1227. St. Matthew's Gospel xii.
[ New Testament Greek Papyri: P21 ]

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6 x 11.8 cm. Fifth century.
Fragment of a leaf of a papyrus codex, written in rather large upright uncials in which dark and light strokes are strongly contrasted. The hand bears a general resemblance to that of the Ascension of Isaiah (P. Amh. 1); it appears to point to a date in the fifth century. The ink is of the brown shade characteristic of the period. A stop in the high position occurs once, and there is one doubtful instance of a rough breathing. An agreement with D and a corrector of א is noticeable in l. 5 of the verso, and an unrecorded variant in recto l. 4, and apparently also in l. 6.
Verso.
.       .       .       .       .       
                ακουσαντες
ειπον ουτος ουκ εκβαλλει
τα διαμονια ει μη εν τω Βε
ελζεβουλ' αρχοντι των δαι
μονιων· ῑδων δε τας ενθυ
μησεις αυτων ειπεν αυτοις
πασα βασιλεια μερισθεισα κα
θ εαυτης ερημουται και πα
σα πολις η οικια μερισθεισα
καθ εαυτης ου σταθησεται
και ει ο̄ Σατανας		 Recto.

. . . . [
και ος αν ειπη λογον κατα του
ῡῡ̄ του ᾱν̄ο̄ῡ αφεθησεται αυ
τω ουτω ος δ αν ειπη κατα
του π̄ν̄ς̄ του αγιου ουκ αφεθη
σεται εν τουτω τω αιωνι ου
δε εν τω μελλοντι η ποιη
σατε το δενδρον καλον και
τον καρπον αυτου καλον
η ποιησατε το δενδρον
.       .       .       .       .   
[Verso:] '[But when the Pharisees] heard it, they said, "It is only by Beelzebul, the ruler of demons, that this fellow casts out the demons. He knew what they were thinking and said to them, "Every kingdom divided against itself is laid waste, and no city or house divided against itself will stand. If Satan ...'
[Recto:] 'Whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come. Either make the tree good, and its fruit good; or make the tree bad . . . '
(Source: New Revised Standard Version, St. Matthew 12: 24-26a, and 32-33a)

Verso.
3. εν: om. E.
[Βεελζεβουλ' : so CDEGKM &c.; βεεϚεβουλ Bא


5. ιδων: so אbD; ειδως most MSS.
δε: so BאD; CEGKLM &c. add ο Ι(ησου)ς.

10. [κ]αθ εαυ[της: so most MSS.; εφ εαυτην D, which also has στησεται instead of σταθησεται, and this may have stood in the papyrus.

11. [κ]αι ει: ει δε και D. That a slightly curved horizontal stroke above the next letter represents a rough breathing is uncertain.

Recto.

2. αν: so D; εαν most MSS. cf. l. 4, where εαν is apparently universal apart from the papyrus.

4. ουτω: om. MSS.

5-6. The reading of the papyrus is very doubtful. MSS. have ουκ αφεθησεται (ου μη αφετη B) αυτω followed by either ουτε εν τουτω τω αιωνι ουτε (BאCD) or ουτε εν τω αιωνι τουτω ουτε (K) or ουτε εν τω νυν αιωνι ουτε (EFGLM &c.). [σεται αυ]τω is possible, but then none of the recorded variants is reconcilable with the following letters, τω a little further on being clear. To suppose an omission of τουτω does not solve the difficulty, since [ουτ[ εν is too long for the space and the vestiges do not suggest εν. Possibly something other than αφεθησεται was written but it was not μη αφεθη. Trace of ink above το[υτ]ω perhaps indicate a correction.