Papyrus usually refers to a document written on sheets joined together side by side. Papyrus was like thick paper, so that people could write on it. The papyrus sheets came from the inner bark of the papyrus plant. Normally, they would roll these parchments into a scroll. This was the early form of a book. The Greek origins come for this word for papyrus, βύβλος was similar to the Greek word for a book. Thus, the English term ‘paper’ is derived from papyrus.
a scroll
The book of Jeremiah (Jer 51:60-51:62)
“Jeremiah wrote
In a scroll
All the disasters
That would come
Upon Babylon.
All these words
Were written
Concerning Babylon.
Jeremiah said
To Seraiah.
‘When you come
To Babylon,
See that you read
All these words.
Say!
‘Yahweh!
You yourself threatened
To destroy this place.
Neither human beings
Or animals
Shall live in it.
It shall be desolate forever.’”
Jeremiah or his secretary Baruch wrote on a scroll about all the disasters that would come to Babylon. Then Jeremiah told Seraiah to read all these words in Babylon. Then he was to say that Yahweh has threatened to destroy Babylon so that no humans or animals would live in it. It would become desolate forever. Thus Seraiah was to bring this bad news to Babylon, even though they still had not invaded Judah or Jerusalem at this time.
Write a scroll or book (Jer 36:2-36:2)
“Take a scroll!
Write on it
All the words
That I have spoken
To you
Against Israel,
Against Judah,
Against all the nations,
From the day
I spoke to you,
From the days
Of King Josiah
Until today.”
Yahweh tells Jeremiah to write down all the oracles that he told him since the beginning of his prophetic work to the present. He was to get a scroll to write all these oracles that Yahweh had delivered to him against Israel, Judah, and all the nations. He was to go back to the beginning under King Josiah in 626 BCE. Thus this would have been about 20 years worth of Yahweh oracles, with most of it coming when King Josiah was king, since King Jehoiakim had been king for only 4 years. Thus we have some idea about what is in this Book of Jeremiah.
Preserve the oracles of Isaiah (Isa 30:8-30:8)
“Go now!
Write it before them on a tablet!
Inscribe it in a book!
Thus it may be for the time to come.
Let this be a witness forever!”
Isaiah wanted them to preserve his oracles. He wanted them to write these oracles on a tablet. Then they were to keep them on a scroll in some kind of book. Thus they would become a lasting witness about things to come in the future. Apparently, this was done.
Eugene Finnegan Bible Project 