The books of the Bible in the order they were written, with dates

Every book of the Bible in the order it was written, with traditional and critical dates side by side, from Job and Genesis to Revelation and 2 Peter.

Published 14 min read

The short answer

No one can list the books in the exact order they were written: most name no date, and several grew over generations. On traditional dates the Old Testament runs from Job and the five books of Moses (1400s or 1200s BC) to Malachi and Chronicles (400s BC), and the New Testament from James and Galatians (40s AD) to Revelation (about 95 AD). Critical scholars date much of the Old Testament later, and both views put Paul's first letters, from about 50 AD, before the Gospels.

In this guide
  1. The books of the Bible in the order they were written
  2. Old Testament books in the order written, with dates
  3. Why the dates are debated
  4. New Testament books in the order they were written
  5. Where the deuterocanonical books fit
  6. Order written versus chronological order
  7. Reading the Bible in the order it was written
  8. Questions people ask
  9. Sources

No book of the Bible came with a date attached, and most never say when they were written, so any list of the books of the Bible in the order they were written is a reconstruction. Two broad views make one. Traditional dating follows the writers that Jewish and Christian tradition has long named, such as Moses for the first five books. Critical dating, the approach most university scholarship takes, often places books later and reads many of them as edited over generations. Here is one complete order, then both sets of dates side by side.

The books of the Bible in the order they were written

Roughly as they were composed, the 66 books of the Protestant Bible begin with Job and the five books of Moses, run through the history, poetry and prophets to Malachi and Chronicles, and then go from James and Paul’s earliest letters to the Gospels, John’s letters and Revelation. This is the sequence BibleRing’s “In the order written” plan reads them in. It follows the traditional dates for most books and keeps the Old Testament before the New, so take it as one defensible order rather than a settled fact.

The 66 books in the order written, as BibleRing's plan reads them
#BookChaptersDivision
1Job42Wisdom
2Genesis50Law
3Exodus40Law
4Leviticus27Law
5Numbers36Law
6Deuteronomy34Law
7Joshua24History
8Judges21History
9Ruth4History
101 Samuel31History
112 Samuel24History
12Psalms150Wisdom
13Proverbs31Wisdom
14Ecclesiastes12Wisdom
15Song of Songs8Wisdom
161 Kings22History
172 Kings25History
18Obadiah1Prophets
19Joel3Prophets
20Jonah4Prophets
21Amos9Prophets
22Hosea14Prophets
23Micah7Prophets
24Isaiah66Prophets
25Nahum3Prophets
26Zephaniah3Prophets
27Habakkuk3Prophets
28Jeremiah52Prophets
29Lamentations5Prophets
30Ezekiel48Prophets
31Daniel12Prophets
32Haggai2Prophets
33Zechariah14Prophets
34Esther10History
35Ezra10History
36Nehemiah13History
37Malachi4Prophets
381 Chronicles29History
392 Chronicles36History
40James5Epistles
41Galatians6Epistles
421 Thessalonians5Epistles
432 Thessalonians3Epistles
441 Corinthians16Epistles
452 Corinthians13Epistles
46Romans16Epistles
47Mark16Gospels
48Matthew28Gospels
49Luke24Gospels
50Acts28Acts
51Ephesians6Epistles
52Colossians4Epistles
53Philemon1Epistles
54Philippians4Epistles
551 Timothy6Epistles
56Titus3Epistles
571 Peter5Epistles
582 Peter3Epistles
592 Timothy4Epistles
60Hebrews13Epistles
61Jude1Epistles
62John21Gospels
631 John5Epistles
642 John1Epistles
653 John1Epistles
66Revelation22Revelation

A few placements explain most of the rest:

