Books of The Bible: Complete List With Authors

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Many people like to memorize the list of the books of the Bible in the order they are found in their version of the Scriptures. This helps to find books and verses more quickly, and I encourage everyone who wants to use their Bible more effectively to do so.

But, how about memorizing the authors along with the books? Bible believers believe that God wrote the Bible using human writers. Learning who these writers were would give you a better understanding of the perspective of the book; assuming you know a little bit about the author.

In some cases the author is not absolutely known. I will first list the name of the commonly accepted author. If there are multiple people who possibly authored the book I will list them in descending order of common acceptance. There is much debate on some of the authors and probably won’t be definitively answered by us here, but you are welcome to comment as to why you think a certain person was the author of a particular book.

Old Testament

In the English Bible the Old Testament is arranged in groups based on the type of book. They are then arranged chronologically within their grouping. That means that some books towards the end of the Old Testament (in the section of the prophets) actually fit chronologically earlier in the Old Testament with the books of history.

Pentateuch

These are the books of the Law. These are also called the Books of Moses. This includes the first five books:

Genesis, written by Moses

Exodus, written by Moses

Leviticus, written by Moses

Numbers, written by Moses

Deuteronomy, written by Moses

The Books of History

The Books of history are so named because they contain historical records and these books include:

Joshua, written by Joshua (except the parts relating to his death)

Judges, written by Samuel, Nathan, Gad

Ruth, written by Samuel, Nathan, Gad

1 Samuel, written by Samuel, Nathan, Gad

2 Samuel, written by Samuel, Nathan, Gad

1 Kings, written by Jeremiah

2 Kings, written by Jeremiah

1 Chronicles, written by Ezra

2 Chronicles, written by Ezra

Ezra, written by Ezra

Nehemiah, written by Nehemiah, Ezra

Esther, written by Mordecai: It is probable that the book was compiled after his death based on his personal records

The Books Poetry

Bible believers believe that God wrote the Bible using human writers.

Also called the books of Writings include the following books:

Job, written by Job: Moses may have compiled the book based on Job’s records

Psalms, written by David, and several others including Asaph, Ezra, the sons of Korah, Heman, Ethan, Moses and a host of unnamed authors

Proverbs, written by Solomon: Agur and Lemuel are specifically named as the writers of Proverbs 30 and 31

Ecclesiastes, written by Solomon

Song of Solomon (also known as, Song of Songs or Canticles), written by Solomon: though this is debated

Major Prophets

The Major Prophets are so named because their books are longer, not because they are more important.

Isaiah, written by Isaiah

Jeremiah, written by Jeremiah

Lamentations, written by Jeremiah

Ezekiel, written by Ezekiel

Daniel, written by Daniel

Minor Prophets

The Minor Prophets are so named because they are shorter not because they are less important.

Hosea, written by Hosea

Joel, written by Joel

Amos, written by Amos

Obadiah, written by Obadiah

Jonah, written by Jonah

Micah, written by Micah

Nahum, written by Nahum

Habakkuk, written by Habakkuk

Zephaniah, written by Zephaniah

Haggai, written by Haggai

Zechariah, written by  Zechariah

Malachi, written by Malachi

New Testament

The New Testament is also divided into groups. All of these books were written in the first century AD.

Gospels

Matthew, written by Matthew

Mark, written by John Mark

Luke, written by Luke

John, written by John, the Apostle

History

Acts, written by Luke

Pauline Epistles

Romans, written by Paul

1 Corinthians, written by Paul

2 Corinthians, written by Paul

Galatians, written by Paul

Ephesians, written by Paul

Philippians, written by Paul

Colossians, written by Paul

1 Thessalonians, written by Paul

2 Thessalonians, written by Paul

1 Timothy, written by Paul

2 Timothy, written by Paul

Titus, written by Paul

Philemon, written by Paul

General Epistles

Hebrews, written by Paul, Luke, Barnabas, Apollos

James, written by James: there are several men named James who could have been the author. Most scholars say this is James the brother of Jesus and Jude (not the Apostle, brother of John).

1 Peter, written by Peter

2 Peter, written by Peter

1 John, written by John, the Apostle

2 John, written by John, the Apostle

3 John, written by John, the Apostle

Jude, written by Jude, the brother of Jesus and James, not the Apostle (Jude 17)

Prophecy

Revelation, written by John, the Apostle

One of the projects I remember from Bible college that came up often was to do research to show why it is believed that certain men wrote each book. I always enjoyed these projects and studying about the various ways scholars make a connection to a certain author. Of course, many of the books are very clear whom the author is because we are told in the book itself.

Then there is the book of Hebrews which gives no clear indication as to who the author might have been. Most people believe it was Paul because of how many other books in the same genre he wrote. However, Hebrews was written to the Jews and Paul focused his ministry on reaching Gentiles. The style of writing is not quite like Paul’s either. Yet, if Paul were to write a book with a purely Jewish audience in mind, it would probably come out to be written just like the book of Hebrews is.

I realize there are people who debate the authorship of various books for the purpose of tearing down the authority of the Bible. That is not my purpose here. It is simply to help you see that God used real people to pen His Word; and sometimes we don’t know who it was that God used. Regardless of who you believe wrote the book of Hebrews, or any other book, the important thing is to trust the content of God’s Word. He wants to have a relationship with man. He does this through His Holy Scriptures.

Want to read more about the history of the Bible? Take a look:

Why the Bible is Called the Bible

Tagged as: Bible List, Books of the Bible