Can our readers name the twelve 'minor prophets', in correct order, and without checking in their Bibles?

How long is it since we read these last books of the Old Testament?

Here is a small quiz which may encourage us to look at them again and remember their spiritual value. Twelve phrases are given. The test is to state from which of the minor prophets each one is taken.

1. Go at once to Nineveh

2. The prophet Elijah... will turn the hearts of parents toward their children

3. Your king comes to you... riding on a donkey

4. When Israel was a child, I loved him

5. An oracle concerning Nineveh

6. The remnant of Israel... no one shall make them afraid

7. Once again in a little while, I will shake the heavens and the earth

8. An army of locusts... and young men who see visions

9. Thus says the Lord God concerning Edom

10. The day of the Lord is darkness, not light

11. They shall beat their swords into ploughshares

12. No fruit... no food... no herd... yet I will rejoice in the Lord

Click here for the the answers with references

The Prophetic Word

In these prophecies we are left with an overwhelming conviction that God is God, right is right and wrong is wrong; and that in itself is an iron tonic to us moderns. For most of us today are afraid of denouncing evil for fear of being called intolerant; we are not allowed to be morally indignant for "psychology says" that what is making us angry is an identical fault in ourselves! We are not allowed to have any definite values of right and wrong, for all things, we are told, are purely relative - though relative to what is not made clear. In these days we can scarcely spare a thought for the victim of vicious assault for all our sympathy is needed for the brutal and callous aggressor. We are frightened of sharing our faith with a fellow human being for fear of interfering with the sanctity of his private beliefs; we are even scared of living out the principles of the Gospel lest we are labelled contemptuously as "do-gooders".

But here in this world of nearly three thousand years ago human beings are far less self-conscious. They can be noble, wise, brave and good, but they can also be cruel, stupid, greedy, fickle or just plain wicked. We are back in a world of real people, potentially sons and daughters of the Most High, but making tragically wrong choices and treating each other abominably. But the prophets assume always that men have consciences and that they have the power to choose their path. If they are beyond the reach of messages of sweetness and light, then violent, indeed terrifying, threats and warnings must be used to crack their dreadful complacency.

JBPhillips (from translator's preface to Four Prophets 1963)