Apostle Paul

The Bible is the most readable book in the world, in addition, millions of people build their lives on it.
What is known about the authors of the Bible?
According to religious doctrine, the author of the Bible is God himself.
Research has shown that the Bible was written and revised over 1000 years by different authors in different historical eras.

As for the actual historical evidence of who wrote the Bible, it's a longer story.

Who wrote the Bible: the first five books


Portrait of Moses by Rembrandt

According to Jewish and Christian dogma, the books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy (the first five books of the Bible and the entire Torah) were written by Moses around 1300 BC. The problem is that there is no evidence that Moses ever existed.
Scholars have developed their own approach to who wrote the first five books of the Bible, largely using internal clues and writing style. It turned out that there were many authors, but they all diligently wrote in the same style.
Their names are unknown and scientists themselves gave them conventional names:

Eloist - wrote the first collection of the Bible in the first chapter of Genesis, around 900 BC
Yahweh - believed to be the author of most of Genesis and some chapters of Exodus, circa 600 BC. during Jewish rule in Babylon. Considered the author of the chapters on the emergence of Adam.


Destruction of Jerusalem under the rule of Babylon.

Aaron (high priest, brother of Moses in Jewish tradition), lived in Jerusalem at the end of the 6th century BC. He wrote about kosher laws and the holiness of the Sabbath - that is, he practically created the foundations of the modern Jewish religion. Wrote all of Leviticus and Numbers.


King Josiah


Joshua and Yahweh stop the sun in one place during the battle of Gibeon.

The following answers to the question of who wrote the Bible come from the books of Joshua, Judges, Samuel and Kings, which are believed to have been written during the Babylonian captivity in the mid-sixth century BC. Traditionally thought to have been written by Joshua and Samuel himself, they now often collide with Deuteronomy due to their similar style and language.

However, there is a significant gap between the "discovery" of Deuteronomy under Josiah in 640 BC and the middle of the Babylonian captivity somewhere around 550 BC. However, it is possible that some of the youngest priests who were alive in Josiah's time were still alive when Babylon took the entire country captive.

Whether it was these Deuteronomy-era priests or their successors who wrote Joshua, Judges, Samuel and Kings, these texts present a highly mythologized history of their newfound people through the Babylonian captivity.


Jews forced to work during their time in Egypt.
A complete and accurate examination of all the texts of the Bible suggests only one conclusion: religious doctrines attribute the authorship of the Bible to God and the prophets, but this version does not stand up to the test of science.
There are a great many authors, they lived in different historical eras, wrote entire chapters, while historical truth is intertwined with mythology.
As for the most famous prophet-authors of the Bible, Isaiah and Jeremiah, there is indirect evidence that they existed.


Gospels. The four Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John tell the story of the life and death of Jesus Christ (and what happened after that). These books are named after Jesus' apostles, although the actual authors of the books may have simply used these names.

The author of the first Gospel to be written may have been Mark, who then inspired Matthew and Luke (John was different from them). In any case, the evidence suggests that Acts appears to have been written at the same time (late 1st century AD) by the same author.

Who wrote the Bible? Where did she come from?

Priest Afanasy Gumerov, resident of the Sretensky Monastery, answers:

The Bible consists of the sacred books of the Old and New Testaments. These texts were written by inspired writers at the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. They contain Divine revelations about God, the world and our salvation. The authors of biblical texts were holy people - prophets and apostles. Through them, God gradually (as humanity matured spiritually) revealed truths. The greatest of them is about the Savior of the world Jesus Christ. He is the spiritual heart of the Bible. His incarnation, death on the cross for our sins and Resurrection are the main events of the entire human history. The Old Testament books contain prophecies about this, and the Holy Gospel and other New Testament texts tell about their fulfillment.

The books of the Old Testament as canonical sacred texts were collected into a single corpus in the middle of the 5th century. BC St. righteous men: Ezra, Nehemiah, Malachi and others. The canon of the New Testament holy books was finally determined by the Church in the 4th century.

