Book

Scripture speaks of a book kept by God. After the golden calf, Moses asks to be blotted “out of thy book which thou hast written.” A psalmist says “in thy book all my members were written,” and Malachi 3:16 mentions “a book of remembrance” for those who feared the LORD. Revelation calls it “the book of life” and promises “I will not blot out his name out of the book of life.” Jesus tells his followers to rejoice “because your names are written in heaven.” Christians read the details differently, but the picture is of God knowing his people by name.

16 verses

Exodus

Exodus 32:32

Yet now, if thou wilt forgive their sin--; and if not, blot me, I pray thee, out of thy book which thou hast written.

Exodus 32:33

And the LORD said unto Moses, Whosoever hath sinned against me, him will I blot out of my book.

Psalms

Psalms 56:8

Thou tellest my wanderings: put thou my tears into thy bottle: are they not in thy book?

Psalms 69:28

Let them be blotted out of the book of the living, and not be written with the righteous.

Psalms 87:6

The LORD shall count, when he writeth up the people, that this man was born there. Selah.

Psalms 139:16

Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them.

Daniel

Daniel 12:1

And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people: and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time: and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book.

Malachi

Malachi 3:16

Then they that feared the LORD spake often one to another: and the LORD hearkened, and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the LORD, and that thought upon his name.

Luke

Luke 10:20

Notwithstanding in this rejoice not, that the spirits are subject unto you; but rather rejoice, because your names are written in heaven.

Philippians

Philippians 4:3

And I intreat thee also, true yokefellow, help those women which laboured with me in the gospel, with Clement also, and with other my fellowlabourers, whose names are in the book of life.

Revelation

Revelation 3:5

He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before my Father, and before his angels.

Revelation 13:8

And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.

Revelation 17:8

The beast that thou sawest was, and is not; and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go into perdition: and they that dwell on the earth shall wonder, whose names were not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, when they behold the beast that was, and is not, and yet is.

Revelation 20:12

And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.

Revelation 20:15

And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.

Revelation 21:27

And there shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie: but they which are written in the Lamb's book of life.

From Easton's Bible Dictionary

Matthew George Easton, 1897

This word has a comprehensive meaning in Scripture. In the Old Testament it is the rendering of the Hebrew word sepher, which properly means a “writing,” and then a “volume” (Ex. 17:14; Deut. 28:58; 29:20; Job 19:23) or “roll of a book” (Jer. 36:2, 4).

Books were originally written on skins, on linen or cotton cloth, and on Egyptian papyrus, whence our word “paper.” The leaves of the book were generally written in columns, designated by a Hebrew word properly meaning “doors” and “valves” (Jer. 36:23, R.V., marg. “columns”).

Among the Hebrews books were generally rolled up like our maps, or if very long they were rolled from both ends, forming two rolls (Luke 4:17-20). Thus they were arranged when the writing was on flexible materials; but if the writing was on tablets of wood or brass or lead, then the several tablets were bound together by rings through which a rod was passed.

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A sealed book is one whose contents are secret (Isa. 29:11; Rev. 5:1-3). To “eat” a book (Jer. 15:16; Ezek. 2:8-10; 3:1-3; Rev. 10:9) is to study its contents carefully.

The book of judgment (Dan. 7:10) refers to the method of human courts of justice as illustrating the proceedings which will take place at the day of God’s final judgment.

The book of the wars of the Lord (Num. 21:14), the book of Jasher (Josh. 10:13), and the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah and Israel (2 Chr. 25:26), were probably ancient documents known to the Hebrews, but not forming a part of the canon.

The book of life (Ps. 69:28) suggests the idea that as the redeemed form a community or citizenship (Phil. 3:20; 4:3), a catalogue of the citizens’ names is preserved (Luke 10:20; Rev. 20:15). Their names are registered in heaven (Luke 10:20; Rev. 3:5).

The book of the covenant (Ex. 24:7), containing Ex. 20:22-23:33, is the first book actually mentioned as a part of the written word. It contains a series of laws, civil, social, and religious, given to Moses at Sinai immediately after the delivery of the decalogue. These were written in this “book.”