These priests claim to have a knowledge of the authorship of all, or nearly all, the books of the Bible. With one or two exceptions, they have assigned authors to all the books of the Old Testament, and to these exceptions they have even assigned "probable" authors. They also claim a great antiquity for them--claim that they were written from four hundred to fifteen hundred years before the Christian era. The books of the New Testament, they affirm, were all written in the first century, and by those whose names they bear. The following table gives the authorship and date of composition, according to orthodox authorities, of the books composing the Protestant canon. It is not claimed that every book was written in the year assigned for its composition, but that it was written in or prior to the year assigned. Old Testament. BOOK AUTHOR DATE Genesis Moses B.C. 1451 Exodus ,, ,, ,, Leviticus ,, ,, ,, Numbers ,, ,, ,, Deuteronomy ,, ,, ,, Joshua Joshua ,, 1426 Judges Samuel ,, 1049 Ruth ,, (?) ,, ,, 1 Samuel ,, ,, ,, 2 Samuel Gad & Nathan B.C. 1016 1 Kings Jeremiah ,, 600 2 Kings ,, ,, ,, 1 Chronicles Ezra ,, 456 2 Chronicles ,, ,, ,, Ezra ,, ,, ,, Nehemiah Nehemiah ,, 433 Esther Mordecai (?) ,, 440 Job Job ,, 1520 Psalms David ,, 1020 Proverbs Solomon ,, 980 Ecclesiastes ,, ,, ,, S. of Solomon ,, ,, 1016 Isaiah Isaiah ,, 700 Jeremiah Jeremiah ,, 585 Lamentations ,, ,, ,, Ezekiel Ezekiel ,, 575 Daniel Daniel ,, 534 Hosea Hosea ,, 780 Joel Joel ,, 800 Amos Amos ,, 785 Obadiah Obadiah ,, 588 Jonah Jonah ,, 856 Micah Micah ,, 700 Nahum Nahum ,, 698 Habakkuk Habakkuk ,, 600 Zephaniah Zephaniah ,, 609