The Oxyrhynchus Papyri, Part 15

34-5. "he will give... in my name": so ℵBC*, W-H; "in my name, he will give to you" AC³D, T-R.

35. The first sentence of verse 24, "until now... in my name," was originally omitted owing to homoeoteleuton an error where similar word endings cause a skip in copying. This mistake has been corrected at the foot of the page, where l. 35 has been rewritten in a smaller and probably different hand with the missing words incorporated. A symbol calling attention to the correction was presumably entered in the right-hand margin.

38. The line is sufficiently filled without "but" (AC³D²) before "he comes," especially as a short blank space may well have been left after "to you."

39. "when": "where" ℵ*.

41. "I will announce": so ℵABC*D, W-H; "I will announce" alternate verb form C², T-R.

42-3. "ask in my name" ℵ.

44. The lacuna here is of practically the same length as in the immediately preceding and following lines, and it seems clear that either "the Father" or "concerning you" was omitted, and for the latter omission there is some authority (the cursive 36, Itala MSS. bce, Cyril Acta 49, Aug. De Trin.). D adds "my" after "father," and this may have been written, though not required.

45. Whether "me" (ABCD) or "me" alternate form (ℵ) was written cannot be decided.

47. "because": "because I" MSS.

"of God": so ℵA; "of the God" C³ and others, T-R; "of the Father" BCD, W-H.

48. "from": so ℵAC², T-R; "out of" BC*, W-H. D omits "came forth... of the father."

"have come": "came" D.

50-1. "they say" the original reading, is that of ℵBCD, W-H; "to him," which has been inserted above the line, is added by AC³D², T-R.

51. "in" may have been omitted, with A.

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Fol. 1 5.8 x 5, Fol. 2 5.7 x 4.8. Late fourth century.

Two vellum leaves, containing a few verses from the first three chapters of the Didachē tōn dōdeka apostolōn Teaching of the Twelve Apostles, supposed by some to be of Egyptian origin and now making its appearance for the first time in an Egyptian manuscript. The leaves, which are a good deal worn and discoloured, are detached, but originally may well have formed a single sheet, since the two interior edges follow roughly the same contour. In that case the quire included five sheets at least, eight leaves being required for the matter intervening between Fol. 1 verso and Fol. 2 recto, and would be more likely to have consisted of the unusual number of eight sheets, for the 3½ verses lost before Fol. 1 recto would occupy only three more leaves. This latter inference would be of course be invalidated if the Didache was preceded by some other treatise, but the supposition of a large total number of leaves does not well accord with their proportions, which are remarkably small—smaller even than in 840. The book to which they belonged was one of the miniature volumes which seem to have been often preferred for theological works, though not limited to that class of literature (cf. e.g. P. Rylands I. 28).