Chronology of Jewish literature

On this page, you will find a chronological overview of Jewish literature, which means Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek texts related to the Jewish cult. No attempt has been made to include the five first books (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy) or the majority of the Psalms, because it is impossible to reconstruct the history of their composition. For similar reasons, the Scrolls of the Dead Sea have been left out. Most of the texts are included in the Bible, but some non-Biblical Jewish literature (e.g., the Enochite literature) has also been included. Many texts contain later interpolations.

Green	Included in the Jewish and Protestant Bible
Grey	Deuterocanonical: recognized by Catholics
Yellow	Enochite literature
Pink	Other

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Psalm 29, 68	Canaanitic?
Psalm 110	Davidic?
Proverbs 10-24	Tenth century			Oldest part of collection
	c.930	Sheshonq's campaign	Sheshonq's stela
	853	Battle of Qarqar	Kurkh stela
	c.845	Independence of Moab	Mesha stela
	c.820	Jehu pays tribute to Assyria	Black obelisk
Amos	c.760-750
Hosea	c.730
Micah 6-7	c.730
	c.724	Fall of Samaria	ABC 1
Micah 1	c.720
Isaiah, first stage	c.720			= Isaiah 2-9, 14-23, 28-31
	701	Fall of Lachish; siege of Jerusalem	Lachish reliefs
Proverbs 25-31	c.700
Ruth	c.700
Micah 2-3	Pre-exilic
Nahum	c.640
Zephaniah	c.630
Deuteronomistic History [1]	c.620			First stage
Isaiah, Josian redaction	c.620			= Isaiah 10-12, 32, 36-39
	612	Fall of Nineveh	ABC 3
Psalm 2, 20, 21, 72	Pre-exilic
Habakkuk	604-600
	597	First capture of Jerusalem	ABC 5
Jeremiah	600-587
	587	Fall of Jerusalem; Exile
Ezekiel	After 587
Lamentations	After 587
Obadiah	After 587
Micah 4-5	After 587
Deuteronomistic History [1]	c.550			Addition (2 Kings 23-25)
		Jehoiachin in Babylonia	ANET³ 308
Isaiah, second stage A	545-540			= Isaiah 13-14, 21, 33, 40-48
	539	Fall of Babylon; end of Exile	Cyrus Cylinder
Psalm 126, 137	Post-exilic
Micah 2-5 [2]	Post-exilic			Collection of prophecies
Isaiah, second stage B	c.520			= Isaiah 49-55
Isaiah, third stage A	c.500			= Isaiah 34-35, 60-62
Maleachi [3]	c.470
Isaiah, third stage B	Fifth century			= Isaiah 56-59, 63-66
Haggai [3]	c.450
Zechariah, part 1	c.450			= Zechariah 1-13
	c.450	Rebuilding of the Temple [3]
Proverbs 1-9	Fifth century			Youngest part of collection
Isaiah, third stage C	End fifth century			= Isaiah 1, 24-27
Joel?	c.400			Alternative date: c.600-586
Job	Fourth century
Esther	Fourth century			Chapters added in c.80
Jonah	Fourth century
Chronicles	Fourth century
Ezra-Nehemiah	after 336			a.k.a. 2 Esdras
	332	Alexander the Great
Song of Songs	After 332
Zechariah, part 2	After 332			= Zechariah 9-14
Epistle of Jeremiah	c.325
Astronomical Book	Third century			= 1 Enoch 72-82
Ecclesiastes	Third century
Book of Watchers	225-175			= 1 Enoch 1-36
Tobit	c.200
	202-195	Fifth Syrian War
Jesus Sirach	c.180			Original, Hebrew version
Epistle of Enoch	c.175			= 1 Enoch 91-108
Jubilees	c.175
	175-164	Antiochus IV Epiphanes
Daniel	165			Chapters added in c.100?
Death of Isaiah	c.165
Book of Dream Visions	165-160			= 1 Enoch 83-90
Baruch	163-162			a.k.a. 1 Baruch
Judith	c.150
Book of Giants	Second century
3 Ezra	c.125			a.k.a. 1 Esdras
Jesus Sirach	117			Greek translation
Letter of Aristeas	c.110
Prayer of Manasseh	150-50
1 Maccabees	c.100
2 Maccabees	c.100
Additions to Daniel	c.100?
Additions to Esther	80
	63	Romans take Jerusalem
3 Maccabees	First century
Book of Similitudes	First century			= 1 Enoch 37-71
Psalms of Solomon	c.45
	40-4 BCE	King Herod the Great
	6 CE	Annexation by the Romans
Assumption of Moses	c.25
2 ("Slavonic") Enoch	c.25
Wisdom	37-41
	70	Destruction of the Temple
4 Ezra	after 70
Flavius Josephus	75-100
4 Maccabees	c.100
2 ("Syriac") Baruch	100-117
3 ("Greek") Baruch	c.150

Note 1:
The Deuteronomistic History is the collection Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges, Samuel, Kings.

Note 2:
For the date of Micah 2-5 (a collection of prophecies dated to late pre-exilic, exilic, and early-post-exilic times), see J. Wagenaar, Judgement and Salvation: The Composition and Redaction of Micah 2-5 (2001 Leiden)

Note 3:
For the date of Haggai, Zechariah, and the rebuilding of the Temple, see Diana Edelman, The Origins of the 'Second' Temple (2005)