<P> The four tables give the most commonly accepted dates or ranges of dates for the Old Testament / Hebrew Bible, the Deuterocanonical books (included in Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox bibles, but not in the Hebrew and Protestant bibles) and the New Testament, including, where possible, hypotheses about their formation - history . </P> <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>

When do we believe the new testament was first written down