Job 19:24

24. Since ink, parchment, and metal may perish, Job desires that the momentous truth he is about to utter may be chiseled into the rock; and, that the characters may be forever legible, he would have them filled in with lead. A gradation of thought is intended, as Holemann has indicated first the writing, then the inscribing in a book, and last the chiseling into the rock forever. Rocks abound in the East bearing inscriptions not only of historical events, but of legal precepts, prayers, etc. While no one knows that the wish of Job was ever fulfilled, his precious thoughts stand recorded upon the rock of heavenly truth. Generation after generation have gazed with wondering and trusting hearts upon these imperishable lines, and thus shall it be so long as rocks and mountains stand.

THE INSCRIPTION JOB’S CONFESSION OF FAITH.

Such is its momentousness that we give the Hebrew with a literal translation, and in the reverse order, as in the original:

חחי גאלי ידעתי ואני

living (is) | my Redeemer | I know | And

ייקום עפר על ואחרון

shall stand | on the dust | the last.

And זזאת נקפו עורי ואחר

this they destroy | my skin. | And after

אלוה אחזה ומבשׁרי

God | I shall see. | And from my flesh

ללי אחזה אני אשׂר

for myself | I shall see. | I, | Whom,

זזר ולא ראו ועיני

and not another | behold, | And my eyes

בחקי כליתי כלו

within me | my reins. | Are consumed