Let us take, for example, the Book of Amos. I select Amos deliberately, because he was the first of the Bible’s literary prophets, just as St John the Seer was the last. When we say that Amos was the Bible’s original “literary prophet” we mean that he was the first biblical prophet whose extended oracles were consigned to writing in a single book. This is what distinguishes him from earlier prophets like Nathan and Elijah. In this respect Amos serves as a point of transition in the history of the