An Introduction to the Books of the Prophets in the Old Testaments

The Old Testament writings include the works of the Prophets, divided into two categories, the Major and the Minor Prophets. There are three "major" prophets, long books that carry the messages of Isaiah (66 chapters), Jeremiah (52 chapters) and Ezekiel (48 chapters.) Isaiah, in Jerusalem, spoke to both the northern and southern kingdoms, prior to the destruction of the northern kingdom. Jeremiah and Ezekiel spoke a century later, as the southern kingdom was being destroyed. Added to these three, classified in the "Major Prophets" category, is the short book of Lamentations, describing the time of Jeremiah, and the book of Daniel, describing a ministry in Babylon during the exile.

In addition to these five books, there are twelve short books that are the Minor Prophets. In the Protestant Christian Bible, these are, in order, 

• Hosea
• Joel
• Amos
• Obadiah
• Jonah
• Micah
• Nahum
• Habakkuk
• Zephaniah
• Haggai
• Zechariah
• Malach

We will attempt to put some historical order to these books.

The nation of Israel split into two kingdoms after the death of Solomon (about 930 BC.) The broad outline of the Old Testament history that follows is:

• The northern kingdom, called Israel or Samaria, was destroyed by Assyria in 722 BC. 
• The southern kingdom, called Judah, with capital Jerusalem, was conquered by Babylon in 597 and 587 BC.
• From about 597 BC through to 539 BC, most Jews lived in Babylon.
• Beginning about 539 BC, many exiles were allowed to return to Palestine and thus began the Second Temple period, the time of Ezra and Nehemiah. 

Using these broad divisions of Israelite history, we might order the prophets as below. (I put in bold print those five books that fall under the heading "Major Prophets".

Prior to the fall of Israel/Samaria:

•     Isaiah                                            
•     Hosea, Amos, Micah

Indeterminant date (possibly as early as the time of the two kingdoms):

•      Joel, Jonah, Obadiah

Before or during the fall of Jerusalem:

•     Jeremiah (and Lamentations), Ezekiel
•     Nahum, Habbakuk, Zephaniah

During the Babylonian Exile:

•     Daniel

After the Babylonian Exile, during the Second Temple period:

•     Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi

Below is a table about the minor prophets, taken from this Wikipedia page.

1	1	Hosea (Osee)	8th century BCE (before the fall of the Northern Kingdom)
2	4	Joel	uncertain
3	2	Amos	8th century BCE (before the fall of the Northern Kingdom)
4	5	Obadiah (Abdias)	uncertain (9th century BCE or 6th century BCE)
5	6	Jonah (Jonas)	uncertain (8th century BCE or post-exilic period)
6	3	Micah (Micheas)	8th century BCE (before the fall of the Northern Kingdom)
7	7	Nahum	7th century BCE (before the fall of the Southern Kingdom)
8	8	Habakkuk (Habacuc)	7th century BCE (before the fall of the Southern Kingdom)
9	9	Zephaniah (Sophanias)	7th century BCE (before the fall of the Southern Kingdom)
10	10	Haggai (Aggeus)	6th century BCE (after return from exile)
11	11	Zechariah (Zacharias)	6th century BCE (after return from exile)
12	12	Malachi (Malachias)	5th century BCE (after return from exile)

Some resources

Here are some short online resources on the prophetical books 

• The Bible Project has a short video on the OT prophets.
• OverviewBible has a short (13 min.) summary on the OT prophets. It gives some historical details on the divisions of the Jewish texts that included the Nevi'im as one-third of the TaNaKh.
• From the Gospel Coalition is a Guide to the Prophets.

There is a lecture from Northcrest Baptist Church which is not very academic or detailed so I sped through it at 1.5 speed....

There are also some online courses:

• Zondervan Academic has an online course on the prophets (for a $199 fee.)
• Biola University has a course on the prophets (free)
• The Gospel Coalition has an online course on prophecy in general, with some material on the Old Testament prophets.
• Dallas Theological Seminary has a short online course which requires about two hours of study. (It includes an interesting World Cup analogy, used to explain the prophets' focus on the ANE.)

As we go through the prophetic books, it is good to have a broad overview of the places of these seventeen books within the Old Testament.

Originally scheduled for August 4, 2024; updated November 15, 2025