Who Wrote the Bible?

Answer 1

The Hebrew Bible was written by the prophets named in each of the books. The Torah was God's teaching, written by Moses (Deuteronomy 31), who also wrote Job. Joshua wrote his book. Samuel wrote his book, Judges, and Ruth. Jeremiah wrote his book, Lamentations, and Kings. Isaiah and Ezekiel each wrote their book, as did the Twelve Minor Prophets, and Ezra and Nehemiah. Ezra also wrote Chronicles. Solomon wrote the Song of Songs, Proverbs, and Ecclesiastes. Mordecai and Esther wrote the book of Esther. King David wrote the Psalms.

The above information, with further detail, is provided in the Talmud, Bava Bathra 14.

Answer 2

The New Testament passage of II Timothy 3:16 states that "All Scripture is inspired (or God-breathed)." This is primarily referring to the Old Testament but also informs our understanding of the New Testament. Over 40 men (led by God) wrote the words of the Bible (about 30 in the Old Testament and 10 in the New Testament). The books of the Old Testament were written over hundreds of years and were recognized as a whole around the time of Jesus. He quotes from the Old Testament (earlier called the Hebrew Bible) as authoritative. The New Testament was affirmed (canonized) by the 5th century though the books were treated as authoritative as early as the second century.