The Bible is given to all mankind. Reading it must begin with the Gospel, and then turn to the Acts of the Apostles and the Epistles. Only after understanding the New Testament books should one proceed to the Old Testament books. Then the meaning of prophecies, types and symbols will be clear. In order to perceive the Word of God undistorted, it is useful to turn to the interpretations of the holy fathers or researchers based on their heritage.

Where did the Bible come from?

The word “Bible” translated from ancient Greek means “books” (cf. the word “library”), so it is not one book, but a whole collection of books. They were written by men, Christians believe, inspired by the Holy Spirit. And then other people saved and rewrote these books, because no original is eternal, and determined which of the books would be included in the Holy Scriptures.

The biblical authors lived in different countries at different times and spoke different languages– Hebrew and Aramaic ( Old Testament) and ancient Greek ( New Testament). But the point is not only about language in the strictly linguistic sense of the word; the language of culture is no less important. If the Bible originated in Japan, on its pages we would find cherry blossoms and samurai swords, and if in Australia, then boomerangs and kangaroos.

People also called the Bible the Bible. A book can become Holy Scripture only in a community of believers who recognize its authority, determine its canon (exact composition), interpret it, and finally preserve it. Christians believe that all this happened under the influence of the same Holy Spirit who prompted the authors of the biblical books to write. In the same way, we still need the Spirit today to truly understand what is written. But the Spirit does not abolish human individuality and freedom; rather, on the contrary, it allows it to reveal itself in full. And this means that the Evangelist Mark wrote completely differently than John, the prophet Isaiah - not like the prophet Jeremiah. To understand what they said, you need to take into account the personal characteristics of each of them, and what unites them.

In those days there was neither a printing press nor the Internet, and books were copied by hand, usually on a very short-lived material - papyrus. It’s hard to believe, but even in the time of the apostles, such book details as are familiar today, such as a table of contents, notes, punctuation, or even spaces between words, did not exist. The Jews, however, made spaces between words, but they did not indicate most vowels in writing. The famous phrase “to execute cannot be pardoned” is a minor difficulty compared to the questions that may arise when interpreting the biblical text.

Therefore, biblical manuscripts are far from identical - in fact, anyone who has ever copied notes knows that there are no two completely identical manuscripts in the world. The originals did not reach us, and distortions and discrepancies inevitably crept into copies from copies, and sometimes the meaning of old words was forgotten, and then a careful copyist, trying to correct the absurdities or inaccuracies of the text lying in front of him, took it even further from the original.

But then, perhaps, there is no single Bible at all, but only many manuscripts, similar in some ways and different from each other in others? This is, perhaps, what would have happened in the end if there had not been a community of believers who consider this collection of books their Holy Scripture, carefully pass it on from generation to generation, and are engaged in its interpretation and study. That is, the Bible is, first of all, a book born in the Church, although everyone can read and try to understand it, regardless of their beliefs and religion.

Among the thousands of biblical manuscripts that have reached us, no two are exactly alike, but one can only be surprised that there are none in which we would find some fundamentally different teachings - for example, that heaven and earth were not created by One God or that this God allowed killing , stealing and perjury. Although the Greek version of the book of Esther is a third longer than the Hebrew one, and in this full version we see a lot of additional details, but it's exactly the same story.

So what is the Bible?

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Not all people can answer the question: what is the Bible, although it is the most famous and widespread book on the planet. For some it is a spiritual landmark, for others it is a story that describes several thousand years of the existence and development of mankind.

This article provides answers to frequently asked questions: who invented the Holy Scripture, how many books are in the Bible, how old it is, where it came from, and at the end there will be a link to the text itself.

What is the Bible

The Bible is a collection of writings compiled by different authors. The Holy Scriptures are written in different literary styles, and the interpretation comes from these styles. The purpose of the Bible is to bring the words of the Lord to people.

The main topics are:

  • creation of the world and man;
  • the fall and expulsion of people from paradise;
  • life and faith of the ancient Jewish peoples;
  • the coming of the Messiah to earth;
  • life and suffering of the Son of God Jesus Christ.

Who wrote the Bible

The Word of God was written by different people and in different time. Its creation was carried out by holy people close to God - apostles and prophets.

Through their hands and minds, the Holy Spirit brought the truth and righteousness of God to people.

