Ulangan 27:8

27:8 You must inscribe on the stones all the words of this law, making them clear.”

Ayub 19:23

Job’s Assurance of Vindication

19:23 “O that ¹  my words were written down,

O that they were written on a scroll, ² 

Yesaya 30:8

30:8 Now go, write it ³  down on a tablet in their presence, ⁴ 

inscribe it on a scroll,

so that it might be preserved for a future time

as an enduring witness. ⁵ 

Yeremia 51:60

51:60 Jeremiah recorded ⁶  on one scroll all the judgments ⁷  that would come upon Babylon – all these prophecies ⁸  written about Babylon.

[19:23]  ¹ tn The optative is again expressed with the interrogative clause “Who will give that they be written?” Job wishes that his words be preserved long after his death.

[19:23]  ² tn While the sense of this line is clear, there is a small problem and a plausible solution. The last word is indeed סֶפֶר (sefer, “book”), usually understood here to mean “scroll.” But the verb that follows it in the verse is יֻחָקוּ (yukhaqu), from חָקַק (khaqaq, “to engrave; to carve”). While the meaning is clearly that Job wants his words to be retained, the idea of engraving in a book, although not impossible, is unusual. And so many have suggested that the Akkadian word siparru, “copper; brass,” is what is meant here (see Isa 30:8; Judg 5:14). The consonants are the same, and the vowel pattern is close to the original vowel pattern of this segholate noun. Writing on copper or bronze sheets has been attested from the 12th to the 2nd centuries, notably in the copper scroll, which would allow the translation “scroll” in our text (for more bibliography see D. J. A. Clines, Job [WBC], 432). But H. S. Gehman notes that in Phoenician our word can mean “inscription” (“SEÝFER, an inscription, in the book of Job,” JBL 63 [1944]: 303-7), making the proposed substitution unnecessary.

[30:8]  ³ tn The referent of the third feminine singular pronominal suffix is uncertain. Perhaps it refers to the preceding message, which accuses the people of rejecting the Lord’s help in favor of an alliance with Egypt.

[30:8]  ⁴ tn Heb “with them.” On the use of the preposition here, see BDB 86 s.v. II אֵת.

[30:8]  ⁵ sn Recording the message will enable the prophet to use it in the future as evidence that God warned his people of impending judgment and clearly spelled out the nation’s guilt. An official record of the message will also serve as proof of the prophet’s authority as God’s spokesman.

[51:60]  ⁶ tn Or “wrote.”

[51:60]  ⁷ tn Or “disaster”; or “calamity.”

[51:60]  ⁸ tn Heb “words” (or “things”).