The Bible gives no exact year
The book of Exodus never says, “I was written in this year.” It tells the story of Israel’s rescue from Egypt, their journey to Sinai, and God’s covenant with them, but it does not attach a publication date to the account. So an honest answer leaves some room for uncertainty.
People sometimes mean two different things by this question. They may ask when the exodus from Egypt happened, or when the book of Exodus was put into writing. Those are related questions, but they are not the same. Exodus presents its events as taking place in Moses’ generation, while its final writing date is not stated.
Why Moses is traditionally connected with Exodus
The strongest biblical reason for linking Exodus with Moses is that God directly told him to record certain events. After Israel’s battle with Amalek, Moses was instructed to write a memorial of it in a book (Exodus 17:14). Later, at Sinai, Moses wrote down the words and judgments God had given the people (Exodus 24:4).
God also told Moses to write the covenant words spoken on the mountain (Exodus 34:27). Numbers says Moses recorded Israel’s stages of travel at the Lord’s command (Numbers 33:2). These passages do not explicitly say that Moses alone wrote every line of Exodus, but they show that writing formed part of his God-given work.
And Moses wrote all the words of the Lord, and rose up early in the morning, and builded an altar under the hill, and twelve pillars, according to the twelve tribes of Israel.
The wider Bible calls it Moses’ book
Later biblical books regularly connect God’s law with Moses. Near the end of his life, Moses is said to have finished writing the words of the law in a book (Deuteronomy 31:24). Joshua was then told to live by what was written in the book of the law of Moses (Joshua 1:7-8).
Jesus spoke of “the book of Moses” when referring to God’s words from the burning bush, an event recorded in Exodus (Mark 12:26). He also said that Moses wrote of him (John 5:46). For this reason, many Christians understand Exodus as part of the writings handed down through Moses.
And as touching the dead, that they rise: have ye not read in the book of Moses, how in the bush God spake unto him, saying, I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob?
What can we say with confidence?
The traditional view is that Moses wrote Exodus, probably as Israel travelled from Egypt towards the promised land, or as he prepared them to live faithfully under God’s covenant. On that view, the book was written after the escape from Egypt and before Moses’ death. But Scripture does not supply the precise year, so we need not pretend it does.
Some modern readers and scholars think the book reached its final form through a longer process of preserving and arranging Israel’s memories and laws. Faithful Christians differ over that question. Either way, Exodus itself invites us to focus on the God who heard his people’s cries, redeemed them, and called them into covenant life (Exodus 3:7-8; Exodus 19:4-6). Reading the book closely is a better starting point than forcing an exact date it does not provide.