When you hear the word "prophet," what comes to mind? An elderly man with a long beard making ominous proclamations? Or maybe a mischievous smile or wiggling ears at the Conference Center podium?
Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints sustain the president of the Church as "prophet, seer, and revelator." The role of a prophet seems straightforward—to prophesy—but as you dig into scripture, you'll discover it goes far beyond simply predicting the future.
So, What is a Prophet?
At its core, a prophet is someone called by God to be His messenger and representative on earth. That's it—the fundamental definition.
The Hebrew word for prophet is נָבִיא (nāḇî'). Nāḇî' describes one who is a spokesman (for God in this case), sees visions, or prophesies (predicts the future). It is first found in Genesis 20:7 when Abraham is described as a prophet (though there were more before him).
The English word prophet comes from the Greek προφήτης (prophētēs). This word, προφήτης, comes from the prefix προ (pro)—in front of, before—and the verbal root φεμί (phēmi)—to say, to reveal. When the Greek translation of the Old Testament was created, προφήτης was the word chosen to replace nāḇî'. While this does mean that a prophet can reveal what is coming in the future, much like the Hebrew word, its full meaning captures anyone who is given a message by God to give to others. For more on Bible translations, read our other blog post on the bible's translation journey.
In other words, prophets are divine messengers first and foremost. They speak for God to the people. This can include predicting the future, but that's only one aspect of their much broader role.
Prophets in the Old Testament
The prophetic pattern starts early. Abraham is the first to be explicitly called a prophet (Genesis 20:7), using the Hebrew word נָבִיא (nāḇî'). But there are others before Abraham who also fit the description of nāḇî'. Adam, Enoch, and Noah, for example, all spoke with God and acted as His spokesmen by preaching the gospel.
Then came Moses—arguably the Old Testament's most famous prophet. Did he predict the future? Yes, he did. He told of the scattering and gathering of Israel and of a prophet like himself. But Moses' most important work was being God's spokesman to Pharaoh and revealing God's law to the Israelites.
Later, Old Testament prophets came from diverse backgrounds and all walks of life:
Shepherds like Amos
Outsiders who criticized the wickedness they saw within cities like Elijah.
While prophets like Isaiah, Zechariah, and Daniel are well-known for their prophecies foreshadowing the first and second comings of Jesus Christ, many others like Hosea, Amos, and Micah focused almost exclusively on calling for repentance. Rather than predicting distant events, their main role was to remind Israel of God’s laws and warn of consequences for disobedience.
Prophets in the New Testament
The New Testament features fewer named prophets but still upholds the prophetic office. John the Baptist stands out as the most prominent—Jesus himself said there was "none greater." John fulfilled the classic prophetic role: delivering God's message of warning and repentance to prepare people for the Messiah.
The book of Acts mentions a few different prophets. The first is an Agabus who "signified by the Spirit that there should be great dearth throughout all the world: which came to pass in the days of Claudius Cæsar." Later, Paul's call as a missionary came from a group of four men identified as prophets. Prophets are also mentioned in Acts 15:32 (prophets in Antioch) and 21:10 (a second reference to Agabus). The author of Acts seems to give prophets a place of prominence in the workings of the Church in the first century AD but does not explicitly spell out their role. But this book also keeps the pattern going: while the prophet Agabus makes a prediction of the future, the other prophets are described as giving other messages from God.
The New Testament letters also mention prophets. In his first letter to the Corinthians, Paul mentions prophets as one of the members of the body of Christ and prophecy as one of the gifts of the Spirit. Later, Ephesians 2:19, Ephesians 3:5, and Ephesians 4:11 all mention prophets and apostles, but they do not clarify their particular roles.
But perhaps the clearest New Testament definition of prophecy comes from Revelation. The Revelation of John (itself an example of a prophetic vision) describes two prophets who would preach against Jerusalem, be killed, and be resurrected. It then defines prophecy as "the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy." This suggests that, at its heart, prophecy centers on testifying of Christ, whether in a prediction of the future or in giving other messages from God.
Prophetesses in the Bible
The Bible also identifies several women as prophetesses who received and delivered divine messages. The first woman to be identified as a prophetess is Miriam, Moses's sister. She was called a prophetess in Exodus 15, and after the Israelites crossed the Red Sea, Miriam lead the women in a song and dance of victory, praising God for delivering them from Egypt.
Later in the Old Testament, the book of Judges gives the story of Deborah, a prophetess and a judge during a time of oppression by the Canaanites. Deborah summoned Barak to lead an army against Sisera, the commander of the Canaanite forces. When Barak insisted she accompany him to battle, Deborah agreed but prophesied that a woman would receive credit for defeating Sisera. After being defeated, Sisera fled to Jael's tent, but she killed him by driving a tent peg through his temple while he slept, fulfilling Deborah's prophecy.
In 2 Kings 22, the priest Hilkiah goes to a prophetess named Huldah on behalf of King Josiah, who was concerned when the Book of the Law was discovered during temple renovations. When approached, Huldah delivered a dual prophecy confirming God's coming judgment on Judah for their idolatry while assuring Josiah that, because of his humble response, this judgment would not occur during his lifetime.
Then, in the New Testament, we have Anna. Anna was an elderly prophetess who never left the temple but worshiped night and day with fasting and prayer. She encountered the infant Jesus when his parents brought him to the temple in Jerusalem. Upon seeing Jesus, Anna gave thanks to God and spoke about the child to all who were looking forward to the redemption of Jerusalem.
One unusual case of a prophetess is in Isaiah 8. Isaiah's wife is given the title of prophetess, but because she is not mentioned anywhere else, it is unclear if Isaiah is married to a fellow prophet(ess) or if she is described this way because they are married.
In any case, the other women received specific messages from God that they were commissioned to deliver—fulfilling the essential definition of prophetic work, just as the men called prophets. The Bible does not differentiate between their calling and those of male prophets. This is reflected in the biblical languages that used the same words for both male and female prophets—nāḇî' and prophetes.
God's Messengers
So what have we learned about prophets so far? They're far more than just future-predicting figures with long beards and dramatic proclamations. These divine messengers have been God's voice to His people throughout biblical history. They've been shepherds calling from hillsides, priests serving in temples, women directing armies, and outsiders challenging corrupt kings, but their essential role has remained beautifully consistent: to speak for God and point us toward Christ.
As Revelation 10:19 puts it perfectly, "the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy." Whether they're predicting Christ's birth like Isaiah or calling people to repentance like Amos, prophets help us see God's hand in our lives.
In our next post, we'll cross the ocean to see how prophets operated in the Book of Mormon and explore the prophetic office in our modern Church.
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