that placed Abraham's birth at Anno Mundi (AM) 1600 and the foundation of the Temple at AM 2800. Alfred Jepsen proposed this chronology on the basis of melding time periods in the Samaritan and Masoretic recensions. Distinct chronologies can be inferred from the Priestly source (of the Torah), along with priestly authors of later biblical books, and the Deuteronomistic history, which purports to chronicle the reigns of the kings of Judah and Israel (with some significant historical corroboration, see below and History of ancient Israel and Judah). The Nehemiah chronology, devised to show 3,500 years from creation to Nehemiah's mission. Northcote says that this chronology was "probably composed by Levites in Jerusalem not long after Nehemiah's mission, perhaps sometime late in the fifth century BCE (i.e. nearing 400 BCE)." Bousset (1900) apparently sees this schematization, too, but calls it Proto-MT. A proto-Masoretic chronology, shaped by jubilees, with an overall literary showing of 3,480 years from creation to the completion of the Second Temple, per B.W. Bousset (1900), and which had the first Temple at 3,000 years. The Saros chronology that reflected 3,600 years leading up to the first Temple and 4,080 years from creation to the completion of the Second Temple. This scheme served as "the basis for the later Septuagint chronology and pre-SP Samaritan Pentateuch chronologies". Masoretic Text The Masoretic Text is the basis of modern Jewish and Christian bibles. While difficulties with biblical texts make it impossible to reach sure conclusions, perhaps the most widely held hypothesis is that it embodies an overall scheme of 4,000 years (a "great year") taking the re-dedication of the Temple by the Maccabees in 164 BCE as its end-point. Two motives may have led to this: first, there was a common idea at the time of the Maccabees that human history followed the plan of a divine "week" of seven "days" each lasting a thousand years; and second, a 4,000 year history (even longer in the Septuagint version) would establish the antiquity of the Jews against their pagan neighbours. The following table summarises the Masoretic chronology from the creation of the world in Anno Mundi (Year of the World) 1 to its endpoint in AM 4000: Other chronologies: Septuagint, Samaritan, Jubilees, Seder Olam The canonical text of the Hebrew Bible is called the Masoretic Text, a text preserved by Jewish rabbis from early in the 7th and 10th centuries CE. There are,