<P> Table I is a chronological overview . Table II treats the Old Testament / Hebrew Bible books, grouped according to the divisions of the Hebrew Bible with occasional reference to scholarly divisions . Table III gives the Deuterocanonical books . Table IV gives the books of the New Testament, including the earliest preserved fragments for each . </P> <P> This table summarises the chronology of the main tables and serves as a guide to the historical periods mentioned . Much of the Hebrew Bible or the Protocanonical Old Testament may have been assembled in the 5th century BCE . The New Testament books were composed largely in the second half of the 1st century CE . The Deuterocanonical books fall largely in between . </P> <Table> <Tr> <Th> Period </Th> <Th> Books </Th> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> Monarchic 8th--7th centuries BCE c. 745--586 BCE </Td> <Td> <Ul> <Li> Late 8th - early 7th: Amos (initial composition of earliest layer); "First Isaiah" (Isaiah 1--39), Hosea, Micah (second half). </Li> <Li> 7th: Nahum (based on its assumption of the fall of Thebes and call for the destruction of Nineveh), Zephaniah (in the reign of Josiah, c. 649--609 BCE), Habakkuk (possibly shortly before the battle of Carchemish, 605 BCE); first edition of the Deuteronomistic history (books of Joshua / Judges / Samuel / Kings) in the reign of Josiah; Deuteronomy 5--26 in the reign of Josiah . </Li> </Ul> </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> Exilic 6th century BCE 586--539 BCE </Td> <Td> <Ul> <Li> Core of Obadiah around the fall of Jerusalem, 586 BCE . </Li> <Li> Completion of Deuteronomistic history (Joshua / Judges / Samuel / Kings). </Li> <Li> Deuteronomy expanded with addition of chapters 1--4 and 29--30 to serve as an introduction to the Deuteronomistic history . </Li> <Li> Jeremiah active in the last decade of the 7th century and first decades of the 6th; </Li> <Li> Ezekiel active in Babylon 592--571 BCE; </Li> <Li> "Second Isaiah" (author of Isaiah 40--55) active in Babylon around mid-century . </Li> <Li> Expansion and reshaping of Hosea, Amos, Micah and Zephaniah . </Li> <Li> Possible early Psalms collection (psalms "of David") ending with psalm 89 . </Li> </Ul> </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> Post-exilic Persian 5th--4th centuries BCE 538--330 BCE </Td> <Td> <Ul> <Li> Torah (books of Genesis / Exodus / Leviticus / Numbers), with 250 BCE as terminus ad quem (last possible date) for the production of the final text on the basis of the extant manuscript evidence . </Li> <Li> Deuteronomy revised with expansions to chapters 19--25 and addition of chapter 27 and 31--34 to serve as conclusion to the Torah . </Li> <Li> "Third Isaiah" (Isaiah 56--66) </Li> <Li> Later version (the Masoretic Hebrew version) of Jeremiah </Li> <Li> Haggai (self - dated to the second year of the Persian king Darius 520 BCE), </Li> <Li> Zechariah (chapters 1--8 contemporary with Haggai, chapters 9--14 from the 5th century) </Li> <Li> Malachi (5th century BCE, contemporaneous or immediately prior to the missions of Nehemiah and Ezra) </Li> <Li> Chronicles (between 400--250 BC, probably in the period 350--300 BCE) </Li> <Li> Origins of Ezra - Nehemiah (may have reached its final form as late as the Ptolemaic period, c. 300--200 BCE). </Li> </Ul> </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> Post-exilic Hellenistic 3rd--2nd centuries BCE 330--164 BCE </Td> <Td> <Ul> <Li> Job, Ecclesiastes and the Song of Songs (Could have been written in the 4th or even 5th centuries, but seem to reflect contact with Greek culture). </Li> <Li> Book of Jonah (Persian or Hellenistic, no later than 2nd century BCE). </Li> <Li> Most of the individual psalms making up the final third of the Book of Psalms . </Li> </Ul> </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> Maccabean / Hasmonean 2nd--1st centuries BCE 164--4 BCE </Td> <Td> <Ul> <Li> Daniel (164 BCE, combining newly - written visions, chapters 7--12, with the Persian and Hellenistic tales of chapters 1--6). </Li> <Li> 1 Maccabees / 2 Maccabees / 3 Maccabees / possibly 4 Maccabees; Tobit, Judith, Additions to Daniel and Additions to Esther </Li> <Li> Wisdom of Solomon late 1st century BCE or early to mid 1st century CE . </Li> </Ul> </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> Roman 1st century CE onward after 4 BCE </Td> <Td> <Ul> <Li> 4 Maccabees (after 63 BCE, probably mid-1st century CE). </Li> <Li> Wisdom of Solomon (late 1st century BCE or early to mid 1st century CE). </Li> <Li> New Testament (between c. 50--110 CE--see Table IV). </Li> </Ul> </Td> </Tr> </Table> <Tr> <Th> Period </Th> <Th> Books </Th> </Tr>

When were the earliest books of the bible written
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