  • Job comes first. Its story is set in the age of the patriarchs, and the Talmud names Moses as the writer of Job as well as of the Torah.
  • The prophets follow the order they spoke in, from Jonah and Amos under King Jeroboam II, in the 700s BC, to Malachi around 460 BC. Obadiah and Joel name no king to date them by, so their places are argued from their contents. This order keeps them early; both sets of dates further down put them around or after the fall of Jerusalem in 586 BC.
  • 1 and 2 Kings stay with the history they tell, ahead of the prophets of the 700s, although they end 37 years into King Jehoiachin’s captivity in Babylon (2 Kings 25:27), long after them.
  • Chronicles closes the Old Testament, because the Talmud credits it to Ezra, with Nehemiah finishing it, after the return from exile.
  • Paul’s first letters come before the Gospels, because on either view they were written first.

For the order the books are printed in, with their chapter counts, see the books of the Bible in order.

Old Testament books in the order written, with dates

On the traditional view, the Old Testament was written from the time of Moses, in the 1400s or 1200s BC, to Ezra, Nehemiah and Malachi in the 400s BC. Critical scholars date most of the books, in the form we have them, between the 700s and the 100s BC, from Amos around 750 BC to Daniel around 165 BC, while finding older sources and poems inside them.

The traditional column follows the Talmud’s list of writers and a conservative study Bible, the ESV Global Study Bible, which for a few books, Obadiah and Joel among them, gives much the same late date as the critical view. The critical column follows mainstream scholarship as Yale’s open courses and Wikipedia’s survey, Dating the Bible, summarize it.

Books Traditional view Critical view
Job Writer unknown; set in the age of the patriarchs. The Talmud names Moses The 500s to 300s BC, with parts that may keep far older tradition
Genesis to Deuteronomy Moses: the 1400s BC if the exodus was about 1446 BC, the 1200s if about 1260 Drawn from older sources (on the classic theory, from the 900s BC on), finished after the exile
Joshua, Judges, Ruth Joshua wrote his book; Samuel wrote Judges and Ruth (Talmud) Joshua and Judges edited under King Josiah (late 600s BC) and revised in the exile; Ruth from the Persian period
1 and 2 Samuel Soon after David’s reign, which ended in 971 BC Edited in the late 600s BC, revised in the exile (500s)
Psalms About half by David (about 1000 BC); the rest from many periods Most of the first two-thirds before the exile, most of the last third after it
Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs Solomon (reigned about 971–931 BC); Proverbs in its present form under Hezekiah (about 715–686 BC). Ecclesiastes may be by a later writer Proverbs cannot be dated as a whole; Ecclesiastes about 450–180 BC; Song of Songs after the 500s BC
1 and 2 Kings Jeremiah (Talmud); the book ends during the exile Edited in the late 600s BC, finished in the exile (500s)
Obadiah, Joel, Jonah Jonah set under Jeroboam II (782–753 BC); Obadiah after 586 BC; Joel debated, perhaps about 500 BC Obadiah about 586 BC; Joel and Jonah in the Persian or Hellenistic period
Amos, Hosea, Micah, Isaiah The 700s BC; Isaiah from about 740 BC to at least 681 BC Amos about 750 BC, Hosea and Micah later that century; Isaiah 40–66 from the exile on, around 539 BC and after
Nahum, Zephaniah, Habakkuk Zephaniah under Josiah (640–609 BC); Habakkuk about 620 BC The 600s BC; Nahum before Nineveh fell in 612 BC
Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel Jeremiah wrote his book and Lamentations (Talmud), around Jerusalem’s fall in 586 BC; Ezekiel 593–571 BC Jeremiah spoke around 600 BC, but his book was finished from the Persian period on; Lamentations after 586 BC; Ezekiel’s visions 593–571 BC, with later additions
Daniel Daniel himself, in the 500s BC Chapters 7–12 in 167–164 BC; the stories in 1–6 perhaps in the late 200s BC
Haggai, Zechariah 520 BC, “the second year of Darius” 520 BC, but Zechariah 9–14 later, from the 400s to the 200s BC
Esther, Ezra, Nehemiah, Malachi The 400s BC: Esther is set under Xerxes I (486–464 BC), Ezra–Nehemiah’s events run to 433 BC, Malachi about 460 BC Malachi in the 400s BC; Esther in the 300s or 200s BC; Ezra–Nehemiah finished perhaps as late as 300–200 BC
1 and 2 Chronicles Ezra, or the writer of Ezra–Nehemiah, in the 400s BC 400–250 BC, probably 350–300

Which book of the Bible was written first?

