Papyrus 63

Papyrus 63 ( Gregory- Aland Sigel 63 referred ) is a early Greek copy of the New Testament. It is a papyrus manuscript containing a portion of John's Gospel. There have been preserved from 3.14 to 18 and 4:9-10 are verses. By means of palaeography it was dated to the 4th or 5th century.

Text

The Greek text of this codex is a representative of the Alexandrian text type, but also includes some Byzantine readings. Kurt Aland placed it in Category II.

In Chapter 3 of John's Gospel the following verses in Greek are obtained:

" Καθω̣ς̣ μ̣ωυσης υψωσεν τον οφιν ε̣ν̣ τη ερη̣μω ουτως υψωθηναι δει τον υιον του ανθ̣ρ̣ω̣πο̣υ̣ ι̣ν̣ [ α ] π̣α̣ς̣ ο̣ π̣ [ ιστευ ] ω̣ν̣ ε̣ι̣ς̣ α̣υτον μ̣η απολη̣ [ τα ] ι̣ α̣λ̣λ̣ εχ̣η̣ ζωην αιωνιον ουτως γαρ ηγ̣απ̣η̣σεν ο θεο̣ς τον κοσμον ωσ̣τ̣ [ ε ] τ̣ο̣ν υιο̣ν αυτου τον̣ μ̣ο̣ν̣ [ ο ] γ̣ε̣ν̣η̣ εδωκεν εις τον̣ [ κοσμ ] ον ι̣να̣ ο̣ π̣ιστευων εις [ αυ ] τ̣ο̣ν̣ μ̣η αποληται α̣λ̣λ εχ̣η̣ ζω̣ [ ην ] α̣ιωνιον ο̣υ̣ γ̣α̣ρ̣ [ α ] π̣ [ εσ ] τ̣ [ ειλε ] ν̣ ο̣ θ̣εος τ̣ον υιον̣ αυτ̣ου εις το̣ [ ν ] [ κ ] ο̣σμ [ ον ] αλλ ινα σ̣ωθ̣η̣ [ ο ] κοσ̣μ̣ο̣ς̣ δ̣ι αυτου ο πιστ̣ε̣υ̣ων εις αυ̣τον ου̣ κρινετ̣α̣ι̣ ο δ̣ε μη πιστευων ηδ̣η και κ̣ρ̣ [ ι ] νεται̣ οτι μη πε̣πιστ̣ [ ε ] υ̣κεν ε̣ις το ονομα το̣υ̣ μονογενου̣ς̣ υιου του θυ̅ "

In John 3:16 we find the text version υιον αυτου. It is also supported by the manuscripts א 2, A, L, Θ, Ψ, 063, 083, 086, 0113, f1, f13, Byz and Didache.

Storage

The manuscript is in the papyrus collection of the Egyptian Museum in Berlin and is stored under inventory number P. 11914.