What language was the Old Testiment written?

Answer 1

The quick answer is Egypt, Israel, Cyprus, Turkey, Syria, Jordan, Italy, Greece, and some unknown locations.

Understanding why the quick answer is not just one place requires more information. The Christian "Holy Bible" is a composition of "books" originally written on scrolls, and was not written in one place or at one time.

The Old Testament is also known as the "Torah." This is the most widely used and respected Jewish religious text. Until the 2nd century BC, the Jewish laws and traditions were passed down verbally to each generation. Sometime during the 2nd and 1st centuries BC, Jewish law and tradition was written down by a group of Jews in Egypt. Later, the text was rewritten by Jewish church leaders into what we know as the "Torah" today.

Christians accept the The Old Testament, but also accept the New Testament as divinely inspired by God. The New Testament is a composition of letters written by the apostles of Jesus. The authors of each book are known or debated with the exception of Hebrews. Each book (or letter) was written soon after the death of Jesus in the 1st century AD. The last book was written by John while in an island prison possibly at the age of 90. The locations of the original works are known to be Rome, at sea on the Mediterranean, Jerusalem, Cyprus, Greece, and various other unknown locations.

Answer 2

Traditionally, Moses is thought to have written the first five books of the Old Testament, with the remainder written in Israel, Judah and Babylon.

however, some scholars now say that it is clear that Moses did not write any of the Old Testament, and that the scriptures only began to be written many centuries after the time attributed to Moses. Most of the Old Testament was in the southern Hebrew kingdom of Judah, both before and after the Babylonian Exile, with some material written in Babylon during the Exile.

Answer 3

AnswerWhat we now know as the Old Testament was written in a series of informal and formal stages, at first as quite separate books. For a long time, only the first five books of the Old Testament were considered truly scriptural by the Jews, with no certainty as to which of the many other candidate books would one day be included in the Hebrew Bible and this the Christian Old Testament.

From the very earliest times of the Hebrew people, oral traditions were being passed on, about notions of creation, a great Flood and the origins of the Hebrew people. Sometime around the ninth century BCE, an anonymous source living in the southern kingdom of Judah wrote down the traditions that his people followed. This source is unknown, but is referred to by modern scholars as the Yahwist, or 'J Source', because he used the name Yahweh (YHWH) when referring to his God. Probably a century or so later, another anonymous source wrote down, separately, the traditions that the people of the northern kingdom of Israel followed. This second source is now known as the Elohist because he consistently used the name Elohim when referring to his God. Probably some time after the destruction of Israel in 722 BCE, a redactor, 'JE', merged the two accounts into a single scroll, which would later become the basis for the Book of Genesis.

During the seventh century BCE, King Josiah of Judah began to undertake major religious reforms, which included the establishment of monotheistic Judaism as the official religion of Judah. It is believed that the first book to be written as part of his 'Deuteronomistic reforms' was the Book of Deuteronomy. The anonymous author of that book, now known as the Deuteronomist, was also responsible for the series of books now known as the Deuteronomic History - Joshua, Judges, 1 Samuel, 2 Samuel, 1 Kings and 2 Kings.

The Babylonian Exile and the Persian Period saw the flowering Jewish religious writings and included some scriptures that would form an important part of the Old Testament, such as Chronicles, Psalms, additions to Isaiah, Ezekiel, Proverbs and others.

Answer 4

According to tradition: From 1312 BCE (during Moses' lifetime) and until one thousand years later (Ezra).

The Torah (the Five Books of Moses):According to tradition, the Torah was given by God to Moses (Exodus 24:12) in 1312 BCE. Moses taught it to the people (Exodus ch.34), and put it in writing before his death (Deuteronomy 31:24) in 1272 BCE. (See: more about Moses)
Nevi'im (the Prophets):

Jewish tradition (Talmud, Bava Batra 14b) states that the prophetic books were written by the authors whose names they bear: Joshua, Samuel, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, etc. Judges was written by Samuel, and Kings was written by Jeremiah. The prophetic books were written in the time of the prophets, from the 1200s BCE (Joshua) to the mid-300s BCE (Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi).

See: More about Samuel, and see: How many Isaiahs?

