Papyrus P59: John 2:15–16 in a Greek Witness
P59, the seventh-century Nessana manuscript P. Colt 3 at the Morgan Library & Museum, preserves scattered passages from John 1–2, 11–12, 17–18, and 21 together with hermeneia material connected to late-antique biblical divination.
- Artifact date
- 7th Century
- Findspot
- Egypt; exact ancient findspot is not stated in the consulted manuscript catalogs
- Current location
- New York, Pierpont Morgan Library, P. Colt 3
What archaeologists can actually examine
P59 is not a two-verse scrap. Fourteen fragmentary leaves from a Greek papyrus codex preserve portions of John 1:26, 28, 48, 51; 2:15–16; 11:40–52; 12:25, 29, 31, 35; 17:24–26; 18:1–2, 16–17, 22; and 21:7, 12–13, 15, 17–20, 23. Beneath Gospel text stood material conventionally called hermeneiai, short interpretive or oracular units. This layout places P59 among specialized Johannine books now studied as possible 'divining Gospels.' The biblical text is real and valuable, but the codex's use cannot be reduced to ordinary continuous reading.
Excavated at Nessana
The Colt expedition recovered P59 from storerooms associated with Nessana's church complex in 1935–1936.
Passages across John
Fourteen leaves preserve scattered text from John 1, 2, 11, 12, 17, 18, and 21.
A specialized Gospel book
Hermeneia material beneath the Gospel text links P59 to manuscripts interpreted as tools for biblical oracular consultation.
A documented custody trail
Treatment, New York University study, Colt ownership, and transfer to the Morgan are institutionally recorded.
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
Harris Dunscombe Colt's expedition excavated the papyri at Auja el-Hafir, ancient Nessana in the Negev, during winter 1935–1936. The Morgan's provenance record locates the finds in storerooms attached to the churches of Mary Mother of God and Saints Sergius and Bacchus. The papyri passed through treatment at the British Museum and study at New York University; Colt later placed or donated them to the Pierpont Morgan Library, with remaining fragments transferred in 1981. Casson and Hettich published P. Colt 3 in Excavations at Nessana II. This unusually strong archaeological and custodial history corrects the live record's generic Egyptian provenance.
What you are looking at
The repertory counts fourteen fragmentary papyrus leaves, written in one column, from pages reconstructed near 20 by 14 centimeters. Individual remnants preserve roughly seven to nineteen lines. Gospel verses occupy the upper writing area, with hermeneia material associated below; not every fragment preserves every part of the apparatus. The disjoint passages from across John are therefore not necessarily evidence of a radically abbreviated Gospel: much of the codex is simply lost. Morgan catalog pages document panes containing the exact fragments, while scholarly editions reconstruct their sequence from text, fiber direction, and codicological relationships.
Where it belongs in history
P59 is normally dated to the seventh century by handwriting comparison. It has no dated colophon. Nessana's excavated church complex supplies a late-antique Christian setting for recovery, but it does not identify the copyist or prove precisely how the book was consulted. Scholars once proposed liturgical, explanatory, and other functions for hermeneiai. Recent comparative work argues that manuscripts like P59 are remnants of divining Gospels, in which readers used numbered Gospel passages and interpretations for oracular consultation. That model is persuasive and materially grounded, yet the fragmentary apparatus means the details of P59's procedure remain reconstructed.
Consensus, questions, and debate
The identity as P. Nessana II 3 / P. Colt 3, seventh-century date, Johannine contents, and Morgan custody are well established. Textual summaries have called its Greek 'mixed' or placed it in Aland Category III, but the more revealing issue is its paratext. Scholars agree that hermeneiai accompany P59, while proposals for their purpose have evolved. Brent Nongbri identified the group of related witnesses; Jeff Childers argues from wider Greek, Coptic, Latin, Armenian, and Syriac evidence that they are divining Gospels. The dossier should report that interpretation as current scholarship, not as wording found in the artifact itself.
The biblical record beside the artifact
John 2:15–16 describes Jesus driving animals and money changers from the temple and ordering the dove sellers to remove their wares. P59 also ranges from John the Baptist and Nathanael through Lazarus, Jesus' farewell prayer, arrest, trial, and resurrection appearance. The manuscript thus witnesses numerous Johannine scenes rather than a single temple episode. Its hermeneia setting also reveals a later chapter in reception: Christians did not only copy John's words but sometimes arranged them for consultation. That practice illuminates the manuscript's use; it does not validate divination as biblical teaching or independently prove the narrated events.
John 2:15–16
15And when he had made a scourge of small cords, he drove them all out of the temple, and the sheep, and the oxen; and poured out the changers’ money, and overthrew the tables;
16And said unto them that sold doves, Take these things hence; make not my Father’s house an house of merchandise.
A responsible historical conclusion
P59 binds textual transmission to lived religion. Its many Johannine excerpts add seventh-century Greek readings, while its archaeological recovery at a Christian complex anchors the codex in the material world of Nessana. The hermeneiai show that a Gospel could function as more than a linear narrative book: users may have approached selected passages as vehicles of divine guidance. That uncomfortable but historically important evidence broadens understanding of Christian reading beyond formal liturgy and commentary. The manuscript matters precisely because it preserves both Scripture and the traces of how some late-antique readers handled it.
Authoritative sources
Institutional catalogs, excavation reports, and academic publications let you examine the evidence beyond this summary.
Colt Papyrus 3 Fragment
The Morgan Library & MuseumProvides excavation context, modern custody history, physical fragment description, and exact-object images.
Kurzgefasste Liste: Papyri P48–P62
Institut für Neutestamentliche Textforschung / De GruyterProvides full verse inventory, seventh-century date, leaf and line counts, reconstructed format, shelfmark, and Nessana edition citation.
A Coptic Fragment of the Gospel of John with Hermeneiai
New Testament Studies, Cambridge University PressPlaces P59 securely among Johannine manuscripts with hermeneiai and distinguishes it from probable but less explicit examples.
Divining Gospel: Oracles of Interpretation in a Syriac Manuscript of John
De Gruyter / LMU Open AccessProvides the comparative case for interpreting hermeneia Gospels as books used in late-antique Christian divination.