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The Prophet Amos — Gustave Doré, Doré's English Bible (1866), public domain

A movement of the canon

Minor Prophets

Twelve short books: some only a page or two. They are called minor because they are brief, not because they matter less.

  • 12
    Books
  • 67
    Chapters
  • 39
    Studies
Begin with Hosea →

The story, plainly

Minor Prophets in five questions

What happens

Twelve short books, one long argument: God confronts Israel, Judah, and the nations, through a prophet married to unfaithfulness, a shepherd from Tekoa, a reluctant missionary swallowed by a fish, and nine more voices, closing the Old Testament with the promise of a coming Messenger.

Why it matters

The Day of the LORD runs through all twelve: judgment is certain, mercy is offered, and the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings.

When

c. 840–430 BC: twelve voices across four centuries.

The books

Hosea

14 ch

A marriage as a sermon: covenant love and spiritual adultery. ‘I desired mercy, and not sacrifice.’

Joel

3 ch

Locust plague, call to return, and the Spirit poured out on all flesh. Peter's Pentecost text.

Amos

9 ch

A herdsman from Tekoa sent north to Bethel. ‘Let justice run down as waters.’

Obadiah

1 ch

The OT's shortest book: twenty-one verses against Edom's gloating over Jerusalem's fall.

Jonah

4 ch

A reluctant prophet, a storm, a fish, a repentant city: and a complaint about God's mercy.

Micah

7 ch

Contemporary of Isaiah. Bethlehem named; ‘do justly, love mercy, walk humbly with thy God.’

Nahum

3 ch

Breathtaking poetry on Nineveh's fall. ‘The LORD is good, a strong hold in the day of trouble.’

Habakkuk

3 ch

Two complaints, two answers, a psalm. ‘The just shall live by his faith’: cited thrice in the NT.

Zephaniah

3 ch

Josiah's day. ‘The LORD thy God … will joy over thee with singing.’

Haggai

2 ch

Four dated oracles in 520 BC prodding the returned exiles back to the Temple project.

Zechariah

14 ch

Eight night visions and the pierced one. ‘Thy King cometh, lowly, riding on an ass.’

Malachi

4 ch

The OT's last voice: six disputations and Elijah promised before the great day.

Card plates: Gustave Doré — Doré’s English Bible (1866) and the Doré New Testament engravings. Public domain.

Studies that walk through these books

The numeral is how many passages of Minor Prophets each study touches.

The Day of the LORD — yom YHWH8×The Twelve8×Messianic Psalms7×The Scarlet Thread7×Zephaniah — the Study Guide7×The Remnant — she'erith5×Habakkuk — the Study Guide4×Nahum — the Study Guide4×Covenants of Scripture3×Gomer — Bought Back — Hosea 1–32×Jacob Have I Loved — the Election Thread2×Justice and Righteousness — Mishpat and Tsedaqah2×Revelation — the Canon's Closing Scroll2×The Forerunner and the Refiner — Malachi 3:1; 4:5–62×The Fulfillment Formula — Matthew's Ten Quotations2×The God Who Sings — Zephaniah 3:172×The Just Shall Live by His Faith — Habakkuk 2:42×Amos — the Study Guide1×Bridegroom1×Creation to New Creation1×Haggai — the Study Guide1×Hosea — the Study Guide1×Joel — the Study Guide1×Jonah — the Study Guide1×King of Kings1×Lamb of God1×Malachi — the Study Guide1×Micah — the Study Guide1×Obadiah — the Study Guide1×Son of Man1×Taw — The Mark of God1×The Armor of God1×The Branch and the King — the Four Plantings of Tsemach1×The Golden Calf — Covenant Made, Broken, Remade1×The Jerusalem Council — Acts 151×The Seed Promise1×The Sign of Jonah1×The Three Pentecosts — Acts 2, 10 & 191×Zechariah — the Study Guide1×
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