Penknife
/PEN-nyfe/
Summary
A penknife was a scribe's knife used for sharpening reed pens and, notoriously, for cutting up Jeremiah's scroll.
☩The Scribe's Tool
The penknife (literally 'the scrivener's knife') was an essential tool for scribes who wrote with reed pens. The knife was used to cut the reed diagonally, shave the point thin for flexibility, split the nib, and clip the end to form a stub pen. King Jehoiakim infamously used a penknife to cut Jeremiah's scroll piece by piece as it was read to him, burning each section in the fire.
Key verses:Jeremiah 36:23
Related Verses1 mention
Jeremiah· 1 verse
References
- 1.John McClintock and James Strong, "Penknife," in Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature, vol. VII (Harper & Brothers, 1867–1887).
- 2.George Morrish, "Pen-knife," in Morrish's Concise Bible Dictionary (George Morrish, 1898).