Ketuvim (the Writings):

Jewish tradition (Talmud, Bava Batra 14b) states that the Writings were written by the authors whose names they bear: Daniel, Ezra and Nehemiah. Ruth was written by Samuel; Lamentations was written by Jeremiah; Psalms was set in writing by King David; Chronicles was written by Ezra; Proverbs, Song of Songs and Kohellet (Ecclesiastes) were written by King Solomon; and Esther was written by Mordecai and Esther. The Writings were written between 900 BCE (Ruth) to the mid-300s BCE (Esther, Daniel, Chronicles, Ezra and Nehemiah).
Concerning Job, the Talmud states more than one opinion as to when it was written.

Hebrew Bible Canon:

Our tradition is that from the time of the First Destruction, God's presence was no longer felt as clearly as before (see Deuteronomy 31:17-18). In addition, exile is not conducive to prophecy (Mechilta, parshat Bo). At that time, the last of the prophets realized that prophecy would soon cease; and that the dispersal of the Jewish people, plus the almost continuous tribulations from the First Destruction onward, made it imperative to seal the canon of the Tanakh (Hebrew Bible). The Sages of the time, including the last living prophets, convened a special synod for a couple of decades, which was called the Men of the Great Assembly (Mishna, Avot ch.1). This group, who functioned around 340 BCE, composed the blessings and the basic prayers of the siddur (prayerbook) and the early portions of the Passover Haggadah, made many of the Rabbinical decrees, and (most importantly) sealed the canon of the Tanakh. It was they, for example, who set the twelve Minor Prophets as (halakhically) a single book, and who set the books of the Tanakh in their traditional order (see Talmud, Bava Batra 14b). It was the Men of the Great Assembly whom Esther had to approach when she felt that the Divinely inspired Scroll of Esther should be included in the canon (see Talmud, Megilla 7a).
Since the sealing of the Tanakh, no Jewish sage has ever claimed prophecy.

Order of the Tanakh's books:
The Hebrew Bible is in chronological order: first the five books of the Torah, since they were given before any of the other prophetic books. Then Joshua, Judges, Samuel and Kings in that order, since that is chronological. Ruth (and others) could be before Kings, but we keep the Prophets and Writings separate.
After Kings, we have Isaiah, Jeremiah and Ezekiel, which is in chronological order. All three of them lived well after the kings had already started.
The Twelve Minor Prophets, who also lived during the latter part of the era of the Kings, are gathered together in a single book of their own.
Then we have the Writings. Psalms, Proverbs and Job are together since they (and none of the other books) are a specific type of poetry ("Taamei Emet", with special trope).
The Five Megillot (Song of Songs, Ruth, Eichah, Kohellet, Esther) are together, in the order in which they're read in the synagogue.
Finally, the books of Daniel, Ezra-Nehemiah and Chronicles were written in the end of the prophetic period.

Importance of the Tanakh:

The Tanakh is important because it tells the history of the ancient Israelites, as well as giving us the teachings of the Israelite prophets and kings, and the laws, ethics and beliefs of the Jewish religion.Our tradition is that the Hebrew Bible is from God (Exodus 24:12), given to us to provide knowledge, guidance, inspiration, awe and reverence, advice, law, comfort, history and more. It is the basis of Judaism. It crystallized, strengthened and codified our beliefs; insured our awareness and knowledge of our identity and history; and provided powerful impetus to be ethical.
It made us stand in awe of God, while also providing optimism and comfort through the prophecies of redemption. It inspired us to strive for holiness and informed us how to pray and to approach God's presence.
And it set detailed laws, practices and traditions for the Jewish people forever.

See also:

Jewish history timeline

How is the Hebrew Bible presented?

How was the Torah written?

Refuting the Bible-critics

Answer 5

The Five Books of Moses were written by him in the Sinai wilderness. The rest of the Israelite Prophets wrote their Books in what is now Israel (ancient Judah and Israel combined). The exceptions are Ezekiel and Daniel, which were written in Babylon. See also:

Who wrote these Books?

How accurate are they?

Answer 6

It is generally agreed that the Old Testament was written mostly in Hebrew and in some later portions in Aramaic in its first forms.

Answer 7

The Old Testament is part of The Bible. It is the first section of the Bible and includes the books Genesis to Malachi.