The dynamics of a sinusoidally driven pendulum in a repulsive magnetic field is investigated theoretically and experimentally. The experimental data are acquired using a shaft encoder interfaced to a PC which measures the angular displacement of the pendulum as a function of time. Both the theoretical simulations and the experimental measurements exhibit regions of periodic and chaotic behavior, depending on the system parameters. Amplitude jumps, hysteresis, and bistable states are also observed. The simplicity of the apparatus makes this experiment suitable for an advanced undergraduate laboratory.