Jeremiah (est 626-585 B.C.)

Jeremiah son of Hilkiah was from Anathoth, and was part of the Benjamin tribe, he was a priest and first started to hear God when he became thirteen.  He is told that despite his young age that he is to tell a message of doom and destruction to Judah followed by rising and rebuilding, and he starts to see visions.  He is told to go to Jerusalem and Judah to tell the people to turn from their wicked ways, and he is also told that he will be protected as other prophets have been killed by the people there.

He sees a vision of a barren earth with no life and the mountains are shaking, all done by the God's fierce anger.  God tells Judah that he will use Babylonians to destroy Israel and Judah to punish them for their wicked ways.  God speaks to Jeremiah by experience, through rotten buried clothes, through drought, through a pottery wheel.  God tells Jeremiah that the people are now destined for starvation, war and disease so he is asked to be a prophet once more, to deliver the message and that he will be protected, he will be make strong.

God has "put a curse on those who turn from him and trust in human strength"

People try and stop Jeremiah from his words, including people who falsely accuse him or event arrest him and hold him overnight.  However some just throw insults at him, but he suffers to the point whether he questions whether he should have been born at all.  Jeremiah is on trial, and they reference Micah how he had foretold the destruction of the temple, but the King had listened and destruction was adverted, and that Jeremiah should not be killed.

Hananiah challenges Jeremiah, but then Jeremiah foretells his death and Hananiah dies within two months.  Jeremiah writes to the King after he is taken as a captive to Babylonia, and explains that they will be brought back to Jerusalem after 70 years of Babylonian rule.  One of his letters went to Shemaiah, who then wrote letters to deny him, one went to the priest Zephaniah(not the Prophet) who showed Jeremiah and so Jeremiah cursed Shemaiah.

Jeremiah declares that the Lord will make a new convenant that will be written into the hearts and minds of people, foretelling a king in the line of David.

While a prisoner in Jerusalem, Jeremiah buys a pice of land belonging to the Benjamin tribe, later, he gets Baruch to write down what he says onto a scroll and the scroll is read out to the people then brought before the king, but the king chops it up and throws it into the fire, but another scroll is written this time including a curse upon the King

First Jeremiah is imprisoned in Jonathon's house, the in the palace prison but then he is thrown down a well but later rescued, and then he was kept in the palace gaurds residence.  When Jerusalem fell after a 18month siege, Jeremiah was going to be led away but he was set free and allowed to stay behind and have a house, he went to live with Gedaliah (the new leader of Judah) in Mizpah, but Gedaliah gets killed by Ismael, who takes everyone in Mizpah captive.

But the captives are rescued and plan to flee to Egypt but they stop at Geruth Chimham near Bethlehem, fearing for backlash from the Babylonians, but Jeremiah tells them to stay in Judah.  They refuse to listen and are all led to Egypt by Johanan.  But then the Lord tells Jeremiah that the Babylonains will now attack Egypt, Gaza, Philistine, Crete, Moab, Ammon, and the Kedar tribe.

Isaiah (est. 740-681 BC)

Victims beheaded during Egypt's civil war

Isaiah, son of Amoz and he was given a message about Judah and Jerusalem, that they should turn from their wicked ways or face destruction.  Isaiah is told about Immanuel who will be born in the line of David and will be born of a virgin, and is also told about the coming of the Holy Spirit.  Isaiah says that he trusts the Lord, despite knowing that God is no longer pleased with Israel.

The philistines and arameans attacked Israel but even still people did not turn from their wickedness, the the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh turned against each other but then joined forces to attack Judah.  So God says that the Assyrians will attack Jerusalem and Mount Zion, but Isaiah is told to tell the people that once they trust in God then he will punish Assyria for their crimes, even destroying the forests of Lebanon.

The destruction of various places are foretold such as Babylon, Moab, Zoar, Damascus, Ethiopia, Tyre, Canaan, Sidon, and even the destruction of the world.  A civil war in Egypt is foretold, later an angel kills 185000 Assyrian soldiers who were on their way to destroy Jerusalem and it is declared that "None who are evil will live in peace."

Ezekiel (est 595 - 571 B.C.)

Ezekiel, the son of Buzi,in the place of the Chaldeans.  Ezekiel was a priest who saw a 'whirlwind of fire' and from it came all manner of things, things with wheels and things with wheels, he is told by God to go to the children of Israel, and he is given a book containing sadness and grief and woe, and yet he has to eat the roll in order for him to deliver its words, told to tell them whether they listen or not.

He travels first to Telabib to the captives there where he declares that wickedness creates iniquity, once done the iniquity cannot be changed but the soul can be saved (Eze 3:18 & 19)

He walked and talked with God and Ezekiel himself is used to represent the Jewish nation, told about a siege on Jerusalem and how the people were divided into three, one part destroyed, one part killed by a plague and the last part scattered.

"Destruction cometh; and they shall seek peace, and there shall be none" (Eze 7:25)

Then he met with the elders of Judah, and he had another vision, in a vision he foresees the destruction of the wicked people in Jerusalem, that captives will be taken to Babylonia, and he sees the throne of God and his four angels, as Ezekiel begs for lives of the people, God promises him that the people to scattered will return and live in Israel once again.  He is told to condemn the false prophets who speak falsehoods, they know that they make it up yet they believe in what they say.

In Ezekiel 18, it talks about people charging high interest rates are evil, we are instructed to "start thinking pure thoughts" and to "stop sinning and live".  Ezekiel is told to pass on messages in cryptic parables, he even admits that "I confuse them with my messages"

Not only will Babylonains come to attack but also armies from Assyria, Chaldean tribes of Pekod, Shoa and Koa, Ezekiel's wife dies and God tells him not to mourn as a sign for what punishment that is coming for the rest of Jerusalem.

Ezekiel is also told to give other messages; to condemn the people of Ammon, Moab, Edom the Philistines, Egyptians and Ethiopians, and the cities of Tyre Sidon Thebes, and to condemn the King of Tyre and the King of Egypt.  Daniel is mentioned as a source of knowledge (Eze 28:3) as well as the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar.  Ezekiel is told that if he refuses to pass on God's message then he becomes responsible for their fate (Eze 33:8) God promises Ezekiel that he will rebuild the nation of Israel.

On another occasion God takes Ezekiel to the valley of bones where he raises bones up out of the ground to have muscles and skin to make an army and he tells Ezekiel to breath life into them.

Then Ezekiel is told to condemn Gog the ruler of Meshech and Tubal in the land of Magog, as they with their allies from southern Spain will attack Israel, yet the army will be put to death (this a prelude to the revelations prophecy?), the army will be buried east of the Dead Sea.

Next Ezekiel is given the measurements to re-build the temple, and how to divide up the land between all the tribes and that the trive of Levi shall be the priests.

The Libyan Sibyl (est350B.C.)

The Libyan Sibyl, also named as Phemonoe, was a prophetic priestess at the Siwa Oasis in the Libyan dessert. Her mother is said to have been Queen Lamia who originated from the Chaldeans from Babylonia. There are many myths about her mother, been seeing as evil and close to that of a vampire (may even be there origin of vampire stories as mothers used to threaten their kids with the story of Lamia).

However, Phemonoe managed to gain a lot of attention herself, she was talked about by Pausanias, Serapion, and Euripides and was even depicted in a painting by Michelangelo. The most interesting story of her however is by Plutarch as he tells the story of Alexander the Great marching to the Oasis, and the sibyl confirming him as the legitimate Pharoah of Egypt, this would place her as living around the year 350 B.C.