On the traditional view, Job or Genesis: the Talmud names Moses as the writer of both, and Job’s story is set in the age of the patriarchs. On the critical view, some of the oldest writing sits inside later books, in poems such as the Song of the Sea (Exodus 15) and the Song of Deborah (Judges 5), which some scholars date to the 1200s to 1000s BC. The first of the literary prophets, whose words became books of their own, is Amos, around 750 BC.

Why the dates are debated

The dates differ because most books name neither their writer nor their date, and several were put together over time. Many traditional attributions come from later tradition rather than from the books themselves. The Babylonian Talmud (Bava Batra 14b–15a) gives this list:

  • Moses: the Torah and Job
  • Joshua: his own book
  • Samuel: his own book, Judges and Ruth
  • David: the Psalms, “by means of ten elders”
  • Jeremiah: his own book, Kings and Lamentations
  • Hezekiah “and his colleagues”: Isaiah, Proverbs, Song of Songs and Ecclesiastes
  • The members of the Great Assembly: Ezekiel, the Twelve Prophets, Daniel and Esther
  • Ezra: his own book, and the genealogy of Chronicles up to his own time, which Nehemiah completed

Even here, several books are not the work of the figure most linked with them alone: Isaiah is credited to Hezekiah’s circle, and the Psalms are a collection David gathered from the work of ten elders as well as his own. The Bible itself shows one collection growing:

These also are proverbs of Solomon, which the men of Hezekiah king of Judah copied out.

Proverbs 25:1, World English Bible

Critical scholarship applies that idea more widely. Setting out the classic documentary hypothesis, Yale’s Christine Hayes describes the Torah as “the result of five centuries of religious and literary activity,” woven from sources dated from about the 900s BC to after the exile, though she notes that scholars today dispute many of its details.

Daniel is the clearest case where the views part. The traditional view takes it as Daniel’s own book, written in the 500s BC, after he was taken into exile in 605 BC. Critical scholars date its visions, chapters 7 to 12, to 167–164 BC, during the persecution under Antiochus IV, and point to details in the stories, such as Belshazzar being called king, that suggest a writer looking back.

Both are serious readings of the same books. The traditional dates follow the writers that Jewish and Christian tradition has long named; the critical dates are the ones taught in university courses such as Yale’s. This page sets them side by side and leaves the weighing to you.

New Testament books in the order they were written

In the order written, the New Testament begins with Paul’s first letters, from the late 40s or around 50 AD (with James before them on the traditional dates), and ends with John’s writings and Revelation, about 95 AD; the critical view adds a few letters after 100. That is a much shorter span than the Old Testament’s. The two views differ most over the Gospels, and over who wrote some of the letters. The table keeps BibleRing’s order; all dates are AD, the traditional ones from the ESV Global Study Bible and the critical ones from Wikipedia’s survey and Yale’s Dale Martin.

Book Traditional view Critical view
James 40–45 65–85
Galatians about 48 48 or 55
1 Thessalonians 49–51 about 50
2 Thessalonians 49–51 about 51, or after 70
1 Corinthians 53–55 53–57
2 Corinthians 55–56 55–58
Romans 57 57–58
Mark mid to late 50s, or the 60s about 70 (65–73)
Matthew late 50s or early 60s 80–90
Luke about 62 or later 80–90
Acts about 62 80–90
Ephesians about 62 80–90
Colossians about 62 about 62, or after 70
Philemon about 62 54–55
Philippians about 62 54–55
1 Timothy early to mid-60s about 100 or later
Titus early to mid-60s about 100 or later
1 Peter 62–63 75–90
2 Peter 64–67 about 110
2 Timothy 64–67 about 100 or later
Hebrews before 70 80–90
Jude mid-60s uncertain
John 70–100 90–100
1, 2 and 3 John about 85 to the 90s 90–110
Revelation about 95 about 95

