Creation
In six days God made the heavens, the earth, and everything in them, and on the seventh day he rested.
In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.
Genesis 1:1 (World English Bible)
Genesis opens with God speaking the universe into existence. Over six ordinary days he made light; the sky; seas, dry land, and plants; the sun, moon, and stars; sea creatures and birds; and finally land animals and the first man and woman. On the seventh day he rested, giving us the pattern of the seven-day week (Exodus 20:11).
God called everything he had made “very good.” There was no death or suffering in that first world. Those came later, as the result of sin.
Every other date on this timeline is counted forward from this starting point, using the ages and reign lengths that Scripture records.
Dating notes
Ussher dated the first day to the evening before 23 October 4004 BC (Julian calendar). Other conservative Masoretic-based chronologies land close by (for example, Martin Anstey about 4042 BC), mainly because of different ways of counting the judges and the kings.