Roll

A roll (Hebrew megillah; Greek biblion or tomos) was a scroll — a manuscript written on papyrus, leather, or vellum wound around a central stick and unrolled for reading. Before the codex (book) form became common in the second century A.D., rolls were the standard form for both literary and official documents throughout the ancient Near East and Mediterranean world. Ezra 6:2 records a "roll" of official records found at Ecbatana. Jeremiah dictated his prophecies to Baruch, who wrote them on a roll (megillah) that was read publicly and then burned by King Jehoiakim (Jeremiah 36:2–28). Psalm 40:7 speaks of the coming Servant of the LORD: "in the volume of the book it is written of me" — applied in Hebrews 10:7 to Christ's coming to do God's will.