Prophets of the Bible

Prophets were people God chose to speak His message. Here are the major prophets, the minor prophets and other well-known prophets, with what each is remembered for.

▶ Play Guess the ProphetName the prophet from clues that appear one at a time.

Under each prophet are three clues from our game, in the prophet's own words.

The Major Prophets

"Major" means their books are longer, not that they matter more.

Isaiah

  • “I foretold that a virgin would conceive and bear a son called Immanuel.”
  • “When God asked "Whom shall I send?", I answered "Here am I; send me."”
  • “A seraph touched my lips with a burning coal from the altar.”

💡 Jesus read from the scroll of this prophet in the synagogue at Nazareth.

Isaiah 1:1; 6:6-8; 7:14; 20:2-3; Luke 4:17

Jeremiah

  • “God told me, "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you." I am often called the weeping prophet.”
  • “I was lowered into a muddy cistern and later pulled out with ropes.”
  • “God sent me to watch a potter reshape a spoiled clay pot.”

💡 King Jehoiakim cut up his scroll and burned it, so his scribe Baruch wrote it all again.

Jeremiah 1:5; 16:2; 18:1-6; 32:9; 36; 38:6-13

Ezekiel

  • “I preached to a valley of dry bones, and they came to life.”
  • “I saw wheels within wheels, their rims full of eyes.”
  • “God told me to eat a scroll, and it tasted as sweet as honey.”

💡 He was among the exiles taken to Babylon.

Ezekiel 1:3, 16-18; 3:1-3; 4:4-5; 37:1-14

Daniel

  • “I was thrown into a den of lions, but God shut their mouths.”
  • “I read the writing on the wall for King Belshazzar.”
  • “I explained a dream about a statue of gold, silver, bronze, iron and clay.”

💡 He kept praying three times a day with his windows open toward Jerusalem.

Daniel 1:7, 12; 2; 5; 6:10, 22

The Minor Prophets

Twelve shorter books, from Hosea to Malachi.

Hosea

  • “My book comes first among the twelve "minor prophets".”
  • “God told me to marry Gomer as a picture of His love for unfaithful Israel.”
  • “I bought my wife back for fifteen shekels of silver and some barley.”

💡 Joshua's original name was Hoshea, the same name as this prophet.

Hosea 1:1-9; 3:2; Numbers 13:16

Joel

  • “Peter quoted me at Pentecost: "I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh."”
  • “I said God would restore the years the locusts had eaten.”
  • “I said, "Rend your hearts and not your garments."”

💡 His prophecy was quoted on the very day the church began.

Joel 1:1, 4; 2:13, 25, 28; Acts 2:16-17

Amos

  • “I was a shepherd and a dresser of sycamore figs from Tekoa.”
  • “I said, "Let justice roll down like waters."”
  • “God showed me a basket of summer fruit.”

💡 Martin Luther King Jr. famously quoted his words about justice.

Amos 1:1; 5:24; 7:7-8, 14; 8:1

Obadiah

  • “My book is the shortest in the Old Testament.”
  • “My whole message was against Edom, the descendants of Esau.”
  • “I said pride had deceived those who live in the clefts of the rock.”

💡 His entire book is just 21 verses long.

Obadiah 1:1-21

Jonah

  • “I spent three days and three nights inside a great fish.”
  • “Sailors threw me overboard to calm a storm.”
  • “God gave me a plant for shade, then sent a worm to kill it.”

💡 Jesus spoke of "the sign of Jonah" as a picture of his own death and resurrection.

Jonah 1–4; Matthew 12:40

Micah

  • “I foretold that the ruler of Israel would come from Bethlehem.”
  • “I asked, "Who is a God like you, pardoning iniquity?"”
  • “I wrote that the Lord requires us to do justice, love kindness and walk humbly with God.”

💡 The chief priests quoted him to King Herod when the wise men asked where the Messiah would be born.

Micah 1:1; 5:2; 6:8; 7:18-19; Matthew 2:5-6

Nahum

  • “My whole book is a prophecy against Nineveh.”
  • “I foretold the fall of the great city that Jonah once preached to.”
  • “I wrote, "Behold, upon the mountains, the feet of him who brings good news."”

💡 Nineveh, capital of Assyria, fell in 612 BC.