How many books are in the Bible

The composition of the Russian Holy Scripture Orthodox Church includes 77 books. The Old Testament is based on 39 canonical writings and 11 non-canonical ones.

The Word of God, written after the Nativity of Christ, contains 27 sacred books.

What language is the Bible written in?

The first chapters were written in the language of the ancient Jews - Hebrew. The texts compiled during the life of Jesus Christ were written in Aramaic.

Over the next few centuries, the Word of God was written in Greek. Seventy interpreters were involved in the translation into Greek from Aramaic. Servants of the Orthodox Church use texts translated by interpreters.

The first Slavic Holy Scripture was translated from Greek and is the first book to appear in Rus'. The translation of the sacred collections was entrusted to the brothers Cyril and Methodius.

During the reign of Alexander I, biblical texts were translated from Slavic into Russian. Then the Synodal translation appeared, which is also popular in the modern Russian Church.

Why is this the Holy Book of Christians

The Bible is not just a holy book. This is a handwritten source of human spirituality. From the pages of Scripture people draw wisdom sent by God. The Word of God is a guide for Christians in their worldly life.

Through Biblical texts the Lord communicates with people. Helps you find answers to the most difficult questions. The books of the Holy Scriptures reveal the meaning of existence, the secrets of the origin of the world and the definition of man’s place in this world.

By reading the Word of God, a person comes to know himself and his actions. Becomes closer to God.

Gospel and Bible - what is the difference

The Holy Scriptures are a collection of books divided into the Old and New Testaments. The Old Testament describes the time from the creation of the world until the coming of Jesus Christ.

The Gospel is the part that makes up the Bible texts. Included in the New Testament portion of Scripture. In the Gospel, the description begins from the birth of the Savior to the Revelation, which he gave to His Apostles.

The Gospel consists of several works written by different authors and tells the story of the life of Jesus Christ and His deeds.

What parts does the Bible consist of?

Biblical texts are divided into canonical and non-canonical parts. Non-canonical ones include those that appeared after the creation of the New Testament.

The structure of the canonical part of Scripture includes:

  • legislative: Genesis, Exodus, Deuteronomy, Numbers and Leviticus;
  • historical content: those that describe the events of holy history;
  • poetic content: Psalms, Proverbs, Song of Songs, Ecclesiastes, Job;
  • prophetic: writings of great and minor prophets.

Non-canonical texts are also divided into prophetic, historical, poetic and legislative.

Orthodox Bible in Russian - text of the Old and New Testaments

Reading Biblical texts begins with the desire to know God's Word. The clergy advise the laity to begin reading from the pages of the New Testament. After reading the New Testament books, a person will be able to understand the essence of the events described in the Old Testament.

To understand the meaning of what is written, you need to have at hand works that provide a decoding of the Holy Scriptures. An experienced priest or confessor can answer any questions you may have.

The Word of God can provide answers to many questions. Studying Bible texts is an important part of the life of every Christian. Through them, people come to know the grace of the Lord, become better people and move spiritually closer to God.

“It has served us well, this myth of Christ...” Pope Leo X, 16th century.

“Everything will be fine!” said God and created the Earth. Then he created the sky and all kinds of creatures in pairs, he also did not forget about vegetation, so that the creatures had something to eat, and, of course, he created man in his own image and likeness, so that there would be someone to dominate and make fun of at his mistakes and violations of the commandments of the Lord ...

Almost each of us is sure that this is what actually happened. What does the supposedly holy book, which is so ingenuously called, assure? "Book", only in Greek. But it was its Greek name that caught on, "Bible", from which in turn came the name of the book repositories - LIBRARIES.

But even here there is a deception, which few or no one pays attention to. Believers are well aware that this Book consists of 77 smaller books and two parts of the Old and. Does any of us know that hundreds other small books are not included in this big book only because the church “bosses” - the high priests - the intermediate link, the so-called intermediaries between people and God, decided so among themselves. Wherein changed several times not only the composition of the books included in the largest Book itself, but also the contents of these smallest books.

