Gallery

“To the prophets, God was overwhelmingly real and shatteringly present.”

—Abraham J. Heschel

The sad eyes of the prophet—one dark, as if turned inward in deep reflection, one light, focused on the world—dominate this 1912 woodcut, titled simply “Prophet,” by the German artist Emil Nolde.

In the Bible, prophets are messengers selected to communicate God’s word—which they receive through visions, voices and dreams—to other human beings. Although they are most often called navi (translated “prophet”) in the Hebrew Bible, other titles like “seer” (ro’eh, 1 Samuel 9:9) and “visionary” (hozeh, 2 Samuel 24:1) refer to their special ability to view things that remain invisible to most people. God tells Jeremiah to direct his prophecy to those who do not have his vision: “Declare this in the house of Jacob, proclaim it in Judah: ‘Hear this, O foolish and senseless people, who have eyes but do not see, who have ears but do not hear’” (Jeremiah 5:20–21).