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The Short Answer
Almost certainly around 5 BC — a few years "before Christ" on our own calendar. That sounds like a joke, but it's just a math slip: the monk who built our calendar in the 500s miscounted by a few years. The Bible's clues — King Herod was still alive (he died in 4 BC) and a Roman census was underway — point to 5 BC. And there is no "year zero": the calendar jumps from 1 BC straight to AD 1.
How sure are we? Fairly sure of the year — the day (December 25) is tradition, not Scripture
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Key Scripture
tap any to readMatthew 2:1 — the Herod clue
Read →“Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of King Herod, behold, wise men from the east came to Jerusalem.”
Luke 2:1 — the census clue
Read →“Now in those days, a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be enrolled.”
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Watch
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How the Clues Line Up
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From the Collection
Birth of Jesus Christ — 5 BC
see it on the timeline
John the Baptist — born months earlier
character profile
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Why It Matters
“A calendar mistake doesn't shake history: pagan and Jewish writers alike place Jesus in real time, under a real emperor, in a real province. The question was never whether he was born — it's who he was.”
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