The Nash Papyrus is written in a form of Hebrew script known as the “Square Script,” which is the same script form used in modern Hebrew today. It is not written in Paleo-Hebrew, which was an older script form used primarily before the Babylonian exile. The Nash Papyrus is dated to approximately the 2nd century B.C.E. and contains portions of the Ten Commandments and the Shema prayer. It serves as one of the oldest known manuscripts containing text from the Hebrew Bible.

The Paleo-Hebrew script is an early form of the Hebrew alphabet and is closely related to the Phoenician alphabet, from which it is believed to have originated. This script was used in ancient Israel and Judah from around the 12th century B.C.E. until the Babylonian exile in the 6th century B.C.E., after which it gradually fell out of common use. However, it continued to be employed for specific religious and monumental inscriptions for some time even after the exile.

Characteristics

The Paleo-Hebrew script is more “pictographic” in nature compared to the Square Hebrew script that replaced it. Each letter was originally based on a picture that represented a specific object or concept. For example, the letter “Aleph” originally represented an ox head, and “Bet” represented a house.

Textual Evidence

One of the most well-known texts that used Paleo-Hebrew script is the Gezer Calendar, dated to the 10th century B.C.E., which is a sort of agricultural almanac. The script is also found in various inscriptions and on coins. The Dead Sea Scrolls offer another intriguing glimpse into the use of Paleo-Hebrew, as a few of the texts, particularly those considered highly sacred like the Tetragrammaton (Jehovah’s name), were written in this script.

Religious Significance

Interestingly, the Paleo-Hebrew script held special significance in religious contexts. For instance, some Jewish coins from the period of the Bar Kokhba revolt (132–136 C.E.) featured Paleo-Hebrew inscriptions. This usage was likely an expression of nationalistic and religious identity during a time of revolt against Roman rule.

Transition to Square Script

The Square Script, which was likely adapted from the Aramaic script, became the more commonly used form of writing after the Babylonian exile. The Jews were exposed to Aramaic culture and language during the exile, and the Square Script became standardized for writing Hebrew. It is this script that we find in most extant copies of the Hebrew Bible and which is used in modern Hebrew today.

Conclusion

The Paleo-Hebrew script is an important part of the linguistic and religious history of the Hebrew Bible. Although it has been largely replaced by the Square Script, its presence in various inscriptions and sacred texts provides valuable insights into the cultural and religious practices of ancient Israel and Judah.

The Square Script developed during the post-exilic period after the Jews returned from Babylon. It gradually replaced the Paleo-Hebrew script for most purposes, although Paleo-Hebrew continued to be used for special occasions and specific religious contexts for some time.

Therefore, the Nash Papyrus is an important artifact that offers insights into the Hebrew script as well as the religious practices and textual traditions of its time, but it is not written in Paleo-Hebrew.

Palegraphical Dating

How do paleographers place an accurate date on very old ancient Hebrew Old Testament Bible manuscripts? In 1948, this was the problem that was before Dr. John C. Trever (1916 – 2006) was a Biblical scholar and archaeologist who was involved in the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls. When Dr. Trever first laid eyes on the Dead Sea Scroll of Isaiah, he pondered just this question. He was well aware that it was the intriguing Hebrew letters themselves that would give him the age of the manuscript. Yet, with what manuscripts could it be compared? He rightly concluded that he must compare them with the script of the Nash Papyrus. You are likely asking, why, what is the Nash Papyrus?

The Nash Papyrus is a collection of four papyrus fragments acquired in Egypt in 1898,[1] inscribed with a Hebrew text which mainly contains the Ten Commandments and the first part of the Shema Yisrael prayer,[2] in a form that differs substantially from the later, canonical Masoretic text and is in parts more similar to the chronologically closer Septuagint. It has been suggested that the text might have been the daily worship of a Jew living in Egypt at the time.[3] The fragments comprise a single sheet and are not part of a scroll. The papyrus is of unknown provenance, although it is allegedly from Fayyum.[4] The text was first described by Stanley A. Cook in 1903. The value of this papyrus fragment is its age. Though dated by Cook to the second century C.E., subsequent reappraisals have pushed the date of the fragments back to about 150-100 B.C.E.[5] The papyrus was by far the oldest Hebrew manuscript fragment known at that time, before the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls in 1947.[6] The papyrus fragments were acquired by W. L. Nash in 1902, the secretary of the Society of Biblical Archaeology, who attained them from an Egyptian dealer. It was published by S. A. Cooke in 1903 in that society’s Proceedings and was presented to Cambridge University Library, England, where it has continued until this day.[7]

PALEOGRAPHY: Dating Ancient Manuscripts?

