Book

Book in Scripture translates the Hebrew sepher and Greek biblos/biblion, terms that encompass a range of written documents from scrolls and letters to legal records and sacred texts. The first mention of writing in the Bible is the divine command to Moses to record the defeat of Amalek “in a book” (Ex. 17:14), followed by Moses' writing of the covenant law (Ex. 24:7). The centrality of the written word to Israelite religion—from the book of the law deposited beside the ark to the royal copy of Deuteronomy—distinguishes Israel among ancient Near Eastern cultures in its emphasis on textual preservation of divine revelation.

Scripture refers to several celestial or divine books: the Book of Life (Ex. 32:32; Phil. 4:3; Rev. 20:12–15) in which the names of the redeemed are recorded; the books of judgment opened at the last day (Rev. 20:12); and the book of God's remembrance (Mal. 3:16). Jeremiah's purchase of a field and the recording of the transaction in two copies—sealed and open—(Jer. 32:10–14) reflects the legal practice of double-document transactions that archaeology has confirmed from the ancient Near East. The Lamb's book of Revelation (Rev. 5:1) seals the entire sweep of redemptive history.