A Brief History of the Bible - 7
The Chester Beatty Papyri - this is the name given to a group of papyri, in
Codex form, most of which were acquired in 1931 by the American, A. Chester
Beatty. He never let on exactly where he got hold of them, perhaps taking
warning from Tischendorf's difference of opinion with the monks of Sinai.
It has been suggested that they may have formed part of the same library as
the Bodmer papyri, but of this I know nothing. Perhaps Bob can enlighten us.
The surviving leaves comprise:
1. 50 leaves (of an original 66) of Genesis, 4th century;
2. 27 leaves (out of 84) of Genesis, 3rd century;
3. 50 leaves (out of 108) of Numbers and Deuteronomy, early 2nd century;
4. 1½ leaves of Ecclesiasticus (yes, I know - Siracides), 4th century;
5. portions of 33 leaves (out of 104) of Isaiah, 3rd century;
6. two small fragments of Jeremiah, 2nd century;
7. 50 leaves (out of 118) of Ezekiel, Daniel and Esther, 3rd century;
8. portions of 30 leaves (out of 220) of the Gospels and Acts, early 3rd
century;
9. 86 leaves (out of 99) of the Pauline epistles, early 3rd century;
10. ten leaves (out of 32) of Revelation, 3rd century;
11. eight leaves containing the last eleven chapters of the apochryphal book
of Enoch, and six containing part of a treatise on Christ's passion by
Melito, Bishop of Sardis, 4th century.
Some of these predate by a century or more our great vellum codices. Since
the papyri were discovered only in 1931, they have only affected editions
and translations of the latter half of our century. I quote from "The
Cambridge History of the Bible", vol. 3, p. 378, on the Revised Standard
Version:
"In both Testaments use was made of the latest discoveries, both as to the
text and as to the vocabulary, grammar and idioms of the biblical and
related languages. In Isaiah, for example, the Revised Standard Version has
thirteen readings drawn from the complete manuscript of Isaiah which is the
best preserved of the Dead Sea Scrolls discovered in 1947. In Rom. viii.
28, the decisive evidence for the Revised Standard Version rendering was
afforded by the Chester Beatty Papyri discovered in 1931: 'We know that in
everything God works for good with those who love him.'"
[cf. the King James Version, 'We know that all things work together for good
to them that love God.']
Oriens.
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