Papyrus 20

Papyrus 20 (in the Gregory-Aland numbering), designated by ${\displaystyle {\mathfrak {P}}}$²⁰, is an early copy of the New Testament in Greek. It is a papyrus manuscript of the Epistle of James, but it only contains Chapter 2:19-3:9. The manuscript has been paleographically assigned to the early 3rd century.[1]

Papyrus ${\displaystyle {\mathfrak {P}}}$²⁰

New Testament manuscript papyri uncials minuscules lectionaries
Epistle of James 3:3–3:9 on verso side
Name	P. Oxy. 1171
Text	Epistle of James 2-3 †
Date	3rd century
Script	Greek
Found	Egypt
Now at	Princeton University Library
Cite	B. P. Grenfell & A. S. Hunt, Oxyrhynchus Papyri IX, (London 1912), pp. 9-11
Size	11.5 by 4.5 cm
Type	Alexandrian text-type
Category	I

Grenfell and Hunt

Bernard Grenfell		Arthur Hunt

Epistle of James 2:19–3:2 on recto side

Description

The original size of the leaves was 17 by 12 cm.

The text is neatly written in upright semi-cursive letters. The main Nomina Sacra are used, but πατηρ/pater/father and ανθρωπος/anthropos/man are written out in full.[2]

The Greek text of this codex is representative of the Alexandrian text-type (rather proto-Alexandrian). Aland placed it in Category I.[1] This manuscript shows the greatest agreement with Codex Sinaiticus and Vaticanus,[3] but not with codices Ephraemi, Regius and other late Alexandrian manuscripts.[2]

Philip Comfort has conjectured that the scribe who wrote ${\displaystyle {\mathfrak {P}}}$²⁰ was also the same scribe who wrote ${\displaystyle {\mathfrak {P}}}$²⁷, where the Greek letters α, β, δ, ε, λ, ι, μ, ν, ο, π, ρ, σ, ψ, υ, φ, ω are formed identically in both manuscripts.[3]

It is currently housed at the Princeton University Library (AM 4117) in Princeton.[1][4]

See also

• James 2; 3
• List of New Testament papyri
• Princeton Papyri

References

1. 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. Erroll F. Rhodes (trans.). Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company. p. 97. ISBN 978-0-8028-4098-1.
2. B. P. Grenfell & A. S. Hunt, Oxyrhynchus Papyri IX, (London 1912), p. 9.
3. Comfort, Philip W.; David P. Barrett (2001). The Text of the Earliest New Testament Greek Manuscripts. Wheaton, Illinois: Tyndale House Publishers. p. 106. ISBN 978-0-8423-5265-9.
4. "Liste Handschriften". Münster: Institute for New Testament Textual Research. Retrieved 23 August 2011.

Further reading

• B. P. Grenfell & A. S. Hunt, Oxyrhynchus Papyri IX, (London 1912), pp. 9–11.

External links

• Robert B. Waltz. NT Manuscripts: Papyri, ${\displaystyle {\mathfrak {P}}}$²⁰ Encyclopedia of Textual Criticism
• Images of the ${\displaystyle {\mathfrak {P}}}$²⁰ at the Princeton University Library Papyrus
• P. Oxy. 1171 at the Oxyrhynchus Online
• GA Papyrus 20. Center for the Study of New Testament Manuscripts