The Contents of the Nash Papyrus

The Nash Papyrus merely contains four fragments of 24 lines of Hebrew text, measuring some three by five inches [7.5 by 12.5 cm]. These 24 lines with a few letters missing at each edge contain the Ten Commandments in Hebrew and a short middle text, followed by the start of the Shema Yisrael prayer.[8] The text of the Ten Commandments combines parts of the version from Exodus 20:2-17 with parts from Deuteronomy 5:6-21. A curiosity is its omission of the phrase “house of bondage,” used in both versions, about Egypt — perhaps a reflection of where the papyrus was composed.

Textual Basis

Some (but not all) of the papyrus’ substitutions from Deuteronomy are also found in the version of Exodus in the Septuagint, a Greek translation of the Pentateuch from about 280-150 B.C.E, made in Alexandria. The Septuagint also interpolates before Deuteronomy 6:4 the preamble to the Shema found in the papyrus, and the Septuagint also agrees with a couple of the other variant readings where the papyrus departs from the standard Hebrew Masoretic text. The ordering of the later commandments in the papyrus (Adultery-Murder-Steal, rather than Murder-Adultery-Steal) is also that found in most texts of the Septuagint.

The papyrus preamble before Shema Yisrael,[9] also found in the Septuagint, is taken from Deuteronomy 4:45, which is the only time the recurring formula “This is the commandment(s) and rules and teachings…” mentions the Exodus from Egypt. The Nash preamble correctly cites Moses as the speaker rather than God, as in the Septuagint. The insertion of Deuteronomy 4:45 before Shema Yisrael in the papyrus and especially the Septuagint, which has two preambles in the same section: Deuteronomy 6:1 and the interpolation to Deuteronomy 6:3, was probably done to distance the central Shema Yisrael prayer from its context: sections dealing with the entry to the Promised Land of Canaan. A section of scripture beginning with Deuteronomy 6:4, the Shema, was frequently repeated. The verse reads: “Listen, O Israel: Jehovah our God is one Jehovah.” The Tetragrammaton (four letters), JHVH, “Jehovah,” in this verse is observable twice on the last line of the papyrus. It can also be found in five other places. In addition, it appears once with its first letter missing.

Likely Use

According to the Talmud, it was once customary to read the Ten Commandments before saying the Shema. As Burkitt put it, “It is, therefore, reasonable to conjecture that this Papyrus contains the daily worship of a pious Egyptian Jew, who lived before the custom came to an end.”[10] It is thus believed that the papyrus probably consisted of a liturgical document, specifically the constituents of a Phylactery,[11] which may have purposely synthesized the two versions of the Commandments rather than directly from Scripture. However, the papyrus’ similarities with the Septuagint support a possibility that a Hebrew text of the Pentateuch was in circulation in Egypt in the 2nd century B.C.E. and served both the Nash papyrus and the Septuagint translation as a source, but which differs significantly from the modern Jewish Masoretic Text. Even though the Nash Papyrus is no longer the earliest-known Hebrew Old Testament manuscript, it is still of great interest and very valuable.

We now return to 1948, when Dr. Trever was examining a color slide of the Nash Papyrus with the Dead Sea Isaiah scroll. He meticulously paid special attention to how the individual letters were formed and shaped. Beyond any reasonable doubt, they were very similar to one another. Yet, the skeptical part of his mind was in overload that this incredible newly discovered manuscript could perhaps be dated as early in date as the Nash Papyrus. However, in time, this would prove to be the case, as the Dead Sea Scroll of Isaiah also dated to the second century B.C.E.!

In Summary

The Nash Papyrus is an ancient Hebrew manuscript that holds significant importance in the study of biblical texts. Named after Walter Llewellyn Nash, who purchased it from an antiquities dealer in Egypt, the manuscript dates back to the 2nd century BCE, making it one of the oldest known Hebrew manuscripts in existence.

The Nash Papyrus consists of four papyrus fragments that contain portions of the Decalogue, or the Ten Commandments, and the Shema prayer. These portions are foundational texts within the Jewish and Christian traditions, integral to both religious practice and moral guidance. What sets the Nash Papyrus apart from other ancient texts is that it predates the Dead Sea Scrolls by several centuries. Before the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls in the mid-20th century, the Nash Papyrus was the oldest known Hebrew manuscript.

The text was found in Egypt, which is significant because it suggests that Jewish communities were spread far beyond the land of Israel during the period when the manuscript was written. It offers evidence of the Jewish diaspora, showing how ancient Jewish communities maintained their faith and identity while living in different cultures.

The manuscript’s primary value lies in its contribution to textual criticism, a scholarly discipline that aims to recover the original text of a document as closely as possible. By comparing the Nash Papyrus with the Masoretic Text—the authoritative Hebrew text of the Jewish Bible—and with the Septuagint—the Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible—scholars can gain insights into the transmission and preservation of these biblical texts over centuries.

The text of the Nash Papyrus, while largely consistent with the Masoretic Text, also contains notable differences [Explained Below]. For example, the ordering of the Ten Commandments follows the Septuagint rather than the Masoretic Text. This indicates the fluidity of text transmission in the ancient world, suggesting that different Jewish communities may have used slightly different versions of these key texts.

The Nash Papyrus also provides a glimpse into the liturgical practices of ancient Jewish communities. The combination of the Decalogue and the Shema prayer suggests that this text might have been used in a liturgical context, possibly as part of daily prayer or instruction.

However, despite its historical and textual significance, the Nash Papyrus is not without its controversies. Some scholars have raised questions about its authenticity due to the circumstances of its discovery. The papyrus was purchased from an antiquities dealer, not excavated from a controlled archaeological site. This lack of archaeological context makes it more difficult to verify the papyrus’s authenticity and provenance.

Additionally, some have suggested that the Nash Papyrus might not be a single coherent text but rather a composite of different texts. The fact that the Decalogue and the Shema are presented together, although they come from different parts of the Hebrew Bible (Exodus and Deuteronomy, respectively), has raised questions about whether the papyrus was originally a single document or whether it was pieced together from different sources.

Despite these controversies, the Nash Papyrus remains a significant artifact in the study of biblical texts. Its age, content, and condition provide invaluable insights into the transmission and preservation of biblical texts, the diaspora of ancient Jewish communities, and the liturgical practices of these communities. As such, it continues to be a subject of ongoing scholarly research and discussion.

The Era of Manuscript Copying

In the above, we said, “This indicates the fluidity of text transmission in the ancient world, suggesting that different Jewish communities may have used slightly different versions of these key texts.”

Starting from the era of Ezra, the desire for copies of the Hebrew Scriptures increased exponentially. Not all Jews made the journey back to Jerusalem and Palestine following the restoration in 537 BCE. Thousands stayed in Babylon, while others dispersed due to commercial pursuits and a myriad of other reasons, leading to their presence in most significant trading hubs of the ancient world. Many Jews partook in annual pilgrimages to Jerusalem for assorted temple festivals, engaging in worship conducted in Biblical Hebrew. In Ezra’s time, Jews in these dispersed locations utilized local gathering places known as synagogues for readings and discussions of the Hebrew Scriptures. This led to an increased need for handwritten manuscripts to satisfy the demand of these numerous dispersed places of worship.

These synagogues typically housed a storage room referred to as the genizah. As time passed, discarded manuscripts that had become tattered or weathered with age were stored in the genizah, replaced by newer ones for ongoing synagogue use. Periodically, the contents of the genizah would be respectfully interred in the earth, ensuring that the text, which contained the sacred name of Jehovah, was not desecrated. Over centuries, countless old Hebrew Bible manuscripts were removed from circulation in this manner. However, the well-equipped genizah of the synagogue in Old Cairo escaped this fate, likely because it was walled up and forgotten until the mid-19th century. During the synagogue’s repair in 1890, the genizah’s contents were reevaluated and its treasures were gradually sold or donated. As a result, fairly complete manuscripts and thousands of fragments (some believed to be from the 6th century CE) have found their way to the Cambridge University Library and other European and American libraries.

