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Chapter 4: P⁴⁵

Scribal Leaps (p 142 fwd)

Is there any further explanation of this tendency toward "brevity"? [186]

In 22 singular readings the leap from same to the same may have been the cause of omission:

Verse	Omission
Matt. 26:21a	(1 word)	εσθιοντων..αυτων
Mark 5:21	(3 words)	παλιν..περαν
Mark 6:40	(5 words)	κατα εκατον..και λαβων
Mark 11:27	(10 words)	ερχονται παλιν..ερχονται προς
Mark 12:26	(4 words)	και ο θς αβρααμ..κα ο θς Ισαακ
Luke 9:36b	(1 word)	και..αυτοι
Luke 9:49	(1 word)	-μεν..αυτον
Luke 9:52	(1 word)	προσωπου..αυτου
Luke 10:27	(14 words)	Καρδιας..Και εν.
John 10:35	(7 words)	ειπεν Θεους..εγενετο του θεου
Acts 5:13	(5 words)	αυτοις..λαος
Acts 7:41	(1 word)	ημεραις..εκειναις
Acts 10:11	(5 words)	οκενος τι..και καθιεμενον
Acts 13:48	(2 words)	εχαιρον και..εδοζασον
Acts 14:16	(1 word)	παρωχημεναις..γενεσις
Acts 15:20	(3 words)	και της ..πορνειας και
Acts 15:21a	(2 words)	αρχαιων κατα πολιν
Acts 15:23a	(1 word)	και..οι
Acts 15:38	(1 word)	συμπαραλαμβανειν..τουτον
Acts 16:1	(1 word)	εκει..ονοματι
Acts 16:17	(1 word)	ανθρωποι..δουλοι
Acts 17:10	(1 word)	ιουδαιων..απηεσαν

Among the asterisked readings are 12 further examples of leaps:

Verse	Omission
Matt. 26:31	(2 words)	εν εμοι εν
Mark 8:12b	(2 words)	αμην λεγω υμιν
Mark 8:38a	(1 word)	τους εμους λογους
Mark 8:38b	(1 word)	γενεα ταυτη τη
Mark 9:8	(1 word)	περιβλεψαμενοι ουκετι ουδενα
Luke 6:48	(5 words)	σαλευσαι αυτην..-μησθαι αυτην
Luke 10:13	(1 word)	from οτι ει / οτι ει εν
Luke 11:30	(1 word)	εσται και
Luke 12:2	(5 words)	αποκαλυφθησεται..γνωσθησεται
Luke 12:9	(13 words)	των αγγ.του Θεου..των αγγ.του θεου
John 10:31	(2 words)	εβαστασαν..ουν παλιν
Acts 9:21	(2 words)	παντες..δε ακουοντες

Included in these lists are all the omissions of more than three words.

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Chapter 6: P⁴⁷ (Rev., 3rd Cent.)

Scribal Leaps (p 378 fwd)

Nine of the omisssions have perhaps arisen by a scribal leap. [94]

Among them are all the omissions of more than one word except 13:6b, where indeed the two words omitted are discontiguous, and 16:1, which is unexplained.

Verse	Omission
Rev 9:18a	(1 word)	πληγων τουτων
Rev 9:18b	(1 word)	στοματων αυτων
Rev 9:20a	(3 words)	δαιμονια..ειδωλα
Rev 9:21	(5 words)	αυτων..αυτων
Rev 11:2	(2 words)	την..την
Rev 11:16	(4 words)	επι..επεσαν
Rev 12:9a	(2 words)	οφις ο αρχαιος ο
Rev 13:4b	(9 words)	θηριω..θηριω
Rev 15:7a	(1 word)	τεσσαρων..ζωων

And 4 asterisked readings may have resulted from leaps.

Verse	Omission
Rev 9:14b	(1 word)	τους τεσσαρας
Rev 11:10a	(1 word)	οτι ουτοι οι
Rev 14:13a	(1 word)	νεκροι οι
Rev 14:15b	(1 word)	κραζων εν

P⁴⁷ omits more than twice as frequently as he adds. So, although the omissions are not often lengthy, the total here is 37 (or 38) words omitted, for an average of 2.5 (or 2.4) words per omission.

