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7Q6: CAN THE COMPUTER
BE OF ANY HELP?

     Fragment 7Q6 is actually two small pieces of papyrus that were found "one atop the other." In all likelihood they are from the same scroll. The larger of these two fragments is designated by the siglum 7Q6,1 while the smaller is designated by 7Q6,2. The first piece (7Q6,1) preserves three lines of text while the second (7Q6,2) preserves only two lines.

     The black and white image is a scan from page 107 of: "The First New Testament" by Estrada and White; done with the permission of Thomas Nelson, Inc. The color image is a copy of the black and white image, which has been enhanced with the help of Adobe Photoshop. In using Photoshop, I did not erase or add to the original scan. I only changed the color to resemble papyrus and I highlighted in black what I regarded as ink. This was done in order to ascertain what letters are on the papyrus.
     Father O'Callaghan identified 7Q6,1 as part of Mark 4:28. He identified 7Q6,2 as part of Acts 27:38. These identifications are not very convincing because they involve two different New Testament books. It makes more sense to regard them as from the same book; since one piece was found atop the other. If that is the case, the texts of these two pieces must be in close proximity to each other due to their physical position in the scroll.
     Prior to using Bible Works for Windows, I made a list of what I regarded were the letters on these two pieces; in order to establish the parameters of my search:

7Q6,1

• Line 1: There is preserved a trace of a vertical stroke.
• Line 2: This appears to be an e or a s followed by an i. The next letter seems to be a p or a t, followed by an a or a l. There may be an additional narrow letter after the t, as there is a fair amount of space between a t and the last letter. If the t is in fact a p, an extra letter after it is unlikely.
• Line 3: This is a l followed by h and followed by a faint trace of a vertical stroke. This last letter could be one of the following: b, g, h, i, k, m, n, p, or r.

7Q6,2

• Line 1: There is a t followed by a q or o. The next letter has the upper part of a vertical stroke, along with what appears to be a serif. As with line 3 above, it could be: b, g, h, i, k, m, n, p, or r.
• Line 2: The first letter appears to be an o followed by u and f. The last letter appears to be an a or l.

     In using Bible Works, I performed searches for every possible combination of the letters listed above. I also took into account all the possible positions of spaces between these letters. I searched the Greek texts of both the Septuagint and the New Testament. I treated both pieces as part of the same textual source; looking for "hits" that were close to each other in the Biblical text and having similar stichometry or number of letters per line.
     The results of such a search could never be conclusive, as these scraps of papyrus are quite small. (Note the scale bar in the images above). The following is a list of seven possible Biblical identifications for 7Q6,1&2. The first reference is for the first piece, while the second is for the second piece. The number in parentheses represents the average stichometry between the two pieces.

• Exodus 13:21; Exodus 12:29; (29).
• Exodus 29:20-21; Exodus 28:7-8; (30).
• Deut. 31:3; Deut. 28:30-31; (36).
• Sirach 22:14; Sirach 20:17; (13).
• Mark 12:7; Mark 14:14; (21).
• Mark 15:47-16:1; Mark 14:14; (41).
• Luke 22:42; Luke22:11; (34 or 39).

     In my opinion regarding the above list, only Sirach and Luke seem possible; although none of the above possibilities appear to provide an entirely satisfactory identification for 7Q6.

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As Loved...So Love
(John 13:34)

Originally published August 19, 1997 / Revised July 12, 2001.