THE OXYRHYNCHUS PAPYRI

Recto lxx. 3-8.

[a fortress to save me, for] thou art my [stronghold and]
[refuge, O my God.] Deliver me from the hand of the sinner,
[from the hand of the lawless] one and the wrongdoer, for thou art my
15 > [support,] O Lord, my Lord, my hope from my youth. Upon thee
[I was upheld] from the womb; from my mother’s belly thou
[art my protector.] In thee is my constant support. I have become
[as a wonder] to the many, but thou art my helper and strong one.
[Let my mouth be filled] with praise, that I may hymn [thy glory.]

1. It is doubtful whether to at the beginning of this line is the final syllable of antelabeto he took up or the article before onoma name. The latter division would make the line rather short, but it could be sufficiently lengthened by the insertion of mou my after theon God with ℵ^c.a. The vestige of the letter after to suits m better than o, but is too slight to decide the point, and some traces of ink later on in this line are also indecisive.

2. to theo to God : or perhaps to kyrio to the Lord, which would be a new reading, though the cursive 188 has ton kyrion the Lord. ekpheronta bringing forth was perhaps omitted, as in ℵ*. Its insertion produces a very long line, while on the other hand its omission leaves the supplement a little shorter than would be expected.

3. ekzetesate seek out : zetesate seek R. Cf. note on l. 4.

4. theon God : kyrion Lord R.
ekzesetai he psyche hymon your soul shall live : zesetai he psyche hemon our soul shall live (hymon your ℵ^c.a) ℵ*R, zesesthe you shall live B. The ek out of is a repetition from ekzetesate, or the scribe may have transferred the preposition from one verb to the other; cf. the omission of ek with zetesate in R.

5. kyrios Lord : ho kyrios the Lord BℵR.
exoudenosei he shall disdain : so ℵ*R; exoudenosen he disdained Bℵ^c.a.

7. erponta en autois creeping in them : so Bℵ^c.aR; perata tes ges the ends of the earth ℵ*.

12. The length of the lacuna indicates that the papyrus had mou my after theos God with ℵR; B omits.

13. hypomone support/patience : so the cursives 27, 285; he hypom. BℵR. Cf. the omission of he before elpis hope in l. 14. It is unlikely that kai and stood before ek from as in R.

14. kyrie mou my Lord : om. mou BℵR; cf. the addition of mou in l. 12.
kyrie elpis Lord, hope : kyrie he elpis Lord, the hope R; kyrios he elpis Lord, the hope Bℵ.

15. epesterichthen I was upheld . . . skepastes protector. The papyrus agrees with Bℵ; R has epheriphen ek matros ek k. tes m. mou sy ei moi hyperaspistes mou I was carried from my mother from the belly of my mother; you are to me my defender. o of koilias belly is corrected from y.

16. hypomonesis remembrance/support (y seems to be corrected) = hypomnesis, which is the reading of ℵ and the Sahidic version; hymnesis BR. o of osei as is corrected.

17. soi in thee : l. sy thou. ℵ^c.aR add mou after boethos helper.
kai krataios and strong one : om. kai BℵR; kai krataio-ma mou and my stronghold Arm. Ed., Psalt. Aethiop.

18. R adds kyrie Lord after aineseos of praise : hopos hymneso (ten doxan sou) that I may hymn (thy glory) was originally omitted in ℵ, but added by the second corrector.