Prophets in Judaism


According to the Talmud, there were 48 prophets and 7 prophetesses of Judaism. The last Jewish prophet is believed to have been Malachi. In Jewish tradition it is believed that the period of prophecy, called Nevuah, ended with Haggai, Zechariah and Malachi at which time the "Shechinah departed from Israel".

Rabbinic tradition

According to the Talmud, there were 48 prophets and 7 prophetesses who prophesied to Israel.

The 46 prophets to Israel (46 according to Rashi, commentary on Tractate Megillah 14a)

Although the Talmud states that only “48 prophets and 7 prophetesses prophesied to Israel”, it does not mean that there were only 55 prophets. The Talmud challenges this with other examples, and concludes by citing a Baraita tradition that the number of prophets in the era of prophecy was double the number of Israelites who left Egypt. The 55 prophets are recorded, because they made prophecies that have eternal relevance for future generations and not just for their own generation, or own ecstatic encounter with God. Hebrew scripture makes references to groups of such ecstatic prophets, for example in 1 Samuel:
On one occasion during the Exodus journey, "the spirit which was upon Moses" was passed to seventy elders, who were also able to prophecy for one time only, but mostly they could not prophecy again. When Eldad and Medad continued to prophecy, Moses expressed the hope that "all the 's people" could be prophets.

Prophets to other nations

The Talmud lists 7 prophets to the nations of the world :