Oracle

In the Bible, an oracle is a divine pronouncement that reveals the will of God to the people.

How Did One Obtain an Oracle?

An oracle could be received in different ways:

in a dream;
through divination stones used by the high priest;
through a prophet who received the oracle from God;
through a soothsayer, but that was forbidden according to the Old Testament (see for example Deuteronomy 18:14).

Fixed Wording

In the Hebrew source text of the Old Testament, there are two expressions that relate to oracles. They are used in prophetic texts as fixed expressions to introduce or conclude a divine communication:

neum yhwh: “declaration of the Lord”, in many translations rendered as “declares the Lord”;
massa: “oracle”; also often translated as “message” or “burden”.