Who Wrote the Bible? The Authors of Every Book

How many people wrote the Bible?

The traditional answer is about 40 authors over about 1,500 years, from around 1400 BC to around AD 100. That’s an estimate: Psalms and Proverbs each have several writers, many books are anonymous, and many scholars date the oldest writing later, which shortens the span.

The writers came from very different lives. David was a shepherd who became a king. Peter and John were fishermen. Paul made tents. Amos called himself “a herdsman, and a farmer of sycamore figs” (Amos 7:14), and Colossians calls Luke “the beloved physician” (Colossians 4:14). They wrote in Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek, which is why every English Bible is a translation.

This guide covers the 66 books of a Protestant Bible. Our guide to how many books are in the Bible explains why Catholic and Orthodox Bibles have more.

How do we know who wrote each book?

There are three kinds of evidence, and they don’t always agree:

• What the book says. Paul’s letters open with his name, and most prophets are named in their first verse. Many other books say nothing.
• What early readers said. Jewish tradition and early Christian writers attached names to many books, including anonymous ones.
• What the writing shows. Scholars compare vocabulary, style and the events a book seems to know about.

Traditional readers give most weight to the first two, and many modern scholars to the third. Most of the differences below come from that, and this guide doesn’t try to settle them.

Who wrote the Old Testament?

Many of these names come from Jewish tradition, not from the books themselves. In the table, anonymous means the book doesn’t name its writer.

Who wrote the New Testament?

None of the four Gospels names its author in its text. The names on them come from early Christian writers such as Papias and Irenaeus, in the second century.

Luke and Acts, both addressed to a man named Theophilus, run longer than all 13 of Paul’s letters: 47,545 words to 43,348 in the World English Bible.

Did Moses write the first five books?

Tradition says yes, and these books do describe him writing: “Moses wrote all the LORD’s words” (Exodus 24:4). Jewish and Christian readers held this view for most of history.

From the 1800s, many scholars argued that the five books combine several older sources, edited over centuries. They point to repeated stories, shifts in style and different names for God. Traditional scholars reply that Moses may have used older sources himself and that later editors made small updates.

Deuteronomy even reports his death: “So Moses the servant of the LORD died there” (Deuteronomy 34:5). One view in the Talmud credits those last verses to Joshua.

Was Isaiah written by one person?

Chapters 1 to 39 are set in Isaiah’s own Jerusalem in the eighth century BC. From chapter 40, the book speaks to people in exile in Babylon, long after his lifetime. Chapter 44 even names Cyrus, the Persian king who let the exiles go home.

Many modern scholars conclude that later writers in Isaiah’s tradition wrote the second half, and they often divide it again at chapter 56. Traditional readers hold that one prophet wrote the whole book and saw those events ahead of time, and they note that the New Testament quotes both halves under Isaiah’s name.

Which letters did Paul write?

Thirteen letters carry Paul’s name, from Romans to Philemon. Traditional readers accept all 13. Modern scholars usually sort them into three groups:

• Seven almost no one doubts: Romans, 1 and 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Philippians, 1 Thessalonians and Philemon.
• Three that are debated: Ephesians, Colossians and 2 Thessalonians.
• Three that many scholars doubt: 1 and 2 Timothy and Titus, known as the Pastoral Letters.

The doubts rest on differences in vocabulary, style and church life. Paul sometimes used a secretary, as Romans shows: “I, Tertius, who write the letter, greet you in the Lord.” (Romans 16:22). Traditional scholars say a secretary could explain the changes. Others think a follower wrote in Paul’s name, as students sometimes did for a teacher in the ancient world.

Who wrote Hebrews?

Nobody knows, and here tradition and scholarship mostly meet. Hebrews names no author. Some early Christians connected it with Paul, but the writer says the message was “confirmed to us by those who heard” (Hebrews 2:3), and most scholars today doubt Paul would have put it that way. Barnabas and Apollos have also been suggested. Origen, a third-century scholar, said that only God knows.

Does it matter who wrote the Bible?

It matters for reading well. Knowing who wrote a book, and who first read it, helps you hear what it says. Our guide to reading a Bible verse in context shows how.

For faith, Christians answer in different ways. Many hold to the traditional names as part of their trust in Scripture. Others accept more of the scholars’ conclusions and read the same books as the word of God. Both can point to the same verse: “Every Scripture is God-breathed and profitable for teaching” (2 Timothy 3:16). It says where Scripture comes from without listing its human writers.

Common questions