carved with an iron chisel and filled with lead, engraved forever in the rock.
Parallel translations
- WEB That with an iron pen and lead they were engraved in the rock forever!
- KJV That they were graven with an iron pen and lead in the rock for ever!
- BSB by an iron stylus on lead, or chiseled in stone forever.
- NKJV That they were engraved on a rock With an iron pen and lead, forever!
- NASB “That with an iron stylus and lead They were engraved in the rock forever!
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Job wishes his words were engraved in rock with an iron pen forever. He desires the most permanent possible record.
Overview
Building on the previous verse, Job longs for his testimony carved into stone with lead-filled letters, the most enduring writing he can imagine. His earnest desire signals the supreme importance of the confession to follow. The intensity of his longing prepares the reader for one of the Old Testament's clearest expressions of resurrection hope.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 6
- Jer 17:1“The sin of Judah is written with a pen of iron, and with the point of a diamond. It is engraved on the tablet of their heart, and on the horns of your altars.
- Deut 27:2–3It shall be on the day when you shall pass over the Jordan to the land which Yahweh your God gives you, that you shall set yourself up great stones, and coat them with plaster.
- Exod 28:21The stones shall be according to the names of the children of Israel, twelve, according to their names; like the engravings of a signet, everyone according to his name, they shall be for the twelve tribes.
- Exod 28:11–12With the work of an engraver in stone, like the engravings of a signet, you shall engrave the two stones, according to the names of the children of Israel: you shall make them to be enclosed in settings of gold.
- Deut 27:8You shall write on the stones all the words of this law very plainly.”
- Exod 32:16The tablets were the work of God, and the writing was the writing of God, engraved on the tablets.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
Job's cry for a mediator who can lay his hand on both God and man, and his confidence that 'my Redeemer lives' and will stand on the earth, reaches forward to Jesus the living Redeemer.
How Job 19:24 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.