A prophet in the time following the return of the Jews from exile in Babylon, probably the fifth century B.C. and, possibly around the time of Ezra and Nehemiah.
Nothing is known about the prophet.
Malachi, The Book of. O.T. book containing teaching of the prophet Malachi about the carelessness of people in the prophet's time in matters of faith and worship. Malachi, the Book of, the last book of the prophetic corpus and of the Christian ot, and one of the twelve Minor Prophets. The content of the book places its date in the early Persian period between the reestablishment of the Temple in 515 b.c. These concluding verses serve as capstones not only to the prophetic corpus but possibly also the Pentateuch and Prophets together.