The History of the Old Testament

When were the books of the Old Testament written? Do we know? Well, we don't know. We only know for sure that they were written by what time we get to about the 3rd century BC when we know they were translated into Greek. Most people think there are some texts in the Old Testament which might go back into the 10th or even 11th centuries BC. But the main body of material really only starts to get written in the 8th and 7th centuries. So it's a period of six or seven centuries in which the material gets written.