The Oxyrhynchus Papyri, Part 15

and though waxing and waning might be interpreted as referring to varying degrees of heat they are not terms ordinarily associated with the sun. It is then likely, as Dr. Rendel Harris suggests, that "increases, etc." has been brought in here from the succeeding paragraph concerning the moon, where BJ has "waxing and waning and having eclipses."

The Syriac has preserved "moving" and "every day," but in other respects does not compare favourably with BJ. "Shoots of plants and shrubs" is a pointless change, and "may bring forth ... earth" and "in his course ... parts" are gratuitous amplifications. "Furthermore" is omitted, and the insertion of "in calculation" is anything but a gain in clearness. "According to the advantage of the needs of men" is displaced, and is besides a clumsy translation of "for the use of men," though less verbose than "and that not according to his own will," etc., as an equivalent of "having no autocracy." The reference to eclipse has disappeared. Raabe was rightly critical of this passage.

33. epeis since is obviously an error for eti furthermore (arising not improbably out of an intermediate misspelling etei), and BJ's addition of de and may well be also right. There would be room for one letter between kai and and the following m, but none seems admissible and perhaps there was a flaw in the papyrus.

38-40. Cf. n. on ll. 26 sqq. "Eclipses" is assured by the parallel there quoted from BJ and would not overload the lacuna if "eclipses" or "eclipse" were written, as is quite possible.

1779. PSALM i.

A complete leaf from a papyrus codex, containing three verses of the first Psalm. The informal hand, which may be assigned to the fourth century, is rather large, and disproportionate to the size of the leaf, so that only 17 lines are got into the two pages. Stops in the high position are used, and a rough breathing occurs in l. 4. There is no stichometric division of the verses, as there was e. g. in 1226, a fragment from a still earlier book. A variant known from an eleventh-century cursive receives support; cf. 1226, &c.

i. 4 Not so
the ungodly,
not so,
but as the chaff
5 which the
wind driveth
away from the face
of the earth. There
5 fore shall not

10 stand the un
godly in
judgment, nor sin
ners in the
counsel of the right
15 eous. For knoweth 6

the Lord Kurios the way of the right
eous, and the way

4. "As the chaff": so the cursive 281 (Laur. v. 18, 11th cent.); "the chaff" other manuscripts.
10. "Ungodly": so codices Aleph, A, R and many cursives, including 281. "The ungodly" others.