There were about 40 authors of the books of the Bible, all inspired by God. We know who most of them were, although there are some anonymous writers.

Moses is thought to have compiled the first five books of the Old Testament: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. As Deuteronomy describes the death of Moses, it must have been completed by someone else.

We do not know who wrote the books of Joshua, Judges, and Ruth, but they are thought to have been written (or compiled) before or during the time of King David.

The writers of Samuel, Kings, Esther, and Job are also unknown.

The Psalms were written by David, Moses, Solomon, the sons of Korah, the sons of Asaph and Ethan the Ezrahite. There are also some Psalms that were written anonymously.

King Solomon wrote Song of Solomon, Ecclesiastes and most of Proverbs (although chapters 30 and 31 of Proverbs were written by Agur and Lemuel.)

The prophets Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah and Malachi wrote the books that are named after them.

Jeremiah also wrote Lamentations while Ezra wrote Ezra, Nehemiah and possibly Chronicles.

In the New Testament, the gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John) have no named authors but are thought to have been written by the people whose names they bear. The writer of Luke also wrote the book of Acts.

Paul is responsible for Romans, 1&2 Corinthians,  Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, 1&2 Thessalonians,  1&2 Timothy, Titus, and Philemon.

The apostle Peter wrote 1&2 Peter and the apostle John wrote 1,2&3 John as well as Revelation.

The books of James and Jude are usually credited to James and Jude the half-brothers of Jesus.

Hebrews is anonymous and there is considerable debate about who wrote it.

Tagged with →  
Share →

15 Responses to How many people wrote the Bible?

  1. Jonathan Morgan says:

    Surely all of the gospels are anonymous, at least in the sense that no author is mentioned by name?

  2. Esther Opoku says:

    The forty men who compiled the bible, is there a way i can the number of books each of them brought during the compilation of the bible?

  3. Oliver Alderson says:

    Do you know why there are opposing views on Biblical authorship, such as the ‘documentary hypothesis’, suggesting that some books were written by several writers, or written much later than we believe they were?

  4. Jeff Johnson says:

    do you know the # of words or verses each author wrote? I am just curious. ie. Luke only wrote 2 bks, but it was more that all of Paul’s. some books have very long verses, so most accurate would be # of words. Jeremiah may have written more than Luke? thanks.

  5. Zachary Blikstad says:

    job was written by job

  6. Anonymous says:

    Why will any knowledgeable person believe in books without known authors? pontificating from them and coercing people to believe in them without question. Accusing falsely the Holy Spirit as authoring such a dubious book.

  7. disqus_a1fZLhfvTd says:

    How did dictation between a supernatural and a human being take place, and why after the Bible was written did god stop talking to humans?

  8. Harvest Auvaa says:

    this is one the most helpful biblical websites i’ve ever checked on………..its resourseful and its filled mostly wiht facts about the mysterious bible………….cool website,ver cul

  9. Adam Read says:

    So what you’re telling me is that 40 Jewish men are responsible for this much damage to the world? Did they not realize that eventually, people would begin to look at things like the demographics of large populations and compare an event like The Great Flood to an act of global terrorism? Tens of millions of infants should not have had to die.

    And do you not realize that phrases like “God’s Chosen People,” certainly in reference to only one culture, could just as easily be deemed a statement of racial superiority? Coupled with a deity that cannot ever admit it is wrong, don’t you think that same attitude might become embedded in the minds of those that wish to become “godly”?

  10. WC Woods says:

    In actuality, there was no one who did ”write” the Bible. The Bible is a collection of scripture from the Jewish books (i.e. Talmud, Torah) which are what we refer to as the OLD TESTAMENT and letters that were written by the various Apostles. It was not until the Council of Nicaea that various books and letters were or cataloged to make up the one book we call the Bible.

  11. David Holland says:

    To much emphasis is placed on the council of Nicea in compiling the books of the bible. The Old Testament canon was set prior to the birth of Christ and evidenced in the Dead Sea Scrolls. Paul acknowledges the synoptic gospels as scripture as early as 50 AD when he writes Thesselonians. Paul is acknowledged as scripture by early Chruch Fathers. Some of them were disciples of John. (Polycarp). There is no debate regarding Peters letter and those of John. By the time the Council of Nicea meets scripture is largely set I place. Nicea was just a rubber stamp,on what God had already established. By the way the books considered Apocryphal were held by the council as Deutero-Canonical or secondary cannon. They were not added into the primary scripture until the reformation almost 1200 years later.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *