Assyrian empire, must have lived, or at any rate have laboured, before Habakkuk, who prophesied concerning the Chaldean invasion. And lastly, when we come to the prophets after the captivity, in the case of Haggai and Zechariah, the date of their appearance is indicated not only by the year, but by the month as well; and with regard to Malachi, the collectors knew well that he was the latest of all the prophets, from the fact that the collection was completed, if not in his lifetime and with his co-operation, at all events very shortly after his death. (16) The following is the correct chronological order, so far as it can be gathered with tolerable certainty from the contents of the different writings, and the relation in which they stand to one another, even in the case of those prophets the headings to whose books do not indicate the date of composition:
| 1. Obadiah: in the reign of Joram king of Judah | between 889 and 884 BC |
| 2. Joel: in the reign of Joash king of Judah | between 875 and 848 B.C. |
| 3. Jonah: in the reign of Jeroboam II of Israel | between 824 and 783 B.C. |
| 4. Amos: in the reign of Jeroboam II of Israel and Uzziah of Judah | between 810 and 783 B.C. |
| 5. Hosea: in the reign of Jeroboam II of Israel, and from Uzziah to Hezekiah of Judah | between 790 and 725 B.C. |
| 6. Micah: in the reign of Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah of Judah | between 758 and 710 B.C. |
| 7. Nahum: in the second half of the reign of Hezekiah | between 710 and 699 B.C. |
| 8. Habakkuk: in the reign of Manasseh or Josiah | between 650 and 628 B.C. |
| 9. Zephaniah: in the reign of Josiah | between 628 and 623 B.C. |
| 10. Haggai: in the second year of Darius Hystaspes | viz. |
| 11. Zechariah: in the reign of Darius Hystaspes | from 519 B.C. |
| 12. Malachi: in the reign of Artaxerxes Longimanus | between 433 and 424 B.C. |
Consequently the literature of the propehtic writings does not date, first of all, from the time when Assyria rose into an imperial power, and assumed a threatening aspect towards Israel, i.e., under Jeroboam the son of Joash king of Israel, and Uzziah king of Judah, or about 800 B.C., as is commonly
