Who Wrote the Bible?

Tradition attributes the first five books (the Pentateuch, or Torah) to Moses, though scholars debate how much of the text reached its final form through later editing. Beyond that, Old Testament authorship spans kings (David is credited with many Psalms, Solomon with Proverbs and Ecclesiastes), prophets writing under specific historical pressure (Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel), and historical books whose authors are simply not named in the text.

The New Testament was written over a much shorter window — roughly 50 to 100 years after Jesus's death. Paul is credited with the largest share, having written (or being traditionally credited with) 13 of the 27 New Testament books, mostly letters to specific churches addressing specific problems. The four Gospels are attributed to Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, though Mark and Luke were not among Jesus's twelve original disciples.

The Bible wasn't compiled all at once. The process of deciding which texts belonged — called canonization — happened gradually, through councils and widespread use across early Christian communities, with the New Testament canon largely settled by the 4th century.

Knowing the Bible has many human authors, writing in different centuries for different original audiences, changes how you read it — a letter Paul wrote to a specific troubled church in Corinth is doing something different than a Psalm written for worship, even though both are Scripture.

Related: Books of the Bible in order and how many books are in the Bible.