Neo-Assyrian prophecy and the Hebrew Bible: A comparative analysis

Recent scholarship has utilized Neo-Assyrian prophecy to illumine the issue of biblical prophecy. These attempts have focused primarily on the role of the prophet. Some scholars have turned their attention to biblical prophetic texts, but none of these focus on the books of Nahum, Habakkuk, and Zephaniah. These three books, traditionally dated to the 7th century B.C.E., are where one would expect to find the greatest degree of correspondence between Assyrian and biblical prophecy assuming that both corpora are produced under monarchic patronage in the 7th century. However, such is not the case. An analysis of the material reveals a different politico-socio locus for the production of the biblical material leading to the conclusion that these books were not written under monarchic patronage, and may date to the post-monarchic era.