Bible Dictionaries

Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible

Ink

INK is mentioned once in OT ( Jeremiah 36:18 ). Exodus 32:33 and Numbers 5:23 are adduced as evidence that the old Hebrew ink (derived from lamp-black [?]) could he washed off. From the bright colours that still survive in some papyri, it is evident that the ink used by the Egyptians must have been of a superior kind. The NT term for ‘ink,’ occurring three times ( 2Co 3:3 , 2 John 1:12 , 3 John 1:13 ), is melan (lit. ‘black’). See, further, under Writing.