This is John at the Bible Project and today on the podcast we're going to continue our conversation on how to read the profits.

Typically we think of profits as people who predict the future.

But...

That's a part of what they do.

However, that is not what the word prophecy means in the Bible.

Nor does that the primary role of profits in the Bible.

Future prediction is something that some profits do sometimes.

But it is not near the heart of the core biblical definition of prophecy.

Profits in the Bible act as covenant watchdogs.

Their goal is to make sure that Israel is faithful to Yahweh.

And oftentimes in order to get Israel's attention they do some crazy things.

A huge amount of what's in these books is long detailed accusations.

Often full of sarcasm, often full of offensive, drastic extreme imagery.

These are parts of the Bible that kind of offend many modern religious sensibilities.

So today on the show we dig into the extreme language in the biblical profits.

And we learn some tips on how to understand what they're actually talking about.

And we'll see how the role of the profits doesn't stop at the end of the Old Testament.

The role that these figures played in ancient Israel is precisely the role that Jesus was playing.

These depicted playing the gospel is these kind of public figures who create a popular base outside the institutional system.

And their poets puzzling, they perform these public symbolic acts that get them in trouble, but that critique the people on the top.

Thanks for joining us. Here we go.

Okay, we're talking about how to read the profits. It's part of our how to read series.

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