Paul’s first letters came before the Gospels

On both views, Paul’s first letters were written before any of the Gospels. “The oldest written materials of Christianity are actually the letters of Paul,” says Yale’s Dale Martin, and the oldest of them is probably 1 Thessalonians, from around 50 AD. Mark followed around 70 on his dating, and Matthew and Luke drew on Mark; Luke opens by noting that “many have undertaken to set in order a narrative” before him (Luke 1:1). On the traditional dates the Gospels come earlier, with Mark in the 50s, but still after James, Galatians and the letters to the Thessalonians.

The views part most over authorship. Critical scholars count seven letters as undisputed: Romans, 1 and 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Philippians, 1 Thessalonians and Philemon. Several of the others they read as written in Paul’s name by later followers, which is why those dates move later. The traditional view takes all thirteen as Paul’s own, ending with 2 Timothy, his farewell letter of about 64–67 AD. The guide to how many books Paul wrote goes through the thirteen.

Which book of the Bible was written last?

On the traditional view, Revelation, about 95 AD, written while John was imprisoned on Patmos, with his three letters not far before it. On the critical view, 2 Peter, around 110 AD, and some scholars place the letters to Timothy and Titus well into the second century.

Ordered by critical dates, the New Testament runs roughly like this: Paul’s undisputed letters from around 50 to the late 50s; Mark around 70; Matthew, Luke, Acts, Ephesians, Hebrews and 1 Peter by about 90; John, John’s letters and Revelation in the 90s and after; then the letters to Timothy and Titus, and 2 Peter. Colossians and 2 Thessalonians move with the question of who wrote them, James falls somewhere between 65 and 85, and Jude has no agreed date.

Where the deuterocanonical books fit

The books that Catholic and Orthodox Bibles include in the Old Testament, and that Protestant Bibles leave out or print apart, were written from the 200s BC into the first century AD, mostly in the years between the testaments. Catholics call them deuterocanonical; Protestant and Anglican Bibles that print them call them the Apocrypha. These are the dates scholars usually give:

Book Usually dated
Tobit 225–175 BC
Sirach 196–175 BC
Baruch the 100s BC
Judith 150–100 BC, though estimates range widely
1 and 2 Maccabees about 100 BC
Wisdom late first century BC or early first century AD
3 Maccabees (Orthodox) 100–75 BC
4 Maccabees (Orthodox) the middle of the first century AD

Sirach comes with its own foreword, by the author’s grandson, who reached Egypt in 132 BC and finished his Greek translation around 117 BC. The Ethiopian Bible’s Enoch and Jubilees are of the same age: the oldest parts of Enoch are dated to about 300–200 BC and its latest to about 100 BC, and Jubilees to 160–150 BC. On critical dates, then, Tobit, Sirach and the oldest parts of Enoch are older than the visions of Daniel.

BibleRing’s order keeps all of these books in one block between Chronicles and James, in whichever canon you choose, so a plan never hands you an Old Testament book after Revelation. The guide to the deuterocanonical books and the Apocrypha takes them one by one.

Order written versus chronological order

The order written follows when each book was composed; a chronological plan follows when the events in it happened, and the two make different Bibles. Ordered by events, Job goes where its story seems to sit, among the patriarchs in Genesis. Chronicles is read beside Samuel and Kings, since it tells the same reigns, psalms are placed by the moments in David’s life their headings name, and Paul’s letters are fitted into Acts, where he wrote them. Ordered by writing, Chronicles waits near the end of the Old Testament and Paul’s first letters come before all four Gospels.

