Manuscript
Chester Beatty Papyrus III (P47)
Also known as P47 · 𝔓47 · Chester Beatty Biblical Papyrus III
papyrinew-testamentrevelationprophecy
Summary
The oldest substantial copy of Revelation — ten leaves from the middle of the book.
- Copied Third century AD (c. 200–300).
- Written in greek on papyrus.
- Kept at Chester Beatty, Dublin (Papyrus III).
- Contains Revelation 9:10–17:2.
Sources (3)
- Chester Beatty, Dublin — digital collections viewer · accessed 2026-08-06
- INTF, Kurzgefasste Liste (Institut für Neutestamentliche Textforschung, Münster) · accessed 2026-08-06The official register of Greek New Testament manuscripts.
- Metzger & Ehrman, The Text of the New Testament: Its Transmission, Corruption, and Restoration, 4th ed. (Oxford University Press, 2005) · accessed 2026-08-06The standard handbook of New Testament textual criticism.
What it is
Ten leaves survive, carrying Revelation 9:10 through 17:2: the trumpets, the woman and the dragon, the beast, the mark, the harvest of the earth.
Revelation was the last book to be widely accepted in the eastern churches, and it is comparatively thin on early witnesses. This is the earliest one of any size.
Manuscript details
- Date
- Third century AD (c. 200–300)
- Language
- Greek
- Script
- Greek book hand (uncial)
- Material
- Papyrus
- Held at
- Chester Beatty, Dublin (Papyrus III)
- Found at
- Egypt; acquired by Alfred Chester Beatty in the 1930s
- Contains
- Revelation 9:10–17:2
Why it matters
The book Christians argue about most has an early copy too. P47 puts a substantial text of Revelation in the third century, a hundred years before the great codices, and its readings are one of the main controls on the text of the middle chapters.
The passages the manuscripts argue over
The words used here: uncial, codex
- uncial
- a book hand of Greek capital letters, used for the oldest whole Bibles.
- codex
- a book with leaves and a spine, the form that replaced the scroll.
The places where the manuscripts differ, the ending of Mark, the woman caught in adultery, the three heavenly witnesses, with the case each way.