I am not going to analyze the Bible once again; before me, many wonderful people have read it with feeling, sense and understanding several times, who thought about what was written in “ holy scripture"and presented what they saw in their works, such as "Biblical Truth" by David Naidis, "Funny Bible" and "Funny Gospel" by Leo Texil, "Biblical Pictures..." by Dmitry Baida and Elena Lyubimova, "Crusade" by Igor Melnik. Read these books and you will learn about the Bible from a different perspective. Yes, and I am more than sure that believers do not read the Bible, because if they read it, it would be impossible not to notice so many contradictions, inconsistencies, substitution of concepts, deception and lies, not to mention calls for extermination of all the peoples of the Earth, God's chosen people. And these people themselves were destroyed several times at the root during the selection process, until their god selected a group of perfect zombies who very well assimilated all his commandments and instructions, and, most importantly, strictly followed them, for which they were pardoned with life and continuation sort of, and... new.

In this work, I want to draw your attention to what is not included in the above canonical books, or what hundreds of other sources say, no less interesting than the “holy” scripture. So, let's look at the biblical facts and more.

The first skeptic, who pointed out the impossibility of calling Moses the author of the Pentateuch (and this is what Christian and Jewish authorities assure us of), was a certain Persian Jew Khivi Gabalki, who lived in the 9th century. He noticed that in some books he talks about himself in the third person. Moreover, sometimes Moses allows himself extremely immodest things: for example, he can characterize himself as the meekest man of all people on earth (book of Numbers) or say: “...Israel never again had a prophet like Moses.”(Deuteronomy).

Further developed the topic Dutch materialist philosopher Benedict Spinoza, who wrote his famous “Theological-Political Treatise” in the 17th century. Spinoza “dug up” so many inconsistencies and outright blunders in the Bible - for example, Moses describes his own funeral - that no amount of inquisition could stop the growing doubts.

At the beginning of the 18th century, first the German Lutheran pastor Witter, and then the French physician Jean Astruc made the discovery that it consists of two texts with different primary sources. That is, some events in the Bible are told twice, and in the first version the name of God sounds like Elohim, and in the second - Yahweh. It turned out that virtually all the so-called books of Moses were compiled during the period of the Babylonian captivity of the Jews, i.e. much later, than the rabbis and priests claim, and clearly could not have been written by Moses.

Series of archaeological expeditions including the expedition of the Hebrew University, found no traces of such an epoch-making biblical event as the exodus of the Jewish people from this country in the 14th century BC. Not a single ancient source, be it papyrus or an Assyro-Babylonian cuneiform tablet, ever mentions the presence of Jews in Egyptian captivity at this time. There are references to the later Jesus, but not to Moses!

And Professor Zeev Herzog in the Haaretz newspaper summed up many years of scientific research on the Egyptian issue: “It may be unpleasant for some to hear and difficult to accept, but it is absolutely clear to researchers today that the Jewish people were not enslaved in Egypt and did not wander in the desert...” But the Jewish people were enslaved in Babylonia (modern) and adopted many legends and traditions from there, later including them in a revised form in the Old Testament. Among them was the legend of the global flood.

Josephus Flavius ​​Vespasian, the famous Jewish historian and military leader who allegedly lived in the 1st century AD, in his book “On the Antiquity of the Jewish People,” which was first published only in 1544, moreover, in Greek, establishes the number books of the so-called Old Testament in the amount of 22 units and says which books are not disputed, because they have been handed down from ancient times. He speaks of them in the following words:

“We don’t have a thousand books that disagree with each other and don’t refute one another; there are only twenty-two books that cover the entire past and are rightly considered Divine. Of these, five belong to Moses. They contain laws and legends about the generations of people who lived before his death - this is a period of almost three thousand years. The events from the death of Moses to the death of Artaxerxes, who reigned after Xerxes, were described in thirteen books by the prophets who lived after Moses, contemporaries of what was happening. The remaining books contain hymns to God and instructions to people on how to live. Everything that happened from Artaxerxes to our time is described, but these books do not deserve the same faith as the above-mentioned ones, because their authors were not in strict succession with the prophets. How we treat our books is evident in practice: so many centuries have passed, and no one dared to add anything to them, or take anything away, or rearrange anything; Jews have an innate belief in this teaching as Divine: it should be held firmly, and if necessary, then die for it with joy ... "