Alongside patriarchs, kings, judges, scribes, and sages, prophets are among the most memorable characters in the pages of the Old Testament. But a close reading shows that prophets come in two distinct types. On the one hand, we have stories of prophets like Moses, Elijah, and Samuel, that tell of holy men who communicate directly with God and are able to call upon divine miracles. In all these cases, the stories of these prophets were composed centuries after the character is said to have lived — making them “literary” prophets. On the other hand, the Old Testament also includes prophets like Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel are historical figures who spoke directly to their contemporaries, often in the form of vatic poetry. Although these have been subject to later editors (and continuations), at their root we the actual words of these historical figures, who are thus “historical” prophets. Because their exploits are written after the fact, literary prophets are able to accurately predict “future” events (which already occurred in the actual author’s past) and call down spectacular divine interventions (since any potential witnesses to these fictional events have been dead for centuries). Literary prophets have thus left the Bible’s readers with a false impression of the role of historical prophets. John Hamer of Toronto Centre Place will closely examine Biblical texts to illustrate the actual role of historical prophets.