Recent publications on prophecy allow one to gain a general view of the phenomenon of prophecy in the ancient Near East. Prophecy functioned as one form of divination among others and prophets functioned as mediators supposedly receiving direct messages from gods by various means, which they communicated to whom it concerned. The Hebrew Bible contains many glimpses of prophecy as a socio-historical phenomenon. These elements are reminiscent of ancient Near Eastern prophetic practice and support the view that prophecy in ancient Israel and Judah is to be regarded as representing local variants of the broader phenomenon of ancient Near Eastern prophecy. Yet the dominant picture of prophecy in the Hebrew Bible is profoundly different. It has therefore often been taken for granted that the true prophets whose words are embodied in the biblical prophetic books represent a different type of prophets. However, I will argue that most traditions concerning prophets in the Hebrew Bible are not descriptions of how prophecy actually was, but a reflection of prophecy based on later perception. Images of the prophets in the Hebrew Bible, although not complete imagination, should not be taken as descriptions of prophetic practice in Judah and Israel. The paper will discuss various biblical images of prophecy – such as the prophets as true servants of YHWH and the prophets as false and deceptive smooth-talkers – and explore their origins. Finally, some suggestions will be made with regard to the question how one can go back again from the biblical portrayals of prophecy to prophecy as a historical phenomenon.