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The Headings of the Prophetic Books While there is some variety to the headings of the various prophetic collections many elements are shared. For example, each heading is a phrase, not a sentence, usually complemented by a series of clauses. The titles associate the collections with author-preachers. The heading of the book of Amos provides a good model of the superscriptions: title of the collection, description of the preacher, description of the collection, relative date (see Tucker, esp. 60‑61). It is worth looking at all of them together.   The vision of Isaiah son of Amoz which he gazed upon concerning Judah and Jerusalem, in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah kings of Judah (1:1)   The words of Jeremiah son of Hilkiah from the priests who were at Anathoth in the land of Benjamin, to whom was the word of Yahweh, in the days of Josiah, son of Amon, king of Judah in the thirteenth year of his reign. And it was in the days of Jehoiakim, son of Josiah, king of Judah, until the end of the eleventh year of Zedekiah, son of Josiah, king of Judah, until the captivity of Jerusalem in the fifth month (1:1‑3) (notes on heading)   And it was in the thirtieth year, in the fifth day of the fourth month, now I was in the midst of the exiles by the river Chebar, the heavens opened and I saw visions of God. On the fifth day of the month, it was the fifth year of the exile of king Jehoiachin, the word of Yahweh certainly was to Ezekiel, son of Buzi, the priest, in the land of Chaldeans by the river Chebar, and the hand of Yahweh was upon him there (1:1‑3) (notes on heading)   The word of Yahweh that was to Hosea son of Beeri, in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam, son of Joash, king of Israel (1:1)   The word of Yahweh that was to Joel, son of Pethuel (1:1)   The words of Amos, who was amongst the sheep-breeders of Tekoa, which he gazed upon concerning Israel in the days of Uzziah king of Judah and in the days of Jeroboam, son of Joash, king of Israel, two years before the earthquake (1:1)   The vision of Obadiah (1a)   And the word of Yahweh was to Jonah, son of Amittai, saying (1:1)   The word of Yahweh that was to Micah of Moresheth, in the days of Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, which he gazed upon concerning Samaria and Jerusalem (1:1)   An oracle concerning Nineveh. The book of the vision of Nahum of Elkosh (1:1)   The oracle that Habakkuk, the prophet gazed upon (1:1)   The word of Yahweh that was to Zephaniah son of Cushi son of Gedaliah son of Amariah son of Hezekiah, in the days of Josiah, son of Amon, king of Judah (1:1)   In the second year of Darius the king, in the sixth month, on the first day of the month, the word of Yahweh was in the hand of Haggai the prophet, to Zerubbal son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua, son of Jehozadak, the high priest, saying (1:1; also see 1:15; 2:1, 10, 20)   In the eighth month, in the second year of Darius, the word of Yahweh was to Zechariah, son of Berechiah son of Iddo, the prophet, saying (1:1; also see 1:7; 7:1)   An oracle, the word of Yahweh to Israel by the hand of Malachi (1:1; also see Zech 9:1; 12:1) Also see introduction to the prophets. Copyright © 2011 ScriptureWorkshop.com
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