Presently, around 6,000 manuscripts comprising all or parts of the Hebrew Scriptures have been counted and cataloged in various global libraries. Until recently, no manuscripts (excluding a few fragments) older than the 10th century CE were known. However, in 1947, a scroll of the Book of Isaiah was discovered in the Dead Sea region, and in the following years, additional invaluable scrolls of the Hebrew Scriptures were unearthed as caves in the Dead Sea area relinquished a wealth of manuscripts hidden for nearly 1,900 years. Experts have since dated some of these as having been transcribed in the last few centuries BCE. The comparative analysis of these roughly 6,000 Hebrew Scripture manuscripts provides a solid foundation for establishing the Hebrew text and demonstrates the faithfulness in the text’s transmission.

The Sopherim

The individuals responsible for transcribing the Hebrew Scriptures, starting from the era of Ezra and continuing until the time of Jesus, were referred to as scribes or Sopherim. Over time, these scribes began to overstep their bounds, making unauthorized alterations to the text. Even Jesus himself expressed vehement disapproval of these presumptuous custodians of the Law for their overreaching actions, as documented in Matthew 23:2 and 23:13.

The Septuagint, or the Greek version of the Hebrew Scriptures, was produced in Alexandria, Egypt, between 280 and 150 B.C.E. It was a critical development that broadened the accessibility of Hebrew scriptures, as Greek was a widespread language in the Hellenistic world. Many Jews in the first century C.E., especially those in the diaspora, held the Septuagint in high regard, considering it inspired and authoritative, due to their Greek language dominance over Hebrew.

However, the advent of Christianity brought a significant shift in the usage of the Septuagint. Early Christians, seeking to grow their faith among both Jews and Gentiles, utilized the Septuagint extensively, finding in it prophecies and references that they believed validated Christian claims about Jesus Christ. This use of the Septuagint as a tool for Christian evangelism led to a growing discomfort among Jewish communities.

By the second century C.E., the Jewish sentiment towards the Septuagint had changed substantially. With the rise of Christianity and its use of the Septuagint to convert Jews, the Jewish community began to distance itself from the Greek translation. This led to a reemphasis on the original Hebrew texts, which subsequently played a pivotal role in the development of the Masoretic Text.

The Masoretic Text, created by Jewish scholars known as the Masoretes between the 6th and 10th centuries C.E., is a critical source for our modern translations of the Hebrew Bible. The meticulous work of the Masoretes included the addition of vowel points and accents, commentary on the text, and detailed listings of traditional readings. Their work aimed to standardize the Hebrew text and ensure its accurate transmission.

The shift back to the Hebrew text in the second century C.E. had significant implications. It resulted in the preservation and standardization of the Hebrew text in the form of the Masoretic Text, which serves as the foundation for most contemporary translations of the Old Testament. This marked a profound preservation of the Hebrew language and culture, and ensured the survival and integrity of the Hebrew Scriptures through subsequent centuries.

The Consonantal Text

The Consonantal Text refers to the original form of the Hebrew alphabet, which comprised 22 consonants but lacked any vowel characters. Initially, the reader was required to discern the correct vowel sounds based on their understanding of the language. This form of Hebrew writing can be likened to a condensed script. To illustrate, even in contemporary English, we frequently employ abbreviations that consist solely of consonants, such as “ltd.” for “limited”. Correspondingly, the Hebrew language was structured around words composed exclusively of consonants. Therefore, when we refer to the “consonantal text”, we mean the Hebrew text without any indications of vowel sounds. The fixed form of the consonantal text in Hebrew manuscripts emerged between the first and second centuries C.E., even though manuscripts with varying texts continued to be circulated for some time. This marked a departure from the era of the Sopherim, when changes to the text were still being made.

The Masora Reveals Alterations

The successors to the Sopherim, who were the early scriptural scribes in the post-Christ era, were known as the Masoretes. These scholars were aware of the amendments made by the Sopherim and they noted these alterations in the margins or at the end of the Hebrew text. This compilation of marginal annotations is referred to as the Masora. The Masora catalogued what came to be known as the “15 extraordinary points of the Sopherim”. These were words or phrases in the Hebrew text that had been marked with dots or strokes.