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Chapter 7: P⁶⁶

Omissions (p 511 fwd)

The scribe of P⁶⁶ omitted many phrases, words, and parts of words that were subsequently restored by corrections. There remain 20 of the singulars (18.3% of the significant singulars) that are omissions, and ther are 8 asterisked omissions. This is by far the lowest % among our 6 papyri. All but 4 of the singular omissions (and 1 asterisked om.) are of one world only.

The 16 singular omissions (and 7 asterisked om.) of one word may be classified as follows:

Articles (6 exx. and 2 asterisked):

John 5:36 (ο before πατηρ)
John 6:70 (ο before Ιησους)
John 9:28b(του before μωυσεως)
John 11:25(ο before Ιησους)
John 12:2b(η before μαρθα)
John 18:38(ο before πιλατος)

John 11:14*(ο before Ιησους)
John 21:6a*(της before νυκτος, Leap)

Pronouns (3 exx. and 1 asterisked):

John 5:43 ( με, Leap)
John 8:42a ( εγω, Leap)
John 17:11 ( αυτοι/ουτοι, Leap)

Leaps

Verse	Omission
John 17:16	(12 words)	πονηρου..κοσμου
John 21:6a	(1 word)	ολης..της
Verse	Omission
John 10:40a*	(1 word)	απηλθεν παλιν περαν
John 11:40*	(1 word)	σοι οτι
John 12:48*	(1 word)	αυτον εν
John 17:18*	(6 words)	-ς εις τον κοσμον καγω ... -ς εις τον κοσμον και

The number of leaps is actually [relatively] small, and is partly to be explained by the scribe's assiduousness in correcting many of his original leaps, as we have seen earlier. The frequency of such errors, whether corrected or not, narkedly increases toward the end of the book.

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Chapter 8: P⁷²

Scribal Leaps (p 589 fwd)

As many as 10 of the singular omissions may have arisen by a scribal leap: [241]

Verse	Omission
1 Pet. 1:3b	(1 word)	αναγεννησας ημας
1 Pet. 1:23	(1 word)	ουκ εκ
1 Pet. 2:9c	(1 word)	θαυμαστον αυτου
1 Pet. 4:5a	(1 word)	αποδωσουσιν λογον
2 Pet. 2:11a	(1 word)	αγγελοι ισχυι
2 Pet. 2:14	(1 word)	εχοντες μεστους μοιχαλιδος
Jude 4c	(1 word)	τον μονον
Jude 15	(8-9 words)	περει παντων..περει παντων
Jude 16a	(5 words)	μεμψυιοιροι κατα..πορευομενοι και
Jude 24b	(3 words)	-αι υμας αμταιστους και

And perhaps 8 asterisked readings arose from leaps.

Verse	Omission
1 Pet. 1:20b	(1 word)	εσχατων των
1 Pet. 2:5b	(1 word)	πνατικας θυσιας

[only two asterisked examples are here shown. See pp. 590-591 for the rest.]

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Chapter 9: P⁷⁵

Scribal Leaps (p 666 fwd)

4 of the 6 singular omissions of more than one word, and 2 of those of one word may have resulted from scribal leaps [278]

Verse	Omission
Luke 13:34	(6 words)	ορνις..πτερυγας
Luke 14:8a	(2 words)	τινος..εις γαμους
Luke 15:30	(1 word)	οτε..δε
John 4:47	(2 words)	(απ)ηλθεν..προς αυτον
John 5:12	(1 word)	ηρωτησαν ουν..αυτον
John 7:18	(2 words)	λαλων την δοξαν την ιδιαν

And perhaps 8 asterisked omissions are the results of leaps, including both the asterisked omissions of more than one word.

Verse	Omission
Luke 9:1	(1 word)	παντα..τα
Luke 11:46	(1 word)	δακτυλων..υμων
Luke 14:32a	(1 word)	εις ειρηνην
Luke 22:55	(1 word)	εκαθητο ο
John 2:24	(1 word)	επιστευεν αυτον αυτοις
John 4:37	(16 words)	ο θεριζων εν..ο θεριζων εν
John 5:5	(1 word)	λη ετη εχων
John 9:21	(2 words)	εχει αυτον ερωτησατε αυτος