22 Bible Verses About Writing

Exodus 34:27

“And the Lord said to Moses, ‘Write these words, for in accordance with these words I have made a covenant with you and with Israel.’”

Reflection: Moses has gone back up Sinai with two new stone tablets, because he broke the first pair (Exodus 34:1). At the start of the chapter God says, “I will write on the tablets the words that were on the first tablets,” and here Moses is told to write the words himself, because the covenant is made “in accordance with these words.” Verse 28 ends with the tablets written: “the words of the covenant, the Ten Commandments.”

Isaiah 30:8

“And now, go, write it before them on a tablet and inscribe it in a book, that it may be for the time to come as a witness forever.”

Reflection: The reason for writing comes in the next verse: “they are a rebellious people, lying children, children unwilling to hear the instruction of the Lord.” Written on a tablet and in a book, the words stand “for the time to come as a witness forever.”

Jeremiah 30:2

“Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: Write in a book all the words that I have spoken to you.”

Reflection: Jeremiah is told to put in a book “all the words that I have spoken to you.” Verse 3 gives the reason: “days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will restore the fortunes of my people, Israel and Judah.”

Habakkuk 2:2

“And the Lord answered me: ‘Write the vision; make it plain on tablets, so he may run who reads it.’”

Reflection: Habakkuk has taken his stand on the watchtower to wait for God’s reply to his complaint (Habakkuk 2:1). The answer is to be written plainly, on tablets, so that it can be read at a glance. The next verse explains why it must be kept: “the vision awaits its appointed time… If it seems slow, wait for it; it will surely come.”

Revelation 1:19

“Write therefore the things that you have seen, those that are and those that are to take place after this.”

Reflection: John was on the island of Patmos when a voice told him, “Write what you see in a book and send it to the seven churches” (Revelation 1:11). Here the risen Christ, who has just said “I died, and behold I am alive forevermore,” repeats the command and sets its scope: what John has seen, what is now, and what is still to come.

Deuteronomy 6:9

“You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.”

Reflection: This verse closes the passage that begins “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one” (Deuteronomy 6:4). “These words” are first to be on the heart, then taught to children, talked about at home and on the road, bound on the hand, and finally written on the doorposts and gates. Writing is the last of these steps, and it puts the words at the entrance of the house.

Deuteronomy 17:18

“And when he sits on the throne of his kingdom, he shall write for himself in a book a copy of this law, approved by the Levitical priests.”

Reflection: The law for Israel’s future king requires him to make his own handwritten copy of the law, checked against the one the Levitical priests keep. He is to keep it with him and “read in it all the days of his life, that he may learn to fear the Lord his God.” Verse 20 gives the purpose: “that his heart may not be lifted up above his brothers.”

Proverbs 3:3

“Let not steadfast love and faithfulness forsake you; bind them around your neck; write them on the tablet of your heart.”

Reflection: A father speaks to his son (Proverbs 3:1), and “them” in this verse are steadfast love and faithfulness. The son is to bind them around his neck and write them on “the tablet of your heart.” Verse 1 uses the heart the same way for the father’s teaching: “let your heart keep my commandments.”

Jeremiah 31:33

“For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people.”

Reflection: The new covenant is “not like the covenant that I made with their fathers… my covenant that they broke” (Jeremiah 31:32). In the new covenant God puts his law “within them” and writes it “on their hearts.” Verse 34 says what follows from that: no one will need to teach a neighbour to know the Lord, “for they shall all know me.”

2 Corinthians 3:3

“And you show that you are a letter from Christ delivered by us, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.”

Reflection: Paul asks whether he needs, “as some do, letters of recommendation to you, or from you” (2 Corinthians 3:1). The Corinthian church is his letter, “written on our hearts, to be known and read by all.” In this verse Paul contrasts ink with the Spirit, and tablets of stone with human hearts, taking up the language of Exodus and Jeremiah 31:33.

Psalm 102:18

“Let this be recorded for a generation to come, so that a people yet to be created may praise the Lord.”

