Papyrus P116: Hebrews 2:9–11 and 3:3–6
Papyrus P116, Vienna Papyrus G 42417, is a sixth- or seventh-century Greek papyrus codex fragment preserving parts of Hebrews 2:9–11 and 3:3–6, passages concerning Jesus' suffering and solidarity with humanity and his greater honor than Moses.
- Artifact date
- 6th–7th century
- Findspot
- Egypt; exact ancient findspot is not stated in the consulted catalogs
- Current location
- Österreichische Nationalbibliothek, Vienna, Austria
What archaeologists can actually examine
P116 is one small Greek papyrus fragment from Hebrews, with seven partial lines per face or surviving column segment. One face contains Hebrews 2:9–11, where Jesus is crowned through suffering, tastes death, and calls the sanctified his siblings; the other preserves Hebrews 3:3–6, contrasting the builder of a house with the house and distinguishing Moses' servant role from Christ's sonship. The fragment is cataloged as a codex witness, though the surviving area is too small to reconstruct the whole book confidently. It offers late-antique evidence for two rhetorically connected comparisons in Hebrews but cannot supply the missing transition or define the complete manuscript's text.
Two christological comparisons
The fragment preserves Jesus' suffering solidarity in Hebrews 2:9–11 and his superiority to Moses in Hebrews 3:3–6.
Late-antique papyrus codex
Greek writing on both faces identifies a sixth- or seventh-century book fragment rather than a loose quotation.
Provenance is broad
Vienna custody is secure, but the consulted records name only Egypt and do not document a precise ancient findspot.
Textual conclusions stay local
Fourteen partial lines permit comparison at specific readings but cannot define the textual character of the lost Hebrews codex.
Follow the evidence from discovery to debate
Move through the find in a deliberate order: establish its provenance, examine the surviving object, place it in time, and then weigh the scholarly interpretation.
How the find came to light
The papyrus is preserved in the Austrian National Library under shelfmark Pap. G. 42417, also cited as P. Vindob. G 42417. Athanasios Papathomas published it in 2000 as a new witness to Hebrews, and it was registered as Gregory-Aland P116. The consulted catalogs identify Egypt as the broad origin but do not state a controlled ancient findspot, excavation season, or pre-acquisition chain. That gap is important: Vienna custody and modern scholarly identity are secure, while the object's precise archaeological context is not. No responsible dossier should assign it to Oxyrhynchus, a named monastery, or a particular Christian community without new documentation from the holding institution.
What you are looking at
CSNTM describes a single papyrus fragment, one column, and seven surviving lines per face. Published reconstructions commonly suggest an original leaf near 31 by 18 centimeters, but those are inferred dimensions, not the size of the extant scrap. Greek text is written on both sides, supporting codex identification and linking the two separated Hebrews passages through the lost intervening leaf area. Damage removes much of each line, so editors restore words from the known biblical sequence. The script belongs to late-antique literary copying rather than an informal note. The fragment supplies no title, colophon, pagination, scribe's name, or surviving binding feature that would reveal the original book's full contents or quire arrangement.
Where it belongs in history
INTF and CSNTM date P116 to the sixth or seventh century on palaeographic grounds. The range reflects the difficulty of assigning undated literary hands to a narrow interval; no internal year or scientific test is reported. This places the witness in Byzantine-period Egyptian Christian book culture, when Hebrews already circulated widely in Greek and could appear among Pauline letters, though P116 itself does not prove a collection format. Its papyrus material remains normal for Egyptian production even as parchment was widely used. The unknown findspot and acquisition context limit social reconstruction. We can identify the book tradition and approximate era, but not a monastery, city, owner, liturgical function, or scribal school.
Consensus, questions, and debate
Because only fourteen partial lines survive, P116 is normally considered too short for a meaningful overall textual-family classification. Its readings should be evaluated variant by variant against P46, major uncials, versions, and later Greek manuscripts. Theologically important phrases in Hebrews 2 have extensive textual and interpretive histories, including the relation between suffering, death, sanctification, and solidarity, but a damaged witness must not be made to carry conclusions beyond visible letters. In Hebrews 3, the house metaphor raises questions about whether the house denotes God's people, creation, or both across the argument. P116 demonstrates the transmission of the comparison, not the correctness of one interpretation. Date and reconstructed size likewise remain scholarly estimates.
The biblical record beside the artifact
Hebrews 2:9–11 interprets Jesus' humiliation and death within a movement toward glory: he is made lower than angels, crowned because of suffering, tastes death for everyone, and shares one source with those being sanctified. Hebrews 3:3–6 compares Jesus and Moses through house imagery: the builder has greater honor than the house, Moses is faithful as a servant, and Christ is faithful as Son over God's house. P116 preserves parts of each passage on opposite faces. It is a manuscript witness to their late-antique Greek wording. It does not independently prove the incarnation, atonement, or divine sonship, nor determine whether 'by the grace of God' or another variant stood in every lost exemplar.
Hebrews 2:9–11
9But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man.
10For it became him, for whom [are] all things, and by whom [are] all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings.
11For both he that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified [are] all of one: for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren,
A responsible historical conclusion
P116 preserves two of Hebrews' characteristic arguments on one material object: the exalted Son truly enters human suffering, and that Son exceeds Moses without denigrating Moses' faithfulness. The artifact shows these claims circulating in Greek in late-antique Egypt, centuries before many complete medieval copies. Its value is also codicological. Text on both faces and the spacing of separated passages allow a likely book reconstruction from a very small remnant. At the same time, the fragment models appropriate restraint: a recognized biblical text and standard registry number do not recover its owner, complete contents, or entire textual ancestry. P116 adds a real but narrowly bounded witness to the history of Hebrews.
Authoritative sources
Institutional catalogs, excavation reports, and academic publications let you examine the evidence beyond this summary.
Manuscript P116
Center for the Study of New Testament ManuscriptsConfirms the Vienna shelfmark, sixth- or seventh-century date, papyrus material, one-fragment format, seven-line extent, and exact contents.
Continuation of the Official Greek New Testament Manuscript List
Institut für Neutestamentliche TextforschungProvides the official P116 registration, contents, century, physical extent, holding institution, shelfmark, and editio princeps bibliography.
A New Testimony to the Letter to the Hebrews (2:9–11 and 3:3–6)
Tyche, University of ViennaPapathomas's revised print publication identifies P. Vindob. G 42417, transcribes and analyzes its Hebrews text, discusses alternative views, and provides the DOI-linked primary scholarly record.
INTF Manuscript Workspace P116
Institut für Neutestamentliche TextforschungControls the witness's Gregory-Aland identity in the official manuscript workspace.