Traditional attribution Religious tradition ascribes
authorship of the Torah to Moses. In later Biblical texts, such as Daniel 9:11 and Ezra 3:2, it is referred to as the "
Torah (Law) of Moses". However, the Torah itself credits Moses with writing only some specific sections. It is theorized that Moses would have lived in the
2nd millennium BCE, but this was before the development of Hebrew writing. The Torah is dated to the
1st millennium BCE after Israel and Judah had already developed as states. Nevertheless, "it is highly likely that extensive oral transmission of proverbs, stories, and songs took place during this period", and these may have been included in the Hebrew Bible. Elements of Genesis 12–50, which describes the
patriarchal age, and the Book of Exodus may reflect
oral traditions. In these stories, Israelite ancestors such as Jacob and Moses use
trickery and deception to survive and thrive. King
David () is credited as the author of at least 73 of the Biblical
Psalms. His son,
Solomon, is identified as the author of
Book of Proverbs,
Ecclesiastes, and
Song of Solomon. The Hebrew Bible describes their reigns as a
golden age when Israel flourished both culturally and militarily. However, there is no archeological evidence for this, and it is most likely a "retrospective extrapolation" of conditions under King
Jeroboam II ( BCE).
Before the exile Modern scholars, like
Israel Finkelstein, believe that the ancient Israelites mostly originated from within Canaan. Their material culture was closely related to their Canaanite neighbors, and Hebrew was a
Canaanite dialect. Archaeological evidence indicates Israel began as loosely organized tribal villages in the
hill country of modern-day Israel . During crises, these tribes formed temporary alliances. The
Book of Judges, written (around 500 years after the events it describes), portrays Israel as a grouping of decentralized tribes, and the
Song of Deborah in Judges 5 may reflect older oral traditions. It features archaic elements of Hebrew and a
tribal list that identifies Israel exclusively with the northern tribes. By the 9th or 8th centuries BCE, the
scribal culture of Samaria and Judah was sufficiently developed to produce biblical texts. The Kingdom of Samaria was more powerful and culturally advanced than the Kingdom of Judah. It also featured multiple cultic sites, including the sanctuaries at
Bethel and
Dan. Scholars estimate that the Jacob tradition (Genesis 25–35) was first written down in the 8th century BCE and probably originated in the north because the stories occur there. Based on the prominence given to the sanctuary at Bethel (Genesis 28), these stories were likely preserved and written down at that religious center. This means the Jacob cycle must be older than the time of King
Josiah of Judah (), who pushed for the centralization of worship at Jerusalem. The story of Moses and the
Exodus appears to also originate in the north. It existed as a self-contained story in its oral and earliest written forms, but it was connected to the patriarchal stories during the exile or post-exile periods. The account of Moses's birth (
Exodus 2) shows similarities to the birth of
Sargon of Akkad, which suggests
Neo-Assyrian influence sometime after 722 BCE. While the Moses story is set in Egypt, it is used to tell both an anti-Assyrian and anti-imperial message, all while appropriating Assyrian story patterns.
David M. Carr notes the possibility of an early oral tradition for the Exodus story: "To be sure, there may have been a 'Moses group,' themselves of Canaanite extraction, who experienced slavery and liberation from Egypt, but most scholars believe that such a group—if it existed—was only a small minority in early Israel, even though their story came to be claimed by all." Scholars believe
Psalm 45 could have northern origins since it refers to a king marrying a foreign princess, a policy of the
Omrides. Some psalms may have originated from the shrine in the northern city of Dan. These are the
Sons of Korah psalms,
Psalm 29, and
Psalm 68. The city of Dan probably became an Israelite city during the reign of King
Jeroboam II (781–742BCE). Before then, it belonged to
Aram, and
Psalm 20 is nearly identical to an
Aramaic psalm found in the 4th century BCE
Papyrus Amherst 63. The author of the
Books of Kings likely lived in Jerusalem. The text shows a clear bias favoring Judah, where God's worship was centralized in Jerusalem. The Kingdom of Samaria is portrayed as a godless breakaway region whose rulers refuse to worship at Jerusalem.
Fixing the canon The books that make up the Hebrew Bible were composed and edited in stages over several hundred years. According to biblical scholar
John J. Collins, "It now seems clear that all the Hebrew Bible received its final shape in the postexilic, or
Second Temple, period." Traditionally,
Moses was considered the author of the Torah, and this part of the Tanakh achieved authoritative or canonical status first, possibly as early as the 5th century BCE. This is suggested by
Ezra 7:6, which describes
Ezra as "a scribe skilled in the law (
torah) of Moses that the Lord the God of Israel had given". The Nevi'im had gained canonical status by the 2nd century BCE. There are references to the "Law and the Prophets" in the
Book of Sirach, the
Dead Sea Scrolls, and the
New Testament. The Book of Daniel, written , was not grouped with the Prophets presumably because the Nevi'im collection was already fixed by this time. The Ketuvim was the last part of the Tanakh to achieve canonical status. The prologue to the Book of Sirach mentions "other writings" along with the Law and Prophets but does not specify the content. The
Gospel of Luke refers to "the Law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms" (
Luke 24:44). These references suggest that the content of the Ketuvim remained fluid until the canonization process was completed in the 2nd-century CE. There is no scholarly consensus as to when the Hebrew Bible canon was fixed: some scholars argue that it was fixed by the
Hasmonean dynasty, while others argue it was not fixed until the second century CE or even later. The speculated late-1st-century
Council of Jamnia was once credited with fixing the Hebrew canon, but modern scholars believe there was no such authoritative council of rabbis. Between 70 and 100 CE, rabbis debated whether certain books "make the hands unclean" (meaning the books are holy and should be considered scripture), and references to fixed numbers of canonical books appear. There were several criteria for inclusion. Books had to be older than the 4th century BCE or attributed to an author who had lived before that period. The original language had to be Hebrew, and books had to be widely used. Many books considered scripture by certain Jewish communities were excluded during this time. . There are various
textual variants in the Hebrew Bible resulting from centuries of hand-copying.
Scribes introduced thousands of minor changes to the biblical texts. Sometimes, these changes were by accident. At other times, scribes intentionally added clarifications or theological material. In the Middle Ages, Jewish scribes produced the Masoretic Text, which became the authoritative version of the Tanakh.
Ancient Hebrew was written without vowels, but the Masoretes added vowel markings to the text to ensure accuracy. According to the
Talmud, much of the Tanakh was compiled by the men of the
Great Assembly (''Anshei K'nesset HaGedolah
), a task completed in 450 BCE, and it has remained unchanged ever since. The 24-book canon is mentioned in the Midrash Koheleth 12:12: Whoever brings together in his house more than twenty four books brings confusion''. ==Language and pronunciation==