Papyrus 75 (๐75) โ Where Luke Ends and John Begins
Where Luke Ends and John Begins
The short answerWhat is this leaf?
This is a single page from Papyrus 75, a papyrus codex of Luke and John copied around AD 175โ225. On this one page the Gospel of Luke ends โ with the risen Jesus carried up into heaven and the disciples โcontinually in the temple, blessing Godโ โ and then, after the subscription and title, the Gospel of John begins: โIn the beginning was the Word.โ
Unlike most early fragments, almost the entire leaf survives. Nearly every letter you see below is real ink on the papyrus โ so this page lets you read your replica, front and back, essentially in full.
The featureTwo Gospels, one book
Look at the transcription of the front page below. After Lukeโs last words the scribe writes the subscription ฮฮฅฮฮฮฮฮฮฮฮ ฮฮฮคฮ ฮฮฮฅฮฮฮ (โGospel according to Lukeโ), and then immediately the title ฮฮฅฮฮฮฮฮฮฮฮ ฮฮฮคฮ ฮฮฉฮฮฮฮ (โGospel according to Johnโ), before beginning โIn the beginning was the Word.โ The two Gospels meet on a single page. That is physical evidence that, this early, Luke and John were already being copied and read together as one collection โ and that these titles were attached to the Gospels at an early date.
Line by lineThe Greek exactly as it sits on the leaf
Transcribed from the INTF/IGNTP transcription (NTVMR, folios 44r and 44v) and shown in the majuscule capitals the scribe used, with the original line breaks. Nomina sacra keep the scribeโs overline. The photograph sits beside each side so you can compare the letters directly โ the same letters, in the same order.
Folio 44r โ Luke 24:51โ53 ยท titles ยท John 1:1โ16
Folio 44v โ John 1:16โ33
Word by wordRead it, sound it out, and see the meaning
The whole leaf, word by word: the Greek on the leaf, a transliteration to sound it out, and a word-for-word English gloss, with the smooth translation after each passage. Sacred names carry the scribeโs overline; their meaning is in the gloss. A gold underline under a box marks a word broken across the torn edge โ the part in [brackets] is supplied.
The Ascension โ Luke ends โ Luke 24:51โ53
51 While he blessed them, he withdrew from them and was carried up into heaven. 52 They worshiped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy, 53 and were continually in the temple, blessing God.
Where Luke ends and John begins โ the junction
The subscription โGospel according to Lukeโ and the title โGospel according to Johnโ sit one after the other on the same page โ the physical proof that the two Gospels were copied and bound as a single book.
In the beginning was the Word โ John 1:1โ5
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 The same was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through him. Without him, nothing was made that has been made. 4 In him was life, and the life was the light of men. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness hasnโt overcome it.
A man sent from God โ John 1:6โ13
6 There came a man sent from God, whose name was John. 7 The same came as a witness, that he might testify about the light, that all might believe through him. 8 He was not the light, but was sent that he might testify about the light. 9 The true light that enlightens everyone was coming into the world. 10 He was in the world, and the world was made through him, and the world didnโt recognize him. 11 He came to his own, and those who were his own didnโt receive him. 12 But as many as received him, to them he gave the right to become Godโs children, to those who believe in his name: 13 who were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
The Word became flesh โ John 1:14โ18
14 The Word became flesh and lived among us. We saw his glory, such glory as of the one and only Son of the Father, full of grace and truth. 15 John testified about him. He cried out, saying, โThis was he of whom I said, โHe who comes after me has surpassed me, for he was before me.โโ 16 From his fullness we all received grace upon grace. 17 For the law was given through Moses. Grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. 18 No one has seen God at any time. The only-begotten God, who is in the bosom of the Father, has made him known. (Here P75 reads ฮฮฮฮฮฮฮฮฮฃ ฮฮฃ, โonly-begotten Godโ โ see the textual notes.)
John's testimony to the priests โ John 1:19โ28
19 This is Johnโs testimony, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, โWho are you?โ 20 He confessed, and didnโt deny, but he confessed, โI am not the Christ.โ 21 They asked him, โWhat then? Are you Elijah?โ He said, โI am not.โ โAre you the prophet?โ He answered, โNo.โ 22 They said therefore to him, โWho are you? Give us an answer to take back to those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?โ 23 He said, โI am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, โMake straight the way of the Lord,โ as Isaiah the prophet said.โ 24 The ones who had been sent were from the Pharisees. 25 They asked him, โWhy then do you baptize, if you are not the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the prophet?โ 26 John answered them, โI baptize in water, but among you stands one whom you donโt know. 27 He is the one who comes after me, whose sandal strap Iโm not worthy to loosen.โ 28 These things were done in Bethany beyond the Jordan, where John was baptizing.
