is not established by the cited sources. The received text gives the twelfth year of exile; some witnesses read the eleventh. The linked article explains the dating dispute.15

Return and rebuilding continue in the chronology of בית שני BEIT ŜENI.

Footnotes

  1. I Kings 6,; II Chronicles 29–30,; II Kings 24–25, ↩
  2. Seder Olam Rabbah 15,; Seder Olam Rabbah 25–29,; Babylonian Chronicle 5,; Temple of Jerusalem, ↩
  3. II Chronicles 3:2,; I Kings 6, ↩
  4. I Kings 6, 6:38; Chabad, Timeline of the Transmission of Torah, ↩
  5. II Chronicles 7:8–10, 7:8–10; Bar-Cohn, Shemini Atzeret: Redacting a Missing Festival, ↩
  6. Moed Katan 9a, ↩
  7. I Kings 8, 8:65–66; II Chronicles 7:8–10, 7:8–10. ↩
  8. II Chronicles 29–30, 29:3–19. ↩
  9. Babylonian Chronicle 5, reverse 11–13. ↩
  10. II Kings 24–25, 25:1; Jeremiah 36–52, 52:4. ↩
  11. Jeremiah 36–52, 52:6–7; Ta‘anit 28b–29a, 28b; Jerusalem Talmud, Ta‘anit 4:5, ↩
  12. II Kings 24–25, 25:4–7; Jeremiah 36–52, 39:4–7. ↩
  13. Ta‘anit 28b–29a, 29a; II Kings 24–25, 25:8–9; Jeremiah 36–52, 52:12–13. ↩
  14. https://www.sefaria.org/Rosh_Hashanah.18b ; II Kings 24–25, 25:22–26. ↩
  15. Ezekiel 24–33, 33:21; USCCB, Ezekiel 33:21–22, ↩