While some of these extraordinary points did not influence the English translation or the interpretation of the text, others had a significant impact. The Sopherim, due to their superstitious fear of pronouncing the divine name Jehovah, made modifications in 134 instances to replace it with ʼAdho·naiʹ (Lord) and occasionally with ʼElo·himʹ (God). These changes were documented in the Masora.

Additionally, the Sopherim are accused of making at least 18 “emendations” (corrections), as per a note in the Masora, although it is likely there were more. These amendments were presumably made with noble intentions, as the original text appeared to exhibit either irreverence towards God or disrespect towards his earthly representatives. (Ezekiel 20:25; Habakkuk 1:12)

The Masoretic Text

In the latter part of the first millennium C.E., the Masoretes, who were also known as “ba·ʽalehʹ ham·ma·soh·rahʹ” or “the Masters of Tradition” in Hebrew, implemented a system of vowel points and accent marks. These served as a written guide for reading and pronouncing vowel sounds, as opposed to the previous system which relied on oral tradition for pronunciation. The Masoretes strictly refrained from making any changes in the texts they passed on, but recorded marginal notes in the Masora as they deemed appropriate. Their meticulous approach ensured that they did not take any liberties with the text. Also, in their Masora, they highlighted unusual textual elements and suggested necessary corrections for readings.

Three distinct groups of Masoretes, the Babylonian, Palestinian, and Tiberian, contributed to the development of the vocalizing and accent marking of the consonantal text. The Hebrew text as it appears in current printed versions of the Hebrew Bible is recognized as the Masoretic text, which utilizes the system created by the Tiberian school. This system was the work of the Masoretes from Tiberias, a city located on the western coast of the Sea of Galilee. The Updated American Standard Version (UASV) refers to the Masoretic text (indicated by the symbol MT) and its marginal notes, the Masora (marked by the symbol MT^margin), in many of its footnotes.

The Palestinian school adopted a system of placing the vowel signs above the consonants. However, only a limited number of manuscripts using this system have survived, indicating its imperfections. The Babylonian method of vowel pointing was also supralinear. The Petersburg Codex of the Prophets, dated 916 C.E., which is preserved in the Leningrad Public Library, U.S.S.R., is an example of a manuscript featuring Babylonian pointing. It contains the books of Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and the “minor” prophets, along with marginal notes (Masora). Scholars have studied this manuscript keenly and compared it with the Tiberian text. Despite its use of the supralinear system of vocalization, it adheres to the Tiberian text in terms of the consonantal text, its vowels, and Masora. The British Museum also houses a copy of the Babylonian text of the Pentateuch, which has been discovered to be substantially in agreement with the Tiberian text. (Proverbs 25:1)

The Era of the Critical Text

Until the 19th century, the Second Rabbinic Bible of Jacob ben Chayyim, published in 1524-25, was the standard printed edition of the Hebrew Bible. However, it wasn’t until the 18th century that scholars initiated the critical study of the Hebrew text. Between 1776-80, Benjamin Kennicott at Oxford released variant readings from more than 600 Hebrew manuscripts. Later, between 1784-98, Italian scholar J. B. de Rossi published variant readings of over 800 additional manuscripts in Parma. Furthermore, Hebrew scholar S. Baer from Germany created a master text. More recently, C. D. Ginsburg dedicated numerous years to creating a critical master text of the Hebrew Bible, which was first published in 1894 and was finally revised in 1926. Joseph Rotherham utilized the 1894 edition of this text to produce his English translation, The Emphasised Bible, in 1902. Likewise, Professor Max L. Margolis and his team used the texts of Ginsburg and Baer to produce their translation of the Hebrew Scriptures in 1917.

In 1906, Hebrew scholar Rudolf Kittel released the first edition (and later, a second edition) of his refined Hebrew text titled Biblia Hebraica, or “The Hebrew Bible” in Germany. Kittel provided a textual apparatus through comprehensive footnotes in this book, which collated or compared the many Hebrew manuscripts of the Masoretic text available then, using the generally accepted text by Jacob ben Chayyim as the foundational text. When the older and superior Ben Asher Masoretic texts, standardized around the 10th century C.E., became available, Kittel embarked on creating an entirely different third edition of the Biblia Hebraica. His associates completed this work after his death.

