Books of the Bible: Dating & Authorship

All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work. – 2 Timothy 3:16–17

Knowing Bible chronology can be helpful in determining and understanding context during Bible study. Keep in mind that a later written book (e.g., John) may still have verses that apply to an earlier time (in John’s case, the Gospel period when Jesus lived).

METHODOLOGY

I certainly don’t profess to doing any type of original scholarly research nor to be breaking any new ground herein. What I have done is try to assess, consolidate, and organize the various dates that can already be found in literature (mostly commentaries), and then try to form what I believe is the best consensus on authorship and dating.

There is considerable difficulty—and therefore variance along with literally hundreds of opinions and conclusions, both dogmatic and cautious—in setting dates for some of books (particularly for the OT). Fortunately for us1 (since our Gospel doctrine comes mainly from the NT books) the NT book dates are much more in agreement and well known (for the most part). There is only one book (Revelation) whose interpretation can significantly depend on the date one believes it was written; for this book, I agree with the later dating.2

COMPILATION NOTES

I utilized Grok (Grok 4.6, 2026, by xAI) to help compile the traditional conservative viewpoint material.
I give heavier weighting to the opinions of those who also teach the Gospel correctly (e.g., Church of Christ authors).
In some cases, I have given the final summary date range as encompassing several credible estimates.
The authors surveyed typically relied on the opinions of even earlier biblical scholars. There is, therefore, the risk of inherited error with this approach.
I encountered a lot of “late dating” types of opinions, generally from so-called liberal or revisionist scholars, which I (and reputable commentators) discard. I’ve not bothered to even list them.

SUMMARY TABLE

Chronology and authorship is summarized in the table below.

Book	Date	Author	Notes
Genesis	~1440–1406 BC	Moses	Pentateuch (first five books) all likely written in wilderness during Exodus
Exodus	~1440–1406 BC	Moses
Leviticus	~1440–1406 BC	Moses
Numbers	~1440–1406 BC	Moses
Deuteronomy	~1440–1406 BC	Moses (+Joshua)	Joshua likely added final verses
Joshua	~1400–1370 BC	Joshua
Judges	~1045–1000 BC	Samuel	Possible contributions from other judges
Ruth	~1030–1010 BC	Samuel
1 Samuel	~970–930 BC	Primarily Samuel
2 Samuel	~970–930 BC	Primarily Samuel
1 Kings	~561–538 BC	Unknown	Possibly Ezra, Jeremiah, Isaiah
2 Kings	~561–538 BC	Unknown	Possibly Ezra, Jeremiah, Isaiah
1 Chronicles	~450–400 BC	Possibly Ezra
2 Chronicles	~450–400 BC	Possibly Ezra
Ezra	~450–400 BC	Likely Ezra
Nehemiah	~445–400 BC	Ezra	Ezra compiling material under direction from Nehemiah
Esther	~465–400 BC	Unknown	Possibly Mordecai
Job	~1400–900 BC	Unknown	Possibly Job or Moses
Psalms3	~1400–400 BC	David, Asaph, Moses, The Sons of Korah, Solomon, Heman the Ezrahite, Ethan the Ezrahite, Anonymous	Individual psalms written and likely ordered by scribes at a later time (Ezra?)
Proverbs	~940–930 BC	Solomon, men of Hezekiah, Agur, Lemuel
Ecclesiastes	~970–930 BC	King Solomon
Song of Solomon	~970–930 BC	King Solomon
Isaiah	~740–680 BC	Isaiah
Jeremiah	~627–560 BC	Jeremiah
Lamentations	~586–560 BC	Jeremiah
Ezekiel	~593–571 BC	Ezekiel
Daniel	~605–530 BC	Daniel
Hosea	~760–715 BC	Hosea
Joel	~835–800 BC	Joel
Amos	~760–746 BC	Amos
Obadiah	~848–841 BC or ~605–586 BC	Obadiah	Earlier Date Preferred
Jonah	~793–753 BC	Jonah
Micah	~750–686 BC	Micah
Nahum	~669–612 BC	Nahum
Habakkuk	~608–597 BC	Habakkuk
Zephaniah	~640–609 BC	Zephaniah
Haggai	~520 BC	Haggai
Zechariah	~520–518 BC	Zechariah
Malachi	~450–400 BC	Malachi
Matthew	~50–65 AD	Matthew the tax collector	Possibly as early as 41AD or as late as 68 AD
Mark	~55–65 AD	John Mark	Late 50s or early 60s
Luke	~60–65 AD	Luke the Physician	Companion to Paul
John	~85–95 AD	The Apostle John	As early as 80 AD and as late as 98 AD
Acts	~61–63 AD	Luke the Physician	Companion to Paul
Romans	~56–58 AD	The Apostle Paul
1 Corinthians	~55–56 AD	The Apostle Paul
2 Corinthians	~56–57 AD	The Apostle Paul
Galatians	~48–49 AD	The Apostle Paul
Ephesians	~60–62 AD	The Apostle Paul
Philippians	~60–62 AD	The Apostle Paul
Colossians	~60–62 AD	The Apostle Paul
1 Thessalonians	~50–53 AD	The Apostle Paul
2 Thessalonians	~51–53 AD	The Apostle Paul
1 Timothy	~63–64 AD	The Apostle Paul
2 Timothy	~66–67 AD	The Apostle Paul
Titus	~62–67 AD	The Apostle Paul
Philemon	~60–62 AD	The Apostle Paul
Hebrews	~63–69 AD	Unknown	Possibly Luke writing down Paul’s material. Before 70 AD
James	~45–62 AD	James the half-brother of Jesus	Dates vary through the range
1 Peter	~64–65 AD	The Apostle Peter
2 Peter	~64–68 AD	The Apostle Peter	One estimates late 40s early 50s AD
1 John	~75–95 AD	The Apostle John	From late 70s to early 90s AD
2 John	~85–95 AD	The Apostle John	From late 70s to early 90s AD
3 John	~85–95 AD	The Apostle John	From late 70s to early 90s AD
Jude	~65–80 AD	James the half-brother of Jesus	From late 40s to as late as 90 AD
Revelation	~95–96 AD	The Holy Spirit via The Apostle John	Later Date Strongly Supported by External Evidence vs “Internal Grammar” Issues

SOURCE DATA

Dating and authorship for each book is given in the PDF version of this study (see the link below). The following legend is used:4

TC: Traditional Conservative Opinion
RP: Resource Publications Commentary Series (various authors)
WJ: Wayne Jackson (Christian Courier)
GA: Gospel Advocate Commentary Series (various authors)
MH: Matthew Henry (based on his commentary)
AC: Adam Clarke (based on his commentary)5

NOTES & FURTHER INFO

1 I am using this loosely as a figure of speech, but know that the Lord (and the Holy Spirit who inspired the Word of God) does nothing by fortune, luck (good or bad), or chance. Therefore, if we needed to have and know the dates of various books, we know and have the various dates of those books known to the degree necessary to form correct doctrine.

2 See source data below.

3 → [An Expositional Study of Selected Psalms]

4 See our Helpful Resources—Books & Commentaries list on our website.

5 Adam Clarke’s opinion is consulted due to his knowledge of biblical manuscripts, not for his Methodist doctrine.