Manuscript
Papyrus Bodmer VII–VIII (P72)
Also known as P72 · 𝔓72 · P. Bodmer VII · P. Bodmer VIII
The oldest surviving copy of 1 Peter, 2 Peter and Jude — bound into somebody's private anthology.
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Overview
Papyrus Bodmer VII–VIII (P72)(Third to fourth century AD (c. 250–350))— Egypt; part of the Bodmer papyri
The three letters were not copied on their own. They sit inside a homemade book of Christian readings that also holds a hymn, a homily on the Passover by Melito of Sardis, and several works no church ever treated as Scripture.
That is the interesting part. Somebody in third- or fourth-century Egypt bound the things he wanted to read into one volume, and Peter and Jude were in it.
The book has since been divided: the leaves carrying 1 and 2 Peter are in the Vatican Library as Papyrus Bodmer VIII; the rest of the miscellany remains with the Fondation Martin Bodmer in Switzerland.
Manuscript Details
- Date
- Third to fourth century AD (c. 250–350)
- Language
- Greek
- Script
- Greek book hand (uncial)
- Material
- Papyrus
- Current location
- Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana (Papyrus Bodmer VIII, 1–2 Peter); Fondation Martin Bodmer, Cologny (the rest of the codex)
- Discovery location
- Egypt; part of the Bodmer papyri
- Contains books
- 1 Peter · 2 Peter · Jude
- Tags
- papyri · new-testament · canon · general-epistles
Significance
2 Peter and Jude are among the last books the early church settled on, and this is the earliest copy of either. It shows them being read and valued in Egypt long before any list made them official — and it shows a real reader's shelf, Scripture bound in beside sermons and hymns.
The passages the manuscripts argue over
The places where the manuscripts differ — the ending of Mark, the woman caught in adultery, the three heavenly witnesses — with the case each way.