Authorship
Religious Jews and Christians consider God to be the ultimate author of Scripture, using humans to communicate His message. There are many questions about the human authorship of the books of the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament. This list is not meant to settle the issue, but to provide a list of the commonly-accepted authors for each book. There will always be someone, somewhere, who expresses doubts about virtually everything. This list is presumed to be accurate in a simplistic sense, based on the consensus of the best scholarship I could find.
Old Testament
- Moses *
- Genesis
- Exodus
- Leviticus
- Numbers
- Deuteronomy
- Psalms
- Joshua *
- Joshua
- Samuel, Nathan, and Gad
- Judges
- Ruth
- 1st Samuel
- 2nd Samuel
- Jeremiah
- 1st Kings
- 2nd Kings
- Ezra
- 1st Chronicles
- 2nd Chronicles
- Ezra
- Nehemiah and Ezra
- Nehemiah
- Mordecai *
- Esther
- Job
- Job
- King David and Others *
- Psalms
- Solomon, Agur, and Lemuel
- Proverbs
- Solomon
- Ecclesiastes
- Song of Solomon
- The rest of the Old Testament books were written by the named author
- Isaiah
- Jeremiah
- Lamentations
- Ezekiel
- Daniel
- Hosea
- Joel
- Amos
- Obadiah
- Jonah
- Micah
- Nahum
- Habakkuk
- Zephaniah
- Haggai
- Zechariah
- Malachi
New Testament
- Matthew *
- The Gospel of Matthew
- John Mark *
- The Gospel of Mark
- Luke *
- The Gospel of Luke
- Acts
- John *
- The Gospel of John
- 1st John
- 2nd John
- 3rd John
- Revelation
- Paul *
- Romans
- 1st Corinthians
- 2nd Corinthians
- Galatians
- Ephesians
- Philippians
- Colossians
- 1st Thessalonians
- 2nd Thessalonians
- 1st Timothy
- 2nd Timothy
- Titus
- Philemon
- Unknown *
- Hebrews
- James *
- James
- Peter
- 1st Peter
- 2nd Peter
- Jude *
- Jude
Notes, by Book
Genesis – Deuteronomy:
Moses’ authorship is assumed, but many assume that a number of different authors contributed to the final version.
Deuteronomy:
Tradition assumes that the section detailing Moses’ death was added later by Joshua.
Joshua:
It’s assumed that the section detailing Joshua’s death was added later.
Esther:
It’s presumed that Esther was compiled from Mordecai’s personal notes after his death.
Psalms:
The psalms were written by David, Asaph, Ethan, Ezra, Heman, Moses, the sons of Korah, and unnamed others
Matthew:
Jesus’ disciple, also known as Levi
Mark:
John Mark was a ministry companion of the disciple Peter
Luke/Acts:
Luke was a ministry companion of the apostle Paul
John:
Jesus’ disciple, the brother of James
Romans – Philemon:
Paul was also known as Saul of Tarsus
Hebrews:
Presumed to be Paul, possibly Luke, Barnabas, or Apollos
James:
Also called Jacob, brother of Jesus and Jude
1st and 2nd Peter:
Jesus’ disciple, also known as Cephas, Simon, and Simon Peter
1st, 2nd, and 3rd John:
Jesus’ disciple, brother of James
Jude:
Not a disciple, but the brother of Jesus and James
Revelation:
Jesus’ disciple, brother of James
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