DATES OF WRITING
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MONARCHIC PERIOD 8th-7th centuries BCE 745-586 BC |
Amos (initial composition of earliest layer) First Isaiah (Isaiah 1-39), Hosea, Micah (second half). Zephaniah 649-609 BC Habakkuk (C 605 BC) first edition of : Joshua/Judges/Samuel/Kings (640-610) Deuteronomy 5-26 (640-610) |
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PERIOD OF EXILE 6th century BC 586-539 BC |
Core of Obadiah around the fall of Jerusalem, 586 BCE. Completion of Joshua/Judges/Samuel/Kings Deuteronomy expanded adding chapters 1-4 and 29-30 Jeremiah active c 600 Ezekiel active in Babylon 592-571 BC "Second Isaiah" (Isaiah 40-55) active in Babylon around 550 Expansion of Hosea, Amos, Micah and Zephaniah Possible early Psalms (psalms 1-89) ] |
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POST EXILIC PERSIAN PERIOD 5th-4th centuries BCE |
Torah (books of Genesis/Exodus/Leviticus/Numbers), (latest date 250 BC) Deuteronomy revised adding chapters 19-25, 27, 31-34 "Third Isaiah" (Isaiah 56-66) Jeremiah revised Haggai (self-dated to the second year of the Persian king Darius 520 BC) Zechariah (chapters 1-8 contemporary with Haggai, chapters 9-14 from the 5th century) Malachi (5th century BCE, close to to the missions of Nehemiah and Ezra) ] Chronicles (between 400-250 BC, probably 350-300 BC) Ezra-Nehemiah (final form may be from 300-200 BCE). |
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POST EXILIC HELENISTIC PERIOD 3rd–2nd centuries BC 330-164 BC |
Job, Ecclesiastes Song of Songs (Could have been written in the 4th or even 5th centuries) Book of Jonah (Persian or Hellenistic, no later than 2nd century BC). Most of the individual psalms making up the final third of the Book of Psalms. |
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MACCABEAN/HASMONEAN PERIOD 2nd–1st centuries BC 164-4 BC |
Daniel (164 BCE, newly written chapters 7-12, new tales of chapters 1-6). 1 Maccabees/2 Maccabees/3 Maccabees/possibly 4 Maccabees; Tobit, Judith, Additions to Daniel and Additions to Esther Wisdom of Solomon |
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ROMAN PERIOD 1st century AD to after 4 BC |
4 Maccabees (after 63 BC, probably mid-1st century AD). Wisdom of Solomon finalised (mid first century) New Testament (between c. 50-110 AD ) |
