Papyrus 12
Papyrus 12 is an early papyrus manuscript copy of the New Testament Epistle to the Hebrews verse 1:1 in Greek. It is designated by the siglum in the Gregory-Aland numbering of New Testament manuscripts, and α 1033 in the von Soden numbering of New Testament manuscripts. Using the study of comparative writing styles, it has been assigned to ca. 285. It may have been a writing exercise or an amulet.
Description
The verse has been written at the top of the second column by another writer in three lines. It has been written in a small uncial hand. On the reverse side of this manuscript another writer has penned Genesis 1:1-5 according to the Greek Septuagint.| Greek Text Transcription | Transliteration | English Translation |
| πολυμερως κ πολυπως | polymenōs k polypōs | In many parts and in many ways |
| παλε ο λαλήσς τοατρα | pale ho Theos lalēss toatra | long ago God spoke to the fathe- |
| σ ημν εν τοις προητα | s hēmn en tois proēta | rs our by the prophets |
It has an error of itacism, and includes the nomen sacrum for Theos, "God". The Greek text of this small portion of Hebrews is probably a representative of the Alexandrian text-type, but its text is too brief for certainty. Biblical scholar Kurt Aland placed it in Category I of his New Testament manuscript classification system. It supports the textual variant ημων as in codices a t v vg syr.