=5. Of all the prophets= the utterances of only sixteen have come down to us in distinct books. Of these it is customary to speak of four as THE GREATER, or major, prophets, and of twelve as THE MINOR prophets, but these terms have reference only to the extent of their writings. Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel are included in the term major, and their prophecies, as written, are composed in the following order, only as to the number of verses in each prophecy as that prophecy appears in the English authorized version: Jeremiah (including Lamentations, which has 154 verses) 1,518 verses, Isaiah 1,292, Ezekiel 1,273, and Daniel 357. =6. Of the minor prophets=, the order, in point of number of verses in each book, is as follows: Zechariah 211, Hosea 197, Amos 146, Micah 105, Joel 73, Habakkuk 56, Malachi 55, Zephaniah 53, Jonah 48, Nahum 47, Haggai 38, Obadiah 21. The prophecy of Jeremiah, including Lamentations, ranks, in order of number of verses, next after Genesis, which contains 1,533 verses. This analysis of the books of the major prophets shows not only their comparative importance, as to size, among the sixteen prophetical books, but also among all the thirty-nine books of the Old Testament; for Genesis, in point of number of verses, is second only to the book of Psalms, and Jeremiah’s writings are the third in this order. =7. In point of time=, there seems to have been an entirely uninterrupted line of such prophets as we have described from the age of Samuel to the return from the captivity, an era of nearly 750 years (from B. C. 1141 to B. C. 397). Some of even the greatest of the prophets, as Elijah and Elisha, never committed their prophecies to writing. In a very large degree, however, their words and acts are recorded in various histories, as the historian had need to make reference to them in explaining certain events he was narrating in the history of the kingdoms of Judah and of Israel. Of those prophets whose prophecies are given in distinct books, Jonah was the first mentioned in point of time, and Malachi was the last, probably B. C. 397. After the death of Malachi the prophetic institution, as an order, seems to have closed, and it was so understood by some of the ancient Jewish writers, as appears in the apocryphal books.[96] PERIOD VI. THE CAPTIVITY OF JUDAH TO THE CLOSE OF THE CANONICAL PERIOD. B. C. 588‒397(?). CHAPTER I. THE VARIOUS CAPTIVITIES. =1. By the words= “the captivity” is generally meant the final captivity of Judah, which was the last of a series of captivities both of Israel and of Judah. As a knowledge of these captivities is not only important in the study of Jewish history, but has a bearing upon the authenticity of the Scripture, they should all be carefully distinguished. We therefore give a full list as follows. THE VARIOUS CAPTIVITIES.