Behold, the Lamb of God โ John 1:29โ33
29 The next day, he saw Jesus coming to him, and said, โBehold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! 30 This is he of whom I said, โAfter me comes a man who is preferred before me, for he was before me.โ 31 I didnโt know him, but for this reason I came baptizing in water: that he would be revealed to Israel.โ 32 John testified, saying, โI have seen the Spirit descending like a dove out of heaven, and it remained on him. 33 I didnโt recognize him, but he whoโฆโ (The leaf breaks off here, mid-verse, at ฮฮฮ ฮ.)
Reading the detailsTextual notes
โOnly-begotten Godโ (John 1:18). Where many later manuscripts and English Bibles read โthe only Son,โ P75 reads ฮฮฮฮฮฮฮฮฮฃ ฮฮฃ โ โonly-begotten God.โ This early reading, shared with Codex Vaticanus and Sinaiticus, is a key witness in one of the most discussed textual questions in John, and you can see it on the leaf (verso, line 5).
Nomina sacra throughout. The scribe contracts and overlines the sacred names โ ฮฮฃ/ฮฮ/ฮฮฅ (God), ฮฮฅ ฮงฮฅ and ฮงฮฃ (Jesus Christ / Christ), ฮฮ (Jesus), ฮฮฅ (Lord), ฮ ฮฮ (Spirit), ฮฮฮ (Israel), ฮฮฮฮ (Jerusalem), and even ฮฮฮฉฮ/ฮฮฮฮ (men/man). Notice that in John 1:6 โa manโ (ฮฮฮฮกฮฉฮ ฮฮฃ) โ an ordinary man, John the Baptist โ is written out in full, not contracted: the abbreviation is reserved for the sacred sense.
Everyday spellings. The scribe writes ฮฃฮฮฮคฮฮฮ for ฮฃฮฮฮคฮฮ (โdarknessโ), ฮฮฮฮฮฮฃ for ฮฮฮฮฮฃ (โElijahโ), and ฮฮฮฅฮฮฮคฮฮฃ for ฮฮฮฅฮฮคฮฮฃ (โLevitesโ) โ ordinary phonetic spellings (itacism) of the period. In John 1:27 P75 reads ฮฮฮฮฮฮฃ (โworthy/sufficientโ) where some witnesses have ฮฮฮฮฮฃ.
The manuscriptAt a glance
| This leaf | Folio 44: Luke 24:51โ53, the Luke/John junction, and John 1:1โ33 |
|---|---|
| Whole codex | Luke 3:18โ24:53 and John 1:1โ15:8 (102 of ~144 pages survive) |
| Date | AD 175โ225 (Martin & Kasser); a later date is argued โ see below |
| Discovered | Egypt, 1950s (the Bodmer Papyri); pre-discovery history unknown |
| Held at | Vatican Library, Rome (โHanna Papyrus 1 / Mater Verbiโ); formerly P. Bodmer XIVโXV |
| GregoryโAland no. | ๐75 (INTF doc. ID 10075) |
| Format | Single-quire papyrus codex, ~27 ร 13 cm, 38โ45 lines per page |
| Text type | Alexandrian ยท Aland Category I |
Why it mattersThe manuscript that changed textual scholarship
Before P75, many scholars believed the polished โAlexandrianโ text found in the great 4th-century Codex Vaticanus was the product of a careful editorial recension made around that time. Then P75 turned up โ a century or more older โ and its text agrees with Vaticanus about 94% of the time in Luke and 92% in John. That near-identity showed the Vaticanus text was not a late invention but faithfully preserved a text already in circulation by the early third century. Kurt Aland called P75 โthe key for understanding the primitive textual history of the New Testament.โ
The hand is a clear, careful majuscule โ the work of a trained scribe producing a quality book. Written on smooth papyrus said to โfeel like hand-woven linen,โ it is one of the finest early Christian codices to survive.
Own this leaf
Manuscript Shop produces a museum-grade facsimile of this leaf of Papyrus 75 on real Egyptian papyrus, reproducing both sides โ the end of Luke, the junction, and the opening of John โ at its true size.
ReferencesSources
- Transcription (surviving text): INTF/IGNTP transcription of ๐75, New Testament Virtual Manuscript Room, doc. ID 10075, folios 44r and 44v.
- Manuscript images: Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana (Hanna Papyrus 1, Mater Verbi); formerly Bibliotheca Bodmeriana.
- Editio princeps: V. Martin & R. Kasser, Papyrus Bodmer XIVโXV (ColognyโGeneva, 1961).
- Dating & significance: K. Aland & B. Aland, The Text of the New Testament; B. Nongbri, โReconsidering the Place of Papyrus Bodmer XIVโXV (P75) in the Textual Criticism of the New Testamentโ (JBL, 2016); Vatican Library, S. Voicu, notes on P. Bodmer XIVโXV.
- Word-for-word glosses follow standard tagged Greek New Testament data (STEP Bible, Tyndale House; Berean Interlinear).
- Smooth translation: World English Bible (public domain), ebible.org.