ABSTRACT
This chapter addresses the presence of the themes of prophets, prophecy, and oracles in Late Antique Jewish texts provided. Jews read in the first three centuries old prophecies, including the Sibylline Oracles, but also the prophetic passages from their emerging canon of Scripture or holy texts. This consisted of many books of the prophets from Israel's past. The chapter concentrates on the first century ce, as it was a high point for Jewish prophetic activity and discourse about prophecy. To brief survey of Jewish prophecy in the early Roman Empire, the chapter considers the relationship between texts and reality. To engage with prophecy was a common experience for all of the groups discussed (pagans, sectarian Jews, zealot Jews, Jews on good terms with the Roman state); all of these persons believed in prophecy. Prophecy in the period of early Roman imperial Judaism is a tool of apology, identity construction, and a means of understanding the past, present, and future.
