The Twelve Prophets

Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah and Malachi: twelve prophets whose books were copied as one scroll, the Book of the Twelve, and are called minor for the length of their books, not their weight. The Septuagint, the Church’s Old Testament, keeps them in an order of its own (Hosea, Amos, Micah, Joel, Obadiah, Jonah and on). They speak across three centuries, from the kingdom of Israel before its fall to Jerusalem rebuilt after the exile, and the Church hears Christ in them: Micah names Bethlehem (5:2), Zechariah the king coming on an ass (9:9), Jonah the three days in the belly of the whale (Matthew 12:40), Malachi the messenger sent before the Lord. Their words are read at Vespers on the great feasts, the whole of Jonah on Holy Saturday, and each is kept on his own day: Hosea 17 October, Joel 19 October, Obadiah 19 November, Nahum 1 December, Habakkuk 2 December, Zephaniah 3 December, Haggai 16 December, Malachi 3 January, Zechariah 8 February, Amos 15 June, Micah 14 August, Jonah 22 September.