'Former' in the Bible

Don't be like your ancestors, to whom the former prophets proclaimed: "This is what the LORD of the Heavenly Armies says: "It's time to turn from your evil lifestyles and from your evil actions," "but they would neither listen nor pay attention to me,'" declares the LORD.'

And look, I will shake my fist over them, and they will become plunder for their former slaves. And you will know that the LORD of the Heavenly Armies sent me."'"

Isn't this what the LORD proclaimed through the former prophets, when a prosperous Jerusalem was inhabited, as were its surrounding cities, the Negev, and the Shephelah?'"

They made their hearts hard like a diamond, to keep from obeying the Law and the messages that the LORD of the Heavenly Armies sent by his Spirit through the former prophets.