Nahum 1:1, 7, 15

Habakkuk

  • “I wrote, "The righteous shall live by his faith."”
  • “I said, "Though the fig tree should not blossom… yet I will rejoice in the Lord."”
  • “I asked God, "How long shall I cry for help, and you will not hear?"”

💡 Paul quoted his words about faith in Romans and Galatians.

Habakkuk 1:2; 2:1, 4; 3:17-19; Romans 1:17

Haggai

  • “I urged the returned exiles to rebuild the temple.”
  • “I asked why the people lived in paneled houses while God's house lay in ruins.”
  • “I told the people, "You have sown much, and harvested little."”

💡 His book is the second-shortest in the Old Testament.

Haggai 1:1-8

Zechariah

  • “I foretold Israel's king would come humble, riding on a donkey.”
  • “I wrote, "Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, says the Lord."”
  • “I saw a golden lampstand between two olive trees.”

💡 His prophecy about the donkey was fulfilled on Palm Sunday.

Zechariah 1:1, 8; 4:2-6; 9:9; Matthew 21:4-5

Malachi

  • “My book is the last book of the Old Testament.”
  • “I foretold that God would send Elijah the prophet before the great day of the Lord.”
  • “I said God would open the windows of heaven for those who bring the full tithe.”

💡 Jesus said John the Baptist was the "Elijah" this prophet spoke about.

Malachi 3:8-10; 4:2, 5; Matthew 11:14

Other prophets in the Bible

Prophets and prophetesses whose stories are told in other books.

Elijah

  • “Ravens fed me by a brook, and I was taken up to heaven in a whirlwind.”
  • “I called down fire from heaven on Mount Carmel against the prophets of Baal.”
  • “A widow in Zarephath fed me, and her flour and oil never ran out.”

💡 Elijah appeared with Moses beside Jesus at the Transfiguration.

1 Kings 17–18; 2 Kings 2:11; Matthew 17:3

Elisha

  • “I asked for a double portion of my master Elijah's spirit.”
  • “I made an iron axe head float on the water.”
  • “I told Naaman the Syrian commander to wash seven times in the Jordan.”

💡 Even after he died, a dead man who touched Elisha's bones came back to life.

1 Kings 19:19; 2 Kings 2:9; 4:38-41; 5:10; 6:6; 13:21

Samuel

  • “I heard God call my name in the night and said, "Speak, for your servant hears."”
  • “I anointed both Saul and David as kings of Israel.”
  • “My mother Hannah prayed for a son and promised me to the Lord.”

💡 Two books of the Bible carry his name.

1 Samuel 1–3; 10:1; 16:13

Moses

  • “I received the Ten Commandments on Mount Sinai.”
  • “God spoke to me from a burning bush.”
  • “I struck a rock and water poured out for the people.”

💡 Deuteronomy says no prophet arose in Israel like him, whom the Lord knew face to face.

Exodus 3–4; 17:6; 31:18; Deuteronomy 34:10

Nathan

  • “I confronted King David about his sin with Bathsheba.”
  • “I said to the king, "You are the man!"”
  • “I told King David a story about a rich man who took a poor man's only lamb.”

💡 He also kept written records of the reigns of David and Solomon.

2 Samuel 7; 12:1-7; 1 Kings 1:11-34; 1 Chronicles 29:29

Deborah

  • “I was a prophetess and judge, and I sang a victory song with Barak.”
  • “I said the honor of the victory would go to a woman.”
  • “I told Barak to gather ten thousand men at Mount Tabor.”

💡 The woman who finally defeated Sisera was Jael.

Judges 4:4-9, 21; 5:1

Miriam

  • “I am the sister of Moses and Aaron.”
  • “I led the women with a tambourine after crossing the Red Sea.”
  • “I watched over my baby brother hidden in the reeds of the Nile.”

💡 She is the first woman in the Bible called a prophetess.

Exodus 2:4-8; 15:20-21; Numbers 12:10; 26:59

John the Baptist

  • “I baptized Jesus in the Jordan River.”
  • “I said, "Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!"”
  • “I wore camel's hair and ate locusts and wild honey.”

💡 His parents were Zechariah and Elizabeth.

Matthew 3:4, 13; 11:11; Luke 1:41; John 1:29