Job 19:23
in Job 19I wish that my words were recorded and inscribed in a book,
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Oh that my words were now written! Oh that they were inscribed in a book!
KJV
Oh that my words were now written! oh that they were printed in a book!
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This verse in Job 19
Commentary
9 notes on this verseA commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
Oh that my words were now written! - Margin, as in Hebrew, “Who will give;” a common mode of expressing desire among the Hebrews. This expression of desire introduces one of the most important passages in the book of Job. It is the language of a man who felt that injustice was done by his friends, and that he was not likely to have justice done him by that generation.
This site's exposition
inscribed in a book
on Job 19:23-24
Job wishes his protest made permanent in rising degrees: "recorded", "inscribed in a book", "by an iron stylus on lead, or chiseled in stone forever". Clarke notes that the Hebrew asks for engraving, the lead run into letters cut in rock. Henry observes the wish was granted beyond its asking.
The record, by era
The Medieval Church2 voices
O that my words were now written! O that they were graven in a book with an iron pen, and a plate of lead, or surely that they were hewed in the flint! ALLEGORICAL INTERPRETATION Whereas all that blessed Job underwent, that heavy Jewish people, being instructed by the strong declaration of the Fathers, was brought to know, they were written with 'an iron pen' and 'a plate of lead;' but whereas the hard hearts of the Gentiles also were made acquainted with them, what is this but that we see them 'hewn in the flint?'
Job had said above that his hope had been taken away, "like an uprooted tree." (19:10) He certainly said this referring to the hope of recovering temporal prosperity, to which the friends urged him many times. But he showed in many ways above (vv.11-20) that …
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
My words - The words which I am now about to speak. And that which Job wished for, God granted him. His words are written in God's book; so that wherever that book is read, there shall this glorious confession be declared, for a memorial of him.
O that my words were now written!....
His words are written; they are printed in God's book; so that, wherever that book is read, there shall this be told for a memorial concerning Job. He believed, therefore he spoke.
2 more voices on this verse
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
Despairing of justice from his friends in his lifetime, he wishes his words could be preserved imperishably to posterity, attesting his hope of vindication at the resurrection. printed--not our modern printing, but engraven.
O that my words were now written! - Job introduces the important subject which follows in a manner unusually solemn; and he certainly considers the words which he was about to utter of great moment, and therefore wishes them to be recorded in every possible way. All the modes of writing then in use he appears to refer to. As to printing, that should be out of the question, as no such art was then discovered, nor for nearly two thousand years after. Our translators have made a strange mistake by rendering the verb יחקו yuchaku, printed, when they should have used described, traced out. O that my words were fairly traced out in a book! It is necessary to make this remark, because superficial readers have imagined that the art of printing existed in Job’s time, and that it was not a discovery of the fifteenth century of the Christian era: whereas there is no proof that it ever existed in the world before a.d. 1440, or thereabouts, for the first printed book with a date is a psalter printed by John Fust, in 1457, and the first Bible with a date is that by the same artist in 1460. Three kinds of writing Job alludes to, as being practiced in his time: 1. Writing in a book, formed either of the leaves of the papyrus, already described, (see on Job 8:11 (note)), or on a sort of linen cloth. A roll of this kind, with unknown characters, I have seen taken out of the envelopments of an Egyptian mummy. Denon, in his travels in Egypt, gives an account of a book of this kind, with an engraved facsimile, taken also out of an Egyptian mummy. 2. Cutting with an iron stile on plates of lead. 3. Engraving on large stones or rocks, many of which are still found in different parts of Arabia. To the present day the leaves of the palm tree are used in the East instead of paper, and a stile of brass, silver, iron, etc., with a steel point, serves for a pen. […]
The words behind it
9 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| מִֽי־ | mi- | who? | H4310 → | 423 times |
| יִתֵּ֣ן | yiten | will he give | H5414 → | 2011 times |
| אֵ֭פוֹ | ʾefo | then | H645 → | 15 times |
| וְיִכָּתְב֣וּן | veyikatevun | and they will be written down ! | H3789 → | 224 times |
| מִלָּ֑י | milai | words my | H4405 → | 38 times |
| מִֽי־ | mi- | who? | H4310 → | 423 times |
| יִתֵּ֖ן | yiten | will he give | H5414 → | 2011 times |
| בַּסֵּ֣פֶר | basefer | on the scroll | H5612 → | |
| וְיֻחָֽקוּ׃ | veyuchaku | so they may be inscribed | H2710 → |
מִֽי־who?
mi-H4310 →423 times
יִתֵּ֣ןwill he give
yitenH5414 →2011 times
אֵ֭פוֹthen
ʾefoH645 →15 times
וְיִכָּתְב֣וּןand they will be written down !
veyikatevunH3789 →224 times
מִלָּ֑יwords my
milaiH4405 →38 times
מִֽי־who?
mi-H4310 →423 times
יִתֵּ֖ןwill he give
yitenH5414 →2011 times
בַּסֵּ֣פֶרon the scroll
baseferH5612 →
וְיֻחָֽקוּ׃so they may be inscribed
veyuchakuH2710 →
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Isaiah 30:8Go now, write it on a tablet in their presence and inscribe it on a scroll; it will be for the days to come, a witness forever and ever.
it leads to
- Jeremiah 36:2
“Take a scroll and write on it all the words I have spoken to you concerning Israel, Judah, and all the nations, from the day I first spoke to you during the reign of…
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Deuteronomy 31:22
So that very day Moses wrote down this song and taught it to the Israelites.
- Habakkuk 2:2
Then the LORD answered me: “Write down this vision and clearly inscribe it on tablets, so that a herald may run with it.
- Isaiah 8:1
Then the LORD said to me, “Take a large scroll and write on it with an ordinary stylus: Maher-shalal-hash-baz.
- Jeremiah 51:60
Jeremiah had written on a single scroll about all the disaster that would come upon Babylon—all these words that had been written concerning Babylon.
- Jeremiah 36:2
Through
Isaiah 8:1Then the LORD said to me, “Take a large scroll and write on it with an ordinary stylus: Maher-shalal-hash-baz.
it leads to
- Isaiah 30:8
Go now, write it on a tablet in their presence and inscribe it on a scroll; it will be for the days to come, a witness forever and ever.
- Job 19:23–24
I wish that my words were recorded and inscribed in a book,
- Isaiah 8:3
And I had relations with the prophetess, and she conceived and gave birth to a son. The LORD said to me, “Name him Maher-shalal-hash-baz.
- Isaiah 30:8
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies4
About Job
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Gregory the Dialogist, Morals on the Book of Job, Book XIV; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament; Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Job.