Papyrus 72 is the designation used by textual critics of the New Testament to describe portions of the so-called Bodmer Miscellaneous codex (Papyrus Bodmer VII-VIII), namely the letters of Jude, 1 Peter, and 2 Peter. These three books are collectively designated as in the Gregory-Aland numbering of New Testament manuscripts. These books seem to have been copied by the same scribe. Using the study of comparative handwriting styles (paleography), the manuscript has been assigned to the 3rd or 4th century. Although the letters of Jude (P.Bodmer VII) and 1-2 Peter (P.Bodmer VIII) in this codex do not form a single continuous text, scholars still tend to refer to these three texts as a single early New Testament papyrus.

Description

The manuscript is a codex (precursor to the modern book). and is the earliest known manuscript of the epistles of Jude and 1 & 2 Peter in their entirety, though a few verses of Jude are in a fragment designated as (P. Oxy. 2684). P.Bodmer VII (Jude) and P.Bodmer VIII (1-2 Peter) form part of a single book (the Bodmer Miscellaneous Codex). This book appeared on the antiquities market in Egypt and was bought by the Swiss collector Martin Bodmer. The same scribe who copied P.Bodmer VII and VIII is also thought to have copied P.Bodmer X and XI. The manuscript contains the usual nomina sacra for Messiah, Jesus, God, Lord, Spirit, Father, plus a few non-standard ones: ΔΥΜΙ (power), Σαρρα (Sarah), Αβρααμ (Abraham), Νωε (Noah), Μιχαης (Archangel Michael), and Ενωχ (Enoch). A facsimile edition of Bodmer Papyrus VIII was published in 2007 by Testimonio Compañía Editorial.

Text

The Greek text of this codex is considered a representative of the Alexandrian text-type. According to Aland in 1-2 Peter it has normal text, in Jude free text, both with certain peculiarities. Aland placed it into I Category. It is close to the Codex Vaticanus and Codex Alexandrinus.