Amos and Hosea are the only prophetic books that belong to the literature of the northern kingdom. Both books were produced during the eighth century B.C., and both concern conditions that existed in Israel prior to that nation's collapse. The Book of Isaiah (Chapters 1–39) and the Book of Micah come from the same century and are addressed to the people of Judah, or the southern kingdom.
From the seventh century B.C., or the era that preceded the Babylonian captivity, we have the prophecies of Zephaniah, Nahum, Habakkuk, and Jeremiah. Of these four, the Book of Jeremiah, who in many respects is regarded as the greatest of the Old Testament prophets, is not only the longest but also the most important. Ezekiel and Deutero-Isaiah (Chapters 40–55 in the Book of Isaiah) are especially significant. They came out of the period of the exile and greatly influenced the development of religious ideals in the centuries that followed. The prophets of the post-exilic period — Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi, Joel, and Obadiah — are usually classified among the so-called minor prophets. The books in which their messages have been preserved are relatively small, and their contents indicate that their authors were men of lesser stature than the ones who appeared earlier.
The historical writings that make up approximately one-third of the Old Testament — the Pentateuch, or what is often referred to as the five books of Moses; Joshua; Judges; 1 and 2 Samuel; 1 and 2 Kings; 1 and 2 Chronicles; Ezra; and Nehemiah — cannot be dated or arranged as definitely or with the same degree of accuracy as the prophetic writings, the chief reason being that they were in the process of being written and amended over long periods of time. Whether they are to be regarded as early or late will depend on one's point of view. If we have in mind the source materials that were used, they are among the earliest of the writings, but if we consider the final form of these narratives, they will be relatively late but not the latest of the writings to be included in the entire Old Testament.