Reflection: The psalm opens as a prayer, “Hear my prayer, O Lord; let my cry come to you!” (Psalm 102:1), and by verse 17 the writer is sure God “regards the prayer of the destitute.” What is to be recorded follows in verses 19-20: that God looked down from heaven “to hear the groans of the prisoners, to set free those who were doomed to die.”

Luke 1:3

“…it seemed good to me also, having followed all things closely for some time past, to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus…”

Reflection: Luke begins his gospel by saying “many have undertaken to compile a narrative” of these events, drawing on what eyewitnesses handed down (Luke 1:1-2). He has followed everything closely and now writes “an orderly account” for Theophilus. Verse 4 gives his aim: “that you may have certainty concerning the things you have been taught.”

John 20:31

“but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.”

Reflection: The verse before says Jesus did “many other signs” that are not written in the book (John 20:30). John admits he has selected, and names his reason for the selection: that readers may believe Jesus is the Christ and “have life in his name.”

John 21:25

“Now there are also many other things that Jesus did. Were every one of them to be written, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written.”

Reflection: The gospel’s last verse returns to the point of John 20:30. Verse 24 identifies the disciple “who has written these things” and adds, “we know that his testimony is true.” The closing line says the world could not hold everything Jesus did if all of it were written down.

1 John 1:4

“And we are writing these things so that our joy may be complete.”

Reflection: The letter opens with what the writer has heard, seen with his own eyes and touched with his hands, “concerning the word of life” (1 John 1:1). He proclaims it so that his readers “too may have fellowship with us” and with the Father and the Son (1 John 1:3).

2 Timothy 3:16-17

“All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.”

Reflection: Paul reminds Timothy that “from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus” (2 Timothy 3:15). He then says all Scripture is “breathed out by God” and lists its uses: teaching, reproof, correction and training in righteousness. The goal is a person “equipped for every good work.”

Psalm 45:1

“My heart overflows with a pleasing theme; I address my verses to the king; my tongue is like the pen of a ready scribe.”

Reflection: The psalmist introduces his own poem: a heart full of a theme, verses addressed to the king, and a tongue compared to a scribe’s pen. The psalm that follows praises the king and then speaks to a princess led into the palace “with joy and gladness” (Psalm 45:15).

Ecclesiastes 12:10

“The Preacher sought to find words of delight, and uprightly he wrote words of truth.”

Reflection: The epilogue of Ecclesiastes describes the Preacher’s method: he taught, weighed, studied and arranged many proverbs “with great care” (Ecclesiastes 12:9). This verse names two aims, words that delight and words that are true, and holds them together. Two verses later comes the warning, “Of making many books there is no end, and much study is a weariness of the flesh.”

Galatians 6:11

“See with what large letters I am writing to you with my own hand.”

Reflection: Paul did not always hold the pen himself. Romans 16:22 includes a greeting from “I Tertius, who wrote this letter,” and 2 Thessalonians 3:17 says Paul’s handwritten greeting “is the sign of genuineness in every letter of mine.” In Galatians he takes the pen for the closing paragraph and points to his large letters, then restates the letter’s argument: “neither circumcision counts for anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation” (Galatians 6:15).

Philippians 3:1

“Finally, my brothers, rejoice in the Lord. To write the same things to you is no trouble to me and is safe for you.”

Reflection: Paul is about to repeat a warning (“Look out for the dogs, look out for the evildoers,” Philippians 3:2) and says in advance that he does not mind writing the same things again. Repeating them is “no trouble to me” and “safe for you.”

Colossians 4:16

“And when this letter has been read among you, have it also read in the church of the Laodiceans; and see that you also read the letter from Laodicea.”

Reflection: Paul asks for his letter to be read in the church and then passed on to the church in Laodicea, while the Colossians read “the letter from Laodicea.” The letter closes two verses later with a line in Paul’s own hand: “I, Paul, write this greeting with my own hand. Remember my chains” (Colossians 4:18).

3 John 1:13

“I had much to write to you, but I would rather not write with pen and ink.”

Reflection: The elder ends his short letter by saying he has more to say but would rather not put it in pen and ink. Verse 14 gives the reason: “I hope to see you soon, and we will talk face to face.” The end of 2 John uses almost the same words and adds “so that our joy may be complete” (2 John 1:12).