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The oldest survivingHebrew Bible manuscripts, theDead Sea Scrolls, date toc. the 2nd century BCE. Some of these scrolls are presently stored at theShrine of the Book in Jerusalem. The oldest text of the entireChristian Bible, including the New Testament, is theCodex Sinaiticus dating from the 4th century CE, with its Old Testament a copy of aGreek translation known as theSeptuagint. The oldest extant manuscripts of the vocalizedMasoretic Text date to the 9th century CE.[1] With the exception of a few biblical sections in theNevi'im, virtually noOld Testament biblical text is contemporaneous with the events it describes.[2]
Internal evidence within the texts of the27-book New Testament canon suggests that most of these books were written in the1st century CE. The first book written is thought to be either theEpistle to the Galatians (written around 48 CE)[3] or1 Thessalonians, written around 50 CE.[4] The latest book written is thought to be theSecond Peter, written around 110 CE.[5] The final book in the ordering of the canon, theBook of Revelation, is generally accepted by traditional scholarship to have been written during the reign ofDomitian (81–96) before the writing of 1 and 2 Timothy, Titus and the Epistles of John.[6][7] Dating the composition of the texts relies primarily on internal evidence, including direct references to historical events.Textual criticism, as well asepigraphic analysis of biblical manuscripts, provides further evidence that scholars consider when judging the relative age of sections of the Bible.
This table summarises the chronology of the main tables and serves as a guide to the historical periods mentioned. Much of the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament may have been assembled in the 5th century BCE.[8] The New Testament books were composed largely in the second half of the 1st century CE.[9] Thedeuterocanonical books fall largely in between.
| Period | Books |
|---|---|
| Pre-monarchic 13th century–1000 BCE |
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| Monarchic 1000–587 BCE |
|
| Exilic 586–539 BCE |
|
| Post-exilic (Persian) 538–332 BCE |
|
| Post-exilic (Hellenistic) 331–164 BCE |
|
| Maccabean/Hasmonean 164–63 BCE |
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| Roman after 63 BCE |
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| Torah | Date or range of dates most widely held by scholars |
|---|---|
The majority of modern biblical scholars believe that the Torah—Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy—reached its present form in thepost-Exilic period.[35] TheDocumentary hypothesis model suggests that the five books are drawn from four "sources" (distinct schools of writers rather than individuals): thePriestly source, theYahwist and theElohist (these two are often referred to collectively as the "non-Priestly" source), and theDeuteronomist.[56] There is general agreement that the Priestly source is post-exilic, but there is no agreement over the non-Priestly source(s).[56]
| |
| Prophets | Date or range of dates most widely held by scholars |
| Former Prophets: | This group of books, plus Deuteronomy, is called the "Deuteronomistic history" by scholars. The proposal that they made up a unified work was first advanced byMartin Noth in 1943, and has been widely accepted. Noth proposed that the entire history was the creation of a single individual working in the exilic period (6th century BCE); since then there has been wide recognition that the history appeared in two "editions", the first in the reign of Judah'sKing Josiah (late 7th century BCE), the second during the exile (6th century BCE).[25] Noth's dating was based on the assumption that the history was completed very soon after its last recorded event, the release of KingJehoiachin in Babylonc. 560 BCE; but some scholars have termed his reasoning inadequate, and the history may have been further extended in the post-exilic period.[61] |
| Three Major Prophets: | Scholars recognise three "sections" in the Book of Isaiah:
The Book of Jeremiah exists in two versions: Greek (the version used in Orthodox Christian Bibles) and Hebrew (Jewish, Catholic, and Protestant Bibles), with the Greek representing the earlier version.[63] The Greek version was probably finalised in the early Persian period and translated into Greek in the 3rd century BCE, and the Hebrew version dates from some point between then and the 2nd century BCE.[64] The Book of Ezekiel describes itself as the words of theEzekiel ben-Buzi, a priest living in exile in the city of Babylon, and internal evidence dates the visions to between 593 and 571 BCE. While the book probably reflects much of the historic Ezekiel, it is the product of a long and complex history, with significant additions by a "school" of later followers.[65][66] |
| Twelve Minor Prophets | In the Hebrew Bible theTwelve Minor Prophets are a single collection edited in the Second Temple period, but the collection is broken up in Christian Bibles.[67] With the exception ofJonah, which scholars regard as fictional, there exists an original core of prophetic tradition behind each book:[68][69]
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| Writings | Date or range of dates most widely held by scholars |
| Wisdom collection: | The books of Job, Ecclesiastes, and Proverbs share a similar outlook which they themselves call "wisdom".[75] It is generally agreed that Job comes from between the 6th and 4th centuries BCE.[76] Ecclesiastes can be no earlier than about 450 BCE, due to the presence of Persian loan-words andAramaic idioms, and no later than 180 BCE, when the Jewish writerBen Sira quotes from it in theBook of Sirach.[77][78] Proverbs is a "collection of collections" relating to a pattern of life which lasted for more than a millennium, and impossible to date.[79] |
Poetic works:
| The psalms making up the first two-thirds of the psalter are predominantly pre-exilic and the last third predominantly post-exilic.[45] The collectedbook of Psalms was possibly given its modern shape and division into five parts in the post-exilic period, although it continued to be revised and expanded well into Hellenistic and even Roman times.[80] It is generally accepted that the destruction of Jerusalem by Babylon in 586 BCE forms the background to theBook of Lamentations.[81] |
Histories:
| Chronicles was composed between 400 and 250 BCE, probably in the period 350–300 BCE;[41]Ezra–Nehemiah (two books in modern Bibles, but originally one) may have reached its final form as late as the Ptolemaic period,c. 300–200 BCE.[42] |
Miscellaneous works:
| TheBook of Ruth is commonly dated to the Persian period.[82]Esther to the 3rd or 4th centuries BCE; theBook of Daniel can be dated more precisely to 164 BCE thanks to its veiled prophecy of the death of a Greek king of Syria;[83] and theSong of Songs could have been composed at any time after the 6th century BCE.[84] |
| Book | Date or range of dates most widely held by scholars |
|---|---|
| Tobit | 225–175 BCE, on the basis of apparent use of language and references common to the post-exilic period, but lack of knowledge of the 2nd century BCE persecution of Jews.[46] |
| Judith | 150–100 BCE, although estimates range from the 5th century BCE to the 2nd century CE.[52] |
| 1 Maccabees | 100 BCE[85] |
| 2 Maccabees | c. 100 BCE[85] |
| 3 Maccabees | 100–75 BCE "very probable"[86] |
| 4 Maccabees | mid-1st century CE[55] |
| Wisdom of Solomon | late 1st century BCE/early 1st century CE, on the basis of shared outlook with other works dating from this time.[87] |
| Sirach | 196–175 BCE, as the author implies that Simon the high priest had died (196 BCE), but shows no knowledge of the persecution of the Jews that began after 175 BCE.[88] |
| Additions to Daniel | Prayer of Azariah (Song of the Three Holy Children);Bel and the Dragon: late 6th century BCE;[89]Susanna and the Elders: possibly 95–80 BCE[90] |
| Baruch andLetter of Jeremiah | 2nd century BCE, as Baruch uses Sirach (writtenc. 180 BCE) and is in turn used by thePsalms of Solomon (mid-1st century BCE). The Letter of Jeremiah, Chapter 6 of the Book of Baruch, is sometimes considered a separate book.[91] |
The oldest Masoretic manuscripts date from the late ninth century CE (e.g., Codex Cairensis [C] on the Prophets).