He dictated all these words to me is more literally “From his mouth he said to me all these words.” This is the basis for Good News Translation “Jeremiah dictated every word of it to me.”

Ink is a dark fluid used for writing, and normally would not rub off easily. If it is not known, for the last clause translators can say “I wrote his words on the scroll so they would not come off.”

Scroll is the same noun used in verse 13.

Quoted with permission from Newman, Barclay M. and Stine, Philip C. A Handbook on Jeremiah. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2003. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .