Hosea was a prophet of God in the Bible. His book is the first of the twelve Minor Prophets in the Old Testament. As a contemporary of the prophet Isaiah, Hosea ministered primarily to the northern kingdom of Israel in the eighth century BC, during the reigns of Kings Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, Hezekiah of Judah, and Jeroboam II of Israel (Hosea 1:1). Such a lengthy ministry—60 or 70 years—makes Hosea one of the longest-serving prophets in the Bible.