This chronology is meant to give a rough overview of when the books of the Old Testament took place or were written.  Due to the fact that some centuries change in the middle of a chapter and some prophets served in two different centuries, there is some repetition that takes place in the table below.  The Psalms have been intentionally omitted because they were written over a period of many centuries by a number of different authors.

See also the Chronology of the Prophets, the Chronology of the Old Testament Kings, and the Chronology of Latter Prophets and Intertestamental Period for more information.

Date (BC)Historical and Poetical Books:Prophetical Books:
?-1500sGenesis
Job (life)?
1400sExodus
Leviticus
Numbers
Deuteronomy
Job (life/written)?
1300sJoshua
Judges 1-3
1200sJudges 3-5
1100sJudges 5:31-10
Ruth
1000sJudges 11-21
1 & 2 Samuel
1 Chronicles 10-22
900s1 Kings 1-16
1 Chronicles 23 – 2 Chronicles 15
Proverbs
Ecclesiastes
Song of Songs
Job (written)?
800s1 Kings 16 – 2 Kings 13
2 Chronicles 16-24
Joel
Obadiah
700s2 Kings 13-18
2 Chronicles 25-32
Amos
Hosea
Isaiah
Jonah
Micah
600s2 Kings 19-24
2 Chronicles 33-36
Hosea
Jeremiah
Daniel 1
Micah
Nahum
Habakkuk
Zephaniah
500s2 Kings 24-25
2 Chronicles 36
Ezra 1-6
Jeremiah
Lamentations
Ezekiel
Daniel
Haggai
Zechariah
400sEzra 7-10
Nehemiah
Esther
Malachi

Referenced for this table: Edwin R. Thiele’s The Mysterious Numbers of the Hebrew Kings and John Schaller’s Book of Books