How do you interpret the OT prophets?

I took OT prophets, and one thing I was surprised at was that there were so many times the textbook said a particular judgment passage happened, but not to the intensity that was prophesied. Do you think God made a mistake? Do you think some people repented so God just partially judged them? Do you think that Jewish/Bible times literature exaggerated more and so God did as well? Do you think that God will judge them more in the future? Somehow none of these answers really seem to satisfy me.

There is something to the argument that so-called apocalyptic literature uses hyperbole and exaggeration to emphasis the consequences of sin and judgment. However, I am unsure if all apocalypic literature should be interpreted as figuratively as some interpret it.

That is a very good question. I know that somehow prayer works and I do believe that "when you pray, things happen that would not have happened if you did not pray."

Maybe someone prayed for mercy and then because of their prayer, as well as others, the judgment was not so bad. I don't know. But I do know that God's judgment usually are not pleasant. And I am sure that God's judgments near the end will be... awful.

but i dk. I believe that prophecies should be taken literal but I am not sure about the prophets "exaggerating." I believe that God can change his mind about relenting judgment but I don't think he will deny/turn his back on someone who is saved.

As I have studied, I have come to realize more and more the abundance of so-called "exaggeration" (I don't like that word) in the prophets. I don't really have a problem with God adapting to the literary styles of the day, whether in Creation accounts, historiography, apocalyptic prophecy, and poetry. After all, the messages would probably have been rejected if they had differed substantially from the styles of the surrounding literature.