"The Prophets" refers to a collection of books found in the Old Testament. Though the term is used in both the Hebrew Bible as well as the Christian Old Testament, they mean slightly different things. (Click ☰ to view their different arrangements.)
The Nebi'im
The so-called 'prophetic literature' forms the second division in the tripartite Hebrew Bible. It includes all the books (except Daniel and Lamentations) known as the prophetic books in the Christian Bible—which it refers to as the Latter Prophets)—but also the books of Joshua, Judges, Samuel and Kings (which, together form the Former Prophets). At first sight it seems puzzling to those brought up in the Western form of thinking that what seems clearly historical literature like Joshua-Kings should be considered prophetic. There is, however, a rather more wholesome tinge to the Hebrew view. Joshua-Kings do, indeed, record the history of Israel from about 13th-6th Cent BC. But they are not histories written from the Western point of view of what constititue history, which is history as a strictly human story, in which God does not come into consideration. These are histories written from a theological point of view; they narrate Israel's history as her life was lived out in relation to Yahweh and His dealings with her and her neighbours. As the prophets challenged by their oracles how Israel has lived and should live, so these histories challenge Israel to reflect on her life past and ask how then she should live. In this way, the Nebi'im makes fuller justice to the ministries of prophets such as Nathan, Elijah, Elishah.
Three other things about the Nebi'im is worth noting. 1) The books of 1 & 2 Samuel and 1 & 2 Kings are considered one book each; what we call 1 Kings, e.g., is simply the first scroll of the book of Kings. 2) The so-called Twelve Minor Prophets on our English Bible is grouped together into one book, the Book of the Twelve; all of them were short enough to fit into one scroll. 3) As noted above, the books of Daniel and Lamentations are not found in the Hebrew Nebi'im, but are included in the third division, the Ketuvim. The reason for this is uncertain. Possibly, they were written at a time when the canon of the Nebi'im was considered close.
The Prophets in the English Bible
The Prophets in the English Bible consists of the books of Isaiah to Malachi. It is customary in biblical studies to refer to these prophets as "the classical prophets" to distinguish them from those like Gad, Nathan, Abijah, Elijah and Elishah, e.g., whose oracles are reported only in the historical narratives.
In the English Bible, which follows the order found in the Septuagint, the Prophets are divided into two smaller collections:
Major Prophets, consisting of:
Isaiah
Jeremiah & Lamentations
Ezekiel, and
Daniel)
the Minor Prophets
Hosea
Joel
Amos
Obadiah
Jonah
Micah
Nahum
Habakkuk
Zephaniah
Haggai
Zechariah, and
Malachi.
Many commentators also find it useful sometimes to refer to the prophets as the pre-exilic prophets, i.e., those whose ministries occurred before the Babylonian exile (Amos, Isaiah, Micah, Hosea, Jonah), the exilic prophets (Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Habakkuk), and the post-exilic prophets (Haggai, Zechariah, & Malachi).
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