Papyrus 39

Papyrus 39 is an early copy of the New Testament in Greek. It is a papyrus manuscript of the Gospel of John in a fragmentary condition, containing only John 8:14-22. It is designated by the siglum 𝔓³⁹ in the Gregory-Aland numbering of New Testament manuscripts. Using the study of comparative writing styles (palaeography), it has been assigned to the 3rd century CE.

Papyrus 𝔓³⁹

New Testament manuscript
Name	P. Oxy. XV 1780
Text	John 8 †
Date	3rd century
Script	Greek
Found	Egypt
Now at	The Green Collection
Cite	Grenfell & A. S. Hunt, Oxyrhynchus Papyri XV, 1922, pp. 7-8.
Size	26 by 16 cm
Type	Alexandrian text-type
Category	I

Description

The manuscript was likely written by professional scribe, in 25 lines per page, in large, beautiful letters. It has numbered pages.^[1] Biblical scholar Don Barker proposes a wider and earlier range of dates for Papyrus 39, along with Uncial 0232, Papyrus 88 and Uncial 0206; and states that all four could be dated as early as the late second century or as late as the end of the fourth century.^[2]

Text

The Greek text of this codex is considered a representative of the Alexandrian text-type (or more likely proto-Alexandrian). Biblical scholar Kurt Aland placed it in Category I of his New Testament manuscript classification system.^[3] 𝔓³⁹ shows agreement with Vaticanus and 𝔓⁷⁵.^[1] There are no singular readings.^[4]

Papyrologist Guglielmo Cavallo published a facsimile of 𝔓³⁹ in 1967.^[5] The manuscript now resides in the Green Collection and is featured at the Museum of the Bible in Washington, D.C.

See also

• Biblical manuscript
• John 8
• List of New Testament papyri
• Papyrus Oxyrhynchus