The books beginning with Isaiah and ending with Malachi belong to a section of the Christian Bible called the Prophetic Books. These books record God’s messages to the people of Israel and Judah  in the form of speeches or sermons, visions, and life experiences of prophets who preached between about 750 and 450 B.C. Some of the messages are of judgment and warning, while others focus on forgiveness and renewal. The Hebrew Scriptures divide the Prophetic Books into the “Former Prophets” and the “Latter Prophets.” The books of the “Former Prophets” (Joshua, Judges, 1 and 2 Samuel, 1 and 2 Kings) are part of the Historical Books in the Old Testament. The Prophetic Books are often divided into two categories: the “Major Prophets” and the “Book of the Twelve.” The “Twelve” are sometimes referred to as the “Minor Prophets” because their speeches and sermons are much shorter than those of the “Major Prophets.” See the chart called “The Old Testament in Christian Bibles.”
 
The Role of the Prophet. In the Bible, a “prophet” is a person called to speak for God and deliver God’s messages to people. Prophets did not simply predict the future, but rather observed what was going on around them and delivered God’s messages for those situations. The prophets often had to address difficult political, social, or religious situations, and so they sometimes spoke and acted in colorful ways to attract attention and make their messages clear. For example, Jeremiah placed a wooden yoke around his neck to represent the flimsy power of a foreign nation (Jer 27:1-11). Ezekiel sketched a picture of Jerusalem on a brick to warn the people of a coming attack on the city (Ezek 4:1-8). Hosea uses the image of the prophet’s marriage to a prostitute to compare Israel’s relationship to God, who continually forgives an unfaithful wife (Israel).

The prophets usually introduced their speeches with the words “The Lord says.” These words show that the prophets did not speak their own messages, but considered themselves the messengers of God who had the authority to speak for God to the people. The prophets often referred to their words as the messages that God had given them for the people (see, for example, Isa 6:1-13; Ezek 2:1-10; Amos 1:1-2; Hab 1:1; Zech 1:1). See also the article called “Prophets and Prophecy.”

The Message of the Prophet. Because some prophets spoke as early as 760 B.C. and others as late as 445 B.C., their messages are sometimes very different in what they emphasize. For example, Amos, Micah, and Zephaniah preached about the need for the people to change how they acted toward God and each other, so that they could avoid being punished like the foreign nations around them. Others, like Jeremiah and Ezekiel, warned the people about the coming defeat of Jerusalem and the exile of its people to Babylonia and promised a future time when God’s people will be delivered and return to Jerusalem. Still others, like Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi preached to people who had returned from exile and were working to rebuild the temple in Jerusalem and begin the worship of God again. The messages of Isaiah seem to address all these periods of Israel’s history and span the events leading up to and following the return from exile in Babylonia.

Some of the Prophetic Books, however, reflect historical settings much later than when the prophets themselves actually lived. After they preached and wrote, their messages seem to have been adapted and edited by people who faced different social and religious situations. An example of this type of book is Daniel which may have existed in a previous form as early as the fourth century B.C., but was not put into its present form until the time when the Seleucid dynasty ruled Palestine (around 165 B.C.). This shows that the messages of the Prophetic Books address issues that are of continuing importance to God’s people: proper worship of God, justice and equality, and caring for oppressed and mistreated people.