What Is the Oldest Book in the Bible?

While we don’t know with certainty and it’s not a matter of faith and morals, the Book of Genesis appears to be the oldest.

“The vast stretch of Jewish and Christian tradition credits” the Pentateuch (the first five books of the Bible, include Genesis) to Mosaic authorship and being written during the lifetime of the patriarch, according to The Ignatius Catholic Study Bible—Genesis. That would mean “either the 1400s or 1200s B.C.” (p. 7).

In contrast, modern scholars put the beginning of the composition at about 900 B.C. and a finish date of about 400 B.C. Yet even “most who adopt this view acknowledge that the stories in Genesis are often much older than their written form, and some would allow that certain parts of its contents may indeed be Mosaic in origin.” Indeed, “Studies of the Book of Genesis within its Near Eastern context tend to confirm both the antiquity and the authenticity of its traditions” (Ibid.)

Another claimant is the Book of Job. According to The Ignatius Catholic Study Bible—Job, “Scholarship has assigned dates to the book as early as Mosaic times and as late as Maccabean times. Most scholars assume positions somewhere between these two extremes, with a majority preferring a date between the seven and the fourth century B.C.” for when the book appeared in written form (p. 13).