- Job – from Uz or Edom, written by Jobab around 2200-2500 BC
- Genesis – compiled by Moses from early sources
- Exodus – The Israelites flee from Egypt in about 1440 BC, written by Moses
- Leviticus – Laws received by Moses
- Numbers – history written by Moses
- Deuteronomy – summary of events written at the end of Moses’ life in 1400 BC after 40 years in the desert
- Joshua – 1400-1340 BC, written by Joshua
- Judges – written by Samuel ~1020 BC
- Ruth – story collected by Samuel
- Psalms – written by King David (1st Temple) ~990 BC and Temple musicians (2nd Temple)515 BC
- Song of songs ~970 BC, written by young King Solomon
- Ecclesiastes ~940 BC, written by old King Solomon
- Proverbs collected by King Solomon
- Obadiah – Edomite in Jerusalem 845 BC
- Jonah – from the Northern Kingdom, he died in Nineveh in 800 BC
- Amos – from Judah but prophecies for the Northern Kingdom 760-750 BC
- Hosea – from the Northern Kingdom but went to Judea 750 BC
- Micah – predicted the fall of the Northern Kingdom in 722 BC
- Isaiah – Jerusalem 740-680 BC
- Joel – prophesies attacks on Judah
- Nahum – from Nineveh, prophesying about this city 663-612 BC
- Tobit – exiled to Nineveh in 722 BC, died ~630 BC
- Zephaniah – prophesying in Jerusalem between 640-609 BC
- Habakkuk – prophesying in Jerusalem between 597-530 BC
- Ezekiel – started his ministry in Babylon in 593 BC
- Jeremiah – called in 626 BC and exiled to Egypt in 586 BC, written by Baruch prior to exile
- 1 Samuel, 2 Samuel, 1 Kings, 2 Kings written by Baruch prior to exile using sources kept in the 1st Temple but later destroyed in 586 BC when the Temple was burned down.
- Lamentations written by Baruch shortly after exile
- Baruch – 581 BC, written by Baruch in the 5th year of exile
- Daniel – 606-486 BC, taken into exile, worked as an administrator, he must have lived for 120 years
- Haggai – returned to Jerusalem in 538 BC, message proclaimed in 520 BC
- Zechariah – returned from exile in Babylon in 538 BC
- Esther – married to Xerxes I (zerk-zeez) King of Persia 486-465 BC
- Ezra / 1 Esdras – written in Babylon before returning to Jerusalem in 465 BC during the reign of Artaxerxes I
- Nehemiah written by Ezra from various sources at the time of return
- 1 Chronicles, 2 Chronicles written by Ezra using the Book of Kings written by Baruch and other sources
- 2 or 4 Esdras – a vision of the final empire given to Ezra
- Malachi – Ezra’s prophecy written in old age
- 2 Maccabees – letter written by Judas Maccabeus in 160 BC
- 1 Maccabees – history covering 170-130 BC written by Simon Maccabeus with post-script
- Sirach – written by Yeshua ben Sira in 180 BC / translated and additions made after 132 BC by his grandson.
This is a total of 45 books. Six of these books belong to the Apocrypha, so only 39 of them are found in Protestant Bibles. There are five other books belonging to the Apocrypha, but I would not include them in the Bible (Judith, Wisdom, 3 and 4 Maccabees and the Book of Odes).
This chronology of the Bible shows that the Old Testament was written over the course of more than 2000 years.
Merry and True 