Manuscript

The Nash Papyrus

Also known as Nash Papyrus · Cambridge MS Or.233

hebrew-bibleold-testamenttorahdiscovery

Summary

A scrap of Egyptian papyrus carrying the Ten Commandments and the Shema — the oldest Hebrew Bible text known until the Dead Sea Scrolls turned up.

Copied c. 150–100 BC (middle of the second century BC).
Written in hebrew on papyrus.
Kept at Cambridge University Library (MS Or.233).
Contains Exodus 20 / Deuteronomy 5 (the Ten Commandments, blended), Deuteronomy 6:4–5 (the Shema).

Four joined fragments of dark papyrus carrying lines of Hebrew script — The Nash Papyrus, the Ten Commandments and the Shema: first published 1903, public domain

Sources (2)

Cambridge Digital Library, "Hebrew Manuscripts: Nash Papyrus" (MS Or.233) · accessed 2026-08-06The holding institution's own imaging. Link-only; images are never rehosted.
Emanuel Tov, Textual Criticism of the Hebrew Bible, 3rd ed. (Fortress Press, 2012) · accessed 2026-08-06The standard handbook of Hebrew Bible textual criticism.

What it is

Four fragments, joined. They carry the Ten Commandments followed immediately by the Shema — Deuteronomy 6:4–5, "Hear, O Israel."

The Commandments here are not copied from Exodus or from Deuteronomy but blended from both, the way somebody prays them rather than the way a scribe copies a scroll. It is most likely a devotional or liturgical text, possibly from a phylactery.

Walter Llewellyn Nash bought it from an Egyptian dealer in 1902 and gave it to Cambridge in 1903. On its discovery it was announced as the oldest Hebrew manuscript of any kind in existence — and it was, until 1947.

Manuscript details

Date: c. 150–100 BC (middle of the second century BC)
Language: Hebrew
Script: Square Hebrew
Material: Papyrus
Held at: Cambridge University Library (MS Or.233)
Found: 1902
Found at: Bought from a dealer in Egypt, said to be from the Fayyum
Contains: Exodus 20 / Deuteronomy 5 (the Ten Commandments, blended) · Deuteronomy 6:4–5 (the Shema)

Why it matters

A clean lesson in how superlatives work. For forty-five years this was the oldest Hebrew biblical text anyone had; then the Dead Sea Scrolls were found and it stopped being true. The papyrus did not change — the evidence did, and the honest claim moved with it.

The passages the manuscripts argue over

The words used here: papyrus

papyrus: paper made from reed, the cheap writing material of Egypt.

The places where the manuscripts differ, the ending of Mark, the woman caught in adultery, the three heavenly witnesses, with the case each way.

Where the manuscripts differ, all 15 places →Every handwritten copy, shelved and in date order →