The 7th, 8th, and 9th editions of Kittel’s Biblia Hebraica (1951-55) provided the foundational text for the Hebrew section of the modern Bible in English. A new edition of the Hebrew text, namely the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia, was released in 1977. Since 1977, several critical editions of the Hebrew Bible have been produced. Here are a few examples:

1. Biblia Hebraica Quinta (BHQ): This is the fifth edition of the Biblia Hebraica series, which follows the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia (BHS). The first fascicle of the BHQ was published in 2004. This edition aims to provide a more comprehensive critical apparatus than the BHS, including more detailed information about the Septuagint and other ancient translations.

2. The Hebrew University Bible Project (HUBP): This is a long-term project based at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem that aims to produce a comprehensive and detailed critical edition of the Hebrew Bible. The HUBP includes extensive notes on variations in the medieval manuscripts and the ancient versions. So far, the books of Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel have been published.

3. The Oxford Hebrew Bible (OHB): This project aims to provide a new critical edition of the Hebrew Bible that reflects the text’s history as accurately as possible. Unlike the BHQ and the HUBP, which base their main text on the Masoretic Text, the OHB uses a multiple-text model, including different textual witnesses where they diverge.

4. The Dead Sea Scrolls Electronic Library Biblical Texts: This digital tool, created by Brill and the Israel Antiquities Authority, contains high-resolution images of the biblical Dead Sea Scrolls, along with transcriptions, translations, and a comprehensive toolset for scholarly analysis.

All these projects reflect the ongoing work of scholars to understand the Hebrew Bible’s textual history better and to make that understanding available to other researchers, clergy, and the general public.

About the Author

SCROLL THROUGH THE DIFFERENT CATEGORIES BELOW

BIBLE TRANSLATION AND TEXTUAL CRITICISM

BIBLE TRANSLATION AND TEXTUAL CRITICISM

BIBLICAL STUDIES / BIBLE BACKGROUND / HISTORY OF THE BIBLE/ INTERPRETATION

EARLY CHRISTIANITY

HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY

CHRISTIAN APOLOGETIC EVANGELISM

TECHNOLOGY AND THE CHRISTIAN

CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY

CHRISTIAN DEVOTIONALS

CHRISTIAN FICTION

[1] “Nash Papyrus”. Cambridge Digital Library. Retrieved Tuesday, August 13, 2019.

[2] F. C. Burkitt (April 1904). “The Nash Papyrus. A New Photograph”. The Jewish Quarterly Review. University of Pennsylvania Press. Vol. 16, No. 3: 559–561.

[3] Burkitt, F.C., The Hebrew Papyrus of the Ten Commandments, The Jewish Quarterly Review, 15, 392-408 (1903)

[4] “Encyclopedia Judaica: Nash Papyrus”. Jewish Virtually Library. American-Israeli Cooperative Enterprise.

[5] “The Nash Papyrus – An Ancient Witness”. United Israel World Union. Tuesday, August 13, 2019.

[6] “The Christian canon”. Enciclopaedia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.

[7] “Nash Papyrus”. Cambridge Digital Library. Retrieved Tuesday, August 13, 2019.

[8] F. C. Burkitt (April 1904). “The Nash Papyrus. A New Photograph”. The Jewish Quarterly Review. University of Pennsylvania Press. Vol. 16, No. 3: 559–561.

[9] Shema Yisrael (or Sh’ma Yisrael; Hebrew: שְׁמַע יִשְׂרָאֵל; “Hear, [O] Israel”) is a prayer. It is also the first two words of a section of the Torah and is the title (better known as The Shema) of a prayer that serves as a centerpiece of the morning and evening Jewish prayer services.

[10] Burkitt, F.C., The Hebrew Papyrus of the Ten Commandments, The Jewish Quarterly Review, 15, 392-408 (1903)

[11] “Nash Papyrus”. Cambridge Digital Library. Retrieved Tuesday, August 13, 2019.