Papyrus

Biblical References

Papyrus is a tall plant that grows at the water's edge. The same name also refers to the writing material made by processing its stalks. The Hebrew word for this plant in the Old Testament is gome. Korean Bible translations usually render this word as "reed" or "rush."

• Exodus 2:3 — The "ark of bulrushes" in which the mother of Moses placed her infant and set him by the bank of the Nile is commonly interpreted as a basket woven from papyrus.
• Job 8:11 — In the verse "Can the rush grow up without mire?" it appears as an example of a plant that cannot grow without water.
• Isaiah 18:2 — It appears as the "vessels of bulrushes" that the people of Cush set upon the waters.

In the New Testament, the Greek word chartes, translated "paper" in the phrase "paper and ink" in 2 John 1:12, is understood to mean papyrus paper. Many interpreters also hold that the "books" Paul asked to have brought to him in 2 Timothy 4:13 were probably papyrus scrolls, although the text does not specify the material. The "parchments" in the same verse are understood to be writing material made from animal skins.

Background

Papyrus grew abundantly in the Nile Valley of ancient Egypt, especially in the marshes of the lower Nile. The pith of the stalk was cut into thin strips, which were laid in crosswise and lengthwise layers, then pressed and dried to form a single sheet. These sheets were joined together to make scrolls. For centuries papyrus served as the principal writing material throughout the Mediterranean world.

The Greek word biblos ("book") derives from a word that referred to papyrus. The term is generally thought to be connected with the name of Byblos, a Phoenician port city that was a center of the papyrus trade. The English words Bible and paper also come from this family of words.

Papyrus is vulnerable to moisture and does not easily survive over long periods. For this reason, most ancient papyrus documents that survive today have been found in the dry climate of Egypt.

Biblical Manuscripts and Papyrus

No autographs written by the New Testament authors themselves survive. The prevailing view is that the originals were written on papyrus. Extant New Testament manuscripts written on papyrus are designated by the letter P followed by a number, as in "P52," and more than one hundred are known. Many of them preserve some of the earliest New Testament text.

• P52 — A small fragment containing part of John 18. It is often dated to the first half of the second century, though scholars differ on its dating.
• P46 — Part of the Chester Beatty Papyri. It is known as an early manuscript containing several of the Pauline Epistles.
• P66, P75 — Part of the Bodmer Papyri. They contain portions of the Gospels of John and Luke.

Early Christians are known to have favored, from an early date, the book form made of bound leaves (the codex) over the scroll. There are also papyrus manuscripts of the Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Old Testament. Most of the Dead Sea Scrolls are written on parchment, but some were written on papyrus.

Interpretation and Issues

• Translation issues: The word "papyrus" does not appear directly in Korean Bibles. As a result, readers may find it difficult to recognize that the "ark of bulrushes," the "vessels of bulrushes," and "paper" refer to papyrus. Commentaries and reference works often supply this explanation.
• Claims of early dating: In the 1970s it was argued that 7Q5, a papyrus fragment from Qumran Cave 7, should be identified as Mark 6:52–53. The majority of scholars, however, do not accept this claim. More generally, claims that particular papyri are first-century New Testament manuscripts have remained disputed or have not gained acceptance in the scholarly community.
• Autographs and copies: Evangelical churches that accept biblical inerrancy locate the Bible's freedom from error in the original autographs. They explain that, where manuscripts differ, the original text is recovered through textual criticism, which compares multiple manuscripts. Theological traditions that understand inspiration and inerrancy differently give this distinction itself a different weight.