Group 5 — The Minor Prophets (Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi)

N=1 book-group distillation. Source: WEB, Gutenberg #8294. Quotes pending Phase 7 audit. Tags: ../00-methodology.md. Per-verse depth is Stage-B.

Group role

The twelve "minor" prophets (minor only in length) distill the prophetic message to its sharpest summaries: what God requires (justice, mercy, humility), the breadth of God's compassion (even to Nineveh's enemy city), the common fatherhood of all humanity under one God, and the principle that "the righteous will live by his faith" — a verse Paul later makes load-bearing for the gospel.

Atomic statements

G5-C1: What God requires is summed up: act justly, love mercy, walk humbly with God. (FOUNDATIONAL / JUSTICE+LOVE)

• Micah 6:8: "He has shown you, O man, what is good. What does Yahweh require of you, but to act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?"
• Stance: assert · Importance: core

G5-C2: Justice must flow continuously, not be a one-time gesture. (FOUNDATIONAL / JUSTICE)

• Amos 5:24: "But let justice roll on like rivers, and righteousness like a mighty stream."
• Zechariah 7:9–10: "Execute true judgment, and show kindness and compassion… Don't oppress the widow, nor the fatherless, the foreigner, nor the poor."
• Stance: assert · Importance: core

G5-C3: God's mercy is wide — even concerned for the enemy city and its people who "can't discern between their right hand and their left." (FOUNDATIONAL / GOD+LOVE)

• Jonah 4:11: "Shouldn't I be concerned for Nineveh, that great city, in which are more than one hundred twenty thousand persons…"
• Joel 2:13: "…turn to Yahweh, your God; for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abundant in loving kindness."
• Stance: assert · Importance: core

G5-C4: All humanity shares one Father and one Creator. (FOUNDATIONAL / GOD+IMAGO)

• Malachi 2:10: "Don't we all have one father? Hasn't one God created us?"
• Stance: assert · Importance: supporting

G5-C5: The righteous live by faith. (FOUNDATIONAL / REDEMPTION+COVENANT)

• Habakkuk 2:4: "…but the righteous will live by his faith."
• Stance: assert · Importance: core

Step 4 — Clusters

Cluster	Atomic statements	Intent
The summary demand	G5-C1, C2	Justice + mercy + humility; justice as a continuous flow
God's wide mercy	G5-C3, C4	Mercy reaches the outsider; all share one Creator-Father
Faith as the way	G5-C5	The righteous live by faith

Step 5 — Internal tensions

Oracles of doom (Nahum, Obadiah) against the same nations God shows mercy to elsewhere (Jonah). The canon holds judgment and mercy in tension; noted, not forced.

Step 6 — Synthesized group principles

G5-P1: What God requires is justice, mercy, and humility

The prophetic message reduces to "act justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with your God"; justice is to "roll on like rivers," protecting the widow, the fatherless, the foreigner, and the poor.

• Tier: FOUNDATIONAL · Domain: JUSTICE+LOVE · Covers: G5-C1, C2 · Evidence: Mic 6:8, Amos 5:24, Zech 7:9–10

G5-P2: God's mercy is wide and reaches the outsider

God is "gracious and merciful, slow to anger," and his compassion extends even to the enemy city; all humanity shares one Creator and one Father.

• Tier: FOUNDATIONAL · Domain: GOD+LOVE+IMAGO · Covers: G5-C3, C4 · Evidence: Jonah 4:11, Joel 2:13, Mal 2:10

G5-P3: The righteous live by faith

Right standing before God rests on faith/faithfulness — a seed the New Testament develops into justification by grace through faith.

• Tier: FOUNDATIONAL · Domain: REDEMPTION+COVENANT · Covers: G5-C5 · Evidence: Hab 2:4

Step 7 — Traceability

Principle	Atomic statements	Verses
G5-P1	C1, C2	Mic 6:8, Amos 5:24, Zech 7:9–10
G5-P2	C3, C4	Jonah 4:11, Joel 2:13, Mal 2:10
G5-P3	C5	Hab 2:4

Step 8 — Quality

• Coverage: the prophetic summaries are captured; doom oracles against specific nations and the restoration-of-temple material (Haggai, Zechariah) are largely orphaned at this granularity (Stage-B).
• Principles: 3.
• Traceability: 100%.

Step 9 — Validation

• Frame-independent: G5-P1 (justice, mercy, humility) is one of the canon's clearest universal ethical claims and a top cross-tradition convergence candidate. G5-P2 (mercy reaching the outsider; common human fatherhood) converges with universalist strands in many traditions.
• Claim-vs-warrant flag: "all share one Father/Creator" (P2) grounds human equality in a theistic warrant — convergent in claim with humanist equality, divergent in warrant from non-theistic equality (e.g., Buddhist equality grounded in shared dukkha, not shared Creator). G5-P3 (live by faith) is a grace-axis input for the Atlas.