Job Chapter 19 verse 23 Holy Bible
Oh that my words were now written! Oh that they were inscribed in a book!
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If only my words might be recorded! if they might be put in writing in a book!
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Oh would that my words were written! oh that they were inscribed in a book!
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Oh that my words were now written! oh that they were printed in a book!
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Oh that my words were now written! oh that they were printed in a book!
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"Oh that my words were now written! Oh that they were inscribed in a book!
read chapter 19 in WEB
Who doth grant now, That my words may be written? Who doth grant that in a book they may be graven?
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Pulpit Commentary
Pulpit CommentaryVerse 23. - Oh that my words were written! It is questioned what words of his Job is so anxious to have committed to writing - those that precede the expression of the wish, or those that follow, or both. As there is nothing that is very remarkable in the preceding words, whereas the latter are among the most striking in the book, the general opinion has been that he refers to these last. It is now universally allowed, even by those whose date for Job is the most remote, that books were common long before his time, and so that he might naturally have been familiar with them. Writing is, of course, even anterior to books, and was certainly in use before B.C. 2000. The earliest writing was probably on stone or brick, and was perhaps in every case hieroglyphical. When writing on papyrus, or parchment, or the bark of trees, came into use, a cursive character soon superseded the hieroglyphical, though the latter continued In be employed for religious purposes, and for inscriptions on stone. Oh that they were printed in a book! rather, inscribed, or engraved. The impression of the characters below the surface of the writing material, as in the Babylonian and Assyrian clay-tablets, seems to be pointed at.
Ellicott's Commentary
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers(23) Oh that my words were now written!--Some understand this to refer to the words he is about to utter; by others they are interpreted generally. The former view is probably owing to the Christian acceptation given to them, and the consequently great importance attaching to them. Since, however, the three verses, Job 19:25-27, are manifestly more emphatic than any he has yet spoken, though they do not stand quite alone, there is no reason why it should not be especially these very words which he desires more than any others to have recorded. Perhaps the "now" = here shows this.Oh that they were printed.--This points us to primitive time, when writing materials and the use of writing involved more or less of engraving, as, for instance, in later times was the case with tablets of wax.
