| New Testament manuscript | |
 Papyrus 12 recto - Hebrews 1, 1 and Christian letter from Rome | |
| Name | P. Amherst 3b |
|---|---|
| Text | Epistle to the Hebrews 1 † |
| Date | 3rd century |
| Script | Greek |
| Found | Egypt 1897 |
| Now at | The Morgan Library & Museum |
| Cite | B. P. Grenfell & A. S. Hunt, The Amherst Papyri I, (London 1900), pp. 28-31 (P. Amherst 3 b) |
| Size | 20,8 cm x 23 cm |
| Type | Alexandrian text-type ? |
| Category | I |
Papyrus 12 is an early papyrus manuscript copy of the New Testament Epistle to the Hebrews verse 1:1 in Greek. It is designated by the siglum 𝔓12 in the Gregory-Aland numbering of New Testament manuscripts, and α 1033 in the von Soden numbering of New Testament manuscripts. Using the study of comparative writing styles (palaeography), it has been assigned to ca. 285. It may have been a writing exercise or an amulet.1
Description
The verse has been written at the top of the second column by another (likely later) writer in three lines.1: 82 It has been written in a small uncial hand.2 On the reverse side (known as the verso) of this manuscript another writer has penned Genesis 1:1–5 according to the Greek Septuagint.1
| Greek Text Transcription | Transliteration | English Translation |
|---|---|---|
| πολυμερως κ(αι) πολυ[τρο]πως | polymenōs k(ai) poly[tro]pōs | In many parts and in many ways |
| παλε ο ΘΣ λαλήσ[α]ς το[ις π]ατρα | pale ho Theos lalēs[a]s to[is p]atra | long ago God spoke to the fathe- |
| σ[ιν] ημ[ω]ν εν τοις προ[φ]ητα[ις] | s[in] hēm[ō]n en tois pro[ph]ēta[is] | rs our by the prophets |
It has an error of itacism (παλε instead of παλαι, palai, meaning "long ago, formerly"), and includes the nomen sacrum ΘΣ for Theos, "God".1 The Greek text of this small portion of Hebrews is probably a representative of the Alexandrian text-type, but its text is too brief for certainty. Biblical scholar Kurt Aland placed it in Category I of his New Testament manuscript classification system.3 It supports the textual variant ημων (hēmōn, "our") as in codices 𝔓46c a t v vgmss syrp.4
History
The manuscript was discovered in 1897 by papyrologists Bernard Grenfell and Arthur Hunt in the Fayum, Egypt.1 It is currently housed at the Morgan Library & Museum (Pap. Gr. 3; P. Amherst 3b) in New York City.35
References
References
- Comfort, Philip Wesley; Barrett, David P. (2001). The Text of the Earliest New Testament Greek Manuscripts. Wheaton, Illinois: Tyndale House Publishers. p. 61. ISBN 978-0-8423-5265-9.
- Grenfell, Bernard Pyne; Hunt, Arthur Surridge (1900). The Amherst Papyri. Vol. I. London: Oxford University Press. pp. 30–31.
- Aland, Kurt; Aland, Barbara (1995). The Text of the New Testament: An Introduction to the Critical Editions and to the Theory and Practice of Modern Textual Criticism. Translated by Erroll F. Rhodes. Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company. p. 97. ISBN 978-0-8028-4098-1.
- NA26, p. 563.
- "Handschriftenliste: Papyrus 12". Münster: Institute for New Testament Textual Research. Retrieved 23 August 2012.
Further reading
Further reading
- Gregory, Caspar René (1908). Die griechischen Handschriften des Neuen Testament [The Greek Manuscripts of the New Testament] (in German). Leipzig: J.C. Hinrichs. p. 47.
External links
External links
- Digital Images of the manuscript online at the Morgan Museum & Library website.
- Papyrus 12. Entry in the Manuscript Database of the Göttinger Septuaginta by Alfred Rahlfs, published 7 April 2023