How to read the Bible chronologically sets out the order of events in full, and the best order to read the Bible compares both with the printed order and other routes.

Reading the Bible in the order it was written

Reading in this order changes the shape of a year more than its length. Taken at an even pace from January 1, it goes like this:

  • Job is a steep start. It is 42 chapters, most of them poetry, and at a year’s pace it fills the first 13 days before Genesis begins.
  • The Old Testament is most of the year. It holds 929 of the 1,189 chapters, so the New Testament begins with James in mid-October, as it would in any order that keeps the testaments apart.
  • The letters come before the stories. James and Paul’s first six letters, 64 chapters, come before Mark, so you meet the first churches in their own words before the accounts of Jesus’ life.
  • The prophets arrive after the kings. Amos, Hosea, Isaiah and the rest follow 2 Kings, which tells the reigns they spoke into.

If you would rather see it laid out, the reading plan calculator builds a day-by-day plan in this order for any canon and any finishing date.

Whichever dates you hold, the books themselves stay the same; only their neighbors change.

Questions people ask

What is the oldest book in the Bible?

On the traditional view, Job or Genesis: the Talmud names Moses as the writer of both, and Job's story is set in the age of the patriarchs. Critical scholars find some of the oldest writing in poems inside later books, such as the Song of the Sea in Exodus 15 and the Song of Deborah in Judges 5, and date the first of the literary prophets, Amos, to about 750 BC.

What was the first book of the New Testament written?

It is usually thought to be 1 Thessalonians, written around 50 AD, or Galatians, if it dates from about 48. Both are letters of Paul, and on the critical dating both come some twenty years before the first Gospel. The ESV Global Study Bible, a conservative study Bible, puts the letter of James earlier still, at about 40 to 45 AD.

What was the last book of the Bible written?

On traditional dates, Revelation, written about 95 AD while John was imprisoned on the island of Patmos, with his three letters not far before it. Critical scholars usually date 2 Peter latest, around 110 AD, and some place the letters to Timothy and Titus well into the second century.

Were the Gospels written before Paul's letters?

No. On both views Paul's first letters came before any of the Gospels. On critical dating his letters are the oldest Christian writings, beginning around 50 AD; Mark, the first Gospel, followed around 70, Matthew and Luke between 80 and 90, and John in the 90s. Traditional dating puts the Gospels earlier, Mark in the mid to late 50s and Matthew in the late 50s or early 60s, but still after Galatians and the letters to the Thessalonians.

Is the order written the same as chronological order?

No. Chronological order arranges the Bible by when its events happened, so it reads Job among the patriarchs, Chronicles beside Kings and Paul's letters inside Acts. The order written arranges it by when each book was composed, which keeps Chronicles near the end of the Old Testament and puts Paul's first letters before all four Gospels.

Sources

  1. Babylonian Talmud, Bava Batra 14b (William Davidson translation), Sefaria
  2. Babylonian Talmud, Bava Batra 15a (William Davidson translation), Sefaria
  3. Dating the Bible, Wikipedia
  4. Christine Hayes, Introduction to the Old Testament, Lecture 5: Critical Approaches to the Bible, Open Yale Courses
  5. Christine Hayes, Introduction to the Old Testament, Lecture 16: Literary Prophecy, Amos, Open Yale Courses
  6. Christine Hayes, Introduction to the Old Testament, Lecture 19: Perspectives on the Exile, Open Yale Courses
  7. Christine Hayes, Introduction to the Old Testament, Lecture 20: Lamentations and Wisdom Literature, Open Yale Courses
  8. Christine Hayes, Introduction to the Old Testament, Lecture 23: Daniel and Apocalyptic Literature, Open Yale Courses
  9. Dale B. Martin, Introduction to the New Testament, Lecture 2: From Stories to Canon, Open Yale Courses
  10. Dale B. Martin, Introduction to the New Testament, Lecture 14: Paul as Missionary, Open Yale Courses
  11. Dale B. Martin, Introduction to the New Testament, Lecture 17: Paul's Disciples, Open Yale Courses
  12. Dale B. Martin, Introduction to the New Testament, Lecture 19: The Pastorals, Open Yale Courses
  13. Introduction to Exodus, ESV Global Study Bible (Crossway)
  14. Introduction to Job, ESV Global Study Bible (Crossway)
  15. Introduction to 1–2 Samuel, ESV Global Study Bible (Crossway)
  16. Introduction to the Psalms, ESV Global Study Bible (Crossway)
  17. Introduction to Proverbs, ESV Global Study Bible (Crossway)
  18. Introduction to Ecclesiastes, ESV Global Study Bible (Crossway)
  19. Introduction to Isaiah, ESV Global Study Bible (Crossway)
  20. Introduction to Obadiah, ESV Global Study Bible (Crossway)
  21. Introduction to Joel, ESV Global Study Bible (Crossway)
  22. Introduction to Jonah, ESV Global Study Bible (Crossway)
  23. Introduction to Habakkuk, ESV Global Study Bible (Crossway)
  24. Introduction to Ezekiel, ESV Global Study Bible (Crossway)
  25. Introduction to Daniel, ESV Global Study Bible (Crossway)
  26. Introduction to Haggai, ESV Global Study Bible (Crossway)
  27. Introduction to Esther, ESV Global Study Bible (Crossway)
  28. Introduction to Ezra, ESV Global Study Bible (Crossway)
  29. Introduction to Malachi, ESV Global Study Bible (Crossway)
  30. Introduction to James, ESV Global Study Bible (Crossway)
  31. Introduction to Galatians, ESV Global Study Bible (Crossway)
  32. Introduction to 1 Thessalonians, ESV Global Study Bible (Crossway)
  33. Introduction to 2 Thessalonians, ESV Global Study Bible (Crossway)
  34. Introduction to 1 Corinthians, ESV Global Study Bible (Crossway)
  35. Introduction to 2 Corinthians, ESV Global Study Bible (Crossway)
  36. Introduction to Romans, ESV Global Study Bible (Crossway)
  37. Introduction to Mark, ESV Global Study Bible (Crossway)
  38. Introduction to Matthew, ESV Global Study Bible (Crossway)
  39. Introduction to Luke, ESV Global Study Bible (Crossway)
  40. Introduction to Acts, ESV Global Study Bible (Crossway)
  41. Introduction to Ephesians, ESV Global Study Bible (Crossway)
  42. Introduction to Colossians, ESV Global Study Bible (Crossway)
  43. Introduction to Philemon, ESV Global Study Bible (Crossway)
  44. Introduction to Philippians, ESV Global Study Bible (Crossway)
  45. Introduction to 1 Timothy, ESV Global Study Bible (Crossway)
  46. Introduction to Titus, ESV Global Study Bible (Crossway)
  47. Introduction to 1 Peter, ESV Global Study Bible (Crossway)
  48. Introduction to 2 Peter, ESV Global Study Bible (Crossway)
  49. Introduction to 2 Timothy, ESV Global Study Bible (Crossway)
  50. Introduction to Hebrews, ESV Global Study Bible (Crossway)
  51. Introduction to Jude, ESV Global Study Bible (Crossway)
  52. Introduction to John, ESV Global Study Bible (Crossway)
  53. Introduction to 1–3 John, ESV Global Study Bible (Crossway)
  54. Introduction to Revelation, ESV Global Study Bible (Crossway)
  55. Book of Sirach, Wikipedia
  56. Book of Enoch, Wikipedia
  57. Book of Jubilees, Wikipedia
  58. World English Bible, verse-per-line edition (public domain), eBible.org

Written by

Jonathan Müller makes BibleRing, a Bible reading tracker for iPhone and iPad, and writes these guides from the same record of the canon the app counts against: every book, chapter and canon in them is the app’s own.

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