Event
Birth of Abraham
Abram is born to Terah (Gen 11:26–27).
Sort year1996 BC
Tier 2 · CFAH-1 Table 1 (Ussher–Jones baseline)
Tier 2: CFAH-1 Table 1 (Ussher-Jones baseline): 1996 BC (Birth of Abraham) (no higher-tier year available).
Description
The year depends on whether Abram was born when Terah was 70 (Gen 11:26 read as birth order) or 130 (Gen 11:32 + 12:4 + Acts 7:4, Terah dying at 205 when Abram was 75). Ussher, Jones and CFAH-1 Table 1 take 130.
Scripture
Chronologies
| Chronology | Date as stated | Year (BC / AM) | Citation & note |
|---|---|---|---|
| CFAH-1 Table 1 Ussher–Jones baseline | 1996 BC (Birth of Abraham) Precision: year |
1996 BC | Griffith & White, "Chronological Framework of Ancient History. 1: Problem, Data, and Methodology," ARJ 15 (2022): 377–390, section "Our Assumptions (Declared Biases)", Table 1 "Biblically derived dates from Ussher and Jones" (opens in a new tab) CFAH-1 Table 1 (Ussher-Jones biblical baseline adopted by CFAH); not a triangulated anchor point. Discussed in Griffith & White, "Chronological Framework of Ancient History. 6: The Old and Middle Kingdoms of Egypt," ARJ 18 (2025): 13–60, Argument 4 §2 "Terah's Famine and Abraham's Birth" ("In Ussher's chronology Abraham was born in 1996 BC (Ussher 2003, §64)"). Sets sort year |
| Ussher-Jones | BC 1996 (2008 AM) Precision: year |
1996 BC AM 2008 |
Jones, Chronology of the Old Testament (15th ed., 2002), p. 77, Chart Four §A note (c) ("born BC 1996"); "Chronological Compendium", p. 1 ("Abraham born when Terah was 130 ... 2008") (opens in a new tab) |
| Ussher | 2008 AM, 1996 BC Precision: year |
1996 BC AM 2008 |
Ussher, Annals of the World, Second Age §63 (paragraph numbering of the modern transcription) (opens in a new tab) CFAH-6 cites this as "Ussher 2003, §64"; the free transcription numbers it §63, so § numbering differs at least here. |
| Jordan secondary | Birth of Abram: Anno Mundi 2008; 1922 B.C. (SBC) Precision: year |
1922 BC AM 2008 |
Jordan, "Egypt in Biblical History," Biblical Chronology 5:8 (December 1993), chart "Anno Mundi / B.C. (SBC) / B.C. (CCC)" at the start of the article (opens in a new tab) AM 2008 from Gen 11:26 with Acts 7:4 (Abram born when Terah was 130): BC 2:6 "The Abraham Connection" and BC 4:8 §2. B.C. year is Jordan's "SBC" (strictest Biblical chronology), which takes Daniel's 70 weeks literally from Cyrus (456 B.C. instead of the conventional 536 B.C.); not comparable one-to-one with Ussher/CFAH B.C. years. Same chart gives CCC "1952 or 2167". Differs from sort year by 74 yrs |
| Jordan (compilation) secondary | 2008 AM ... Abram born Precision: year |
AM 2008 | Anno Mundi Chronology Studies (unnamed compiler; a compilation of James B. Jordan's system), p. 2, chart "Genesis 11:10 – 12 Genealogy" (opens in a new tab) Agrees with Jordan's own published AM 2008. |
| Biblical statements (direct Scripture data) | Terah "lived seventy years, and begat Abram, Nahor, and Haran"; Abram 75 when he left Haran after Terah died at 205 Precision: unknown |
— | Gen 11:26, 11:32; Gen 12:4; Acts 7:4 (opens in a new tab) |
| MT-Gen | AM 1948 if Terah was 70 (Gen 11:26 literal); AM 2008 if 130 (Gen 11:32 + 12:4) Precision: conjectural |
AM 1948 | Gen 11:10–26: Terah born AM 1878 (Nahor AM 1849 + 29) + 70 (opens in a new tab) Straight arithmetic gives 1948; Ussher/Jones/CFAH/Raleigh reject it in favour of Terah aged 130 (AM 2008). |
| Josephus (Whiston translation) | "born in the two hundred and ninety-second year after the deluge; for Terah begat Abram in his seventieth year" Precision: year |
— | Josephus, Antiquities I.6.5 (Whiston) (opens in a new tab) |
| Raleigh, The History of the World (1614/1617) | Year of the world 2009; 352 years after the general flood ("in the 43d year of Ninus") Precision: year |
AM 2009 | Raleigh, The History of the World (11th ed. 1736, vol. 1), Book II, ch. I, sect. VIII (opens in a new tab) Raleigh concludes Abraham was born in Terah's 130th year (Book II, ch. I). |
| Annals of Clonmacnoise | "from the Deludge untill Abrahams tyme" 292 years Precision: year |
— | Annals of Clonmacnoise (trans. Mageoghagan 1627, ed. Murphy 1896), prefatory "Memorandum" table of the ages of the world (between the p. 8 and p. 11 running heads; OCR) (opens in a new tab) "Abrahams tyme" is not explicitly his birth. The Memorandum lists intervals 1656, 0292, 0500, 0480, 0410, 0432, 0134 against seven rows; the row/number pairing is read from OCR column order and should be checked against the page scan. |
Disagreements & open questions
- Chronologies disagree BC years differ: 1996 BC (CFAH-1 Table 1, Ussher-Jones, Ussher); 1922 BC (Jordan).
- Chronologies disagree Anno Mundi figures differ: AM 1948 (MT-Gen); AM 2008 (Ussher-Jones, Ussher, Jordan, Jordan (compilation)); AM 2009 (Raleigh, The History of the World (1614/1617)).
Flags are generated from the figures stored in the data. The master timeline still sorts by the CFAH-weighted sort year.
People
Related
Free sources
- The King James Version of the Bible (opens in a new tab) — Genesis 11 public-domain
- The Antiquities of the Jews (opens in a new tab) — Book I, ch. 6, §5 public-domain
- The History of the World, in Five Books (11th ed.), vol. 1 (opens in a new tab) — Book II, ch. I, sect. VIII public-domain
- Egypt in Biblical History (Biblical Chronology 5:8, December 1993) (opens in a new tab) — Chart at start of article free-to-read
- Chronological Framework of Ancient History. 1: Problem, Data, and Methodology, (opens in a new tab) free-to-read
- Chronological Framework of Ancient History. 6: The Old and Middle Kingdoms of Egypt, (opens in a new tab) free-to-read
- Chronology of the Old Testament: A Return to the Basics (15th ed.) (opens in a new tab) free-to-read
- The Annals of the World, Deduced from the Origin of Time (1658 English edition), Part One: 4004–176 BC (opens in a new tab) public-domain
- The Annals of Clonmacnoise, being Annals of Ireland from the Earliest Period to A.D. 1408 (trans. Conell Mageoghagan, 1627) (opens in a new tab) public-domain
- The Abraham Connection (Biblical Chronology 2:6, 1990) (opens in a new tab) free-to-read
- A Summary of Old Testament Chronology (Biblical Chronology 4:8, August 1992) (opens in a new tab) free-to-read
- Anno Mundi Chronology Studies (A.M. chronology charts and A.M./B.C. table) (opens in a new tab) private-copy
Copyrighted works (CFAH papers, F. N. Jones) are linked, not reproduced.