View source for 7Q5

{{short description|Dead Sea scroll fragment}}
[[Image:7Q5.jpg|thumb|right|Fragment 5 from Cave 7 of the Qumran Community in its entirety]]

Among the [[Dead Sea Scrolls]], '''7Q5''' is the designation for a small Greek [[papyrus]] fragment discovered in [[Qumran]] [[List of manuscripts from Qumran Cave 7|Cave 7]]. It contains about 18 legible or partially legible Greek letters and was published in 1962 as an unidentified text. The editor assigned the fragment to a date between 50 BCE and 50 CE on the basis of its handwriting.<ref name="M. Baillet, J.T. Milik 1962">M. Baillet, J.T. Milik, and R. de Vaux (eds.), ''Les 'petites grottes' de Qumrân'' (Discoveries in the Judaean Desert of Jordan III; Oxford: Clarendon, 1962), 144.</ref> In 1972, the Spanish papyrologist [[José O'Callaghan Martínez|Jose O'Callaghan]] argued that the papyrus was in fact a fragment of the [[Gospel of Mark]], [[Mark 6#Textual witnesses|chapter 6]], verses 52 and 53. While most scholars have been unpersuaded by this argument, a vocal minority continue to support the identification of the fragment as a part of the Gospel of Mark.<ref>"... Qumran ms. 7Q5 ... is captioned as if it contains a fragment of Mark: it was of course O'Callaghan who made that controversial — and now virtually universally rejected — identification of this Dead Sea text as a piece of the New Testament ..." Elliot (2004), JK, ''Book Notes'', Novum Testamentum, Volume 45, Number 2, 2003, pp. 203.</ref><ref>Gundry (1999), p.698. [[Carlo Maria Martini]], S.J., Archbishop of Milan and part of the five member team which edited the definitive modern edition of the Greek New Testament for the United Bible Societies agreed with O'Callaghan's identification and assertions.</ref>

== O'Callaghan's proposed identification ==
O'Callaghan challenged the reading of the original edition of the fragment, largely because he misunderstood the original editor's use of an [[iota subscript]] in line 2 of the fragment.<ref>Brent Nongbri, "The Strange 'nu' Story of 7Q5," ''Variant Readings'' (March 19, 2022) https://brentnongbri.com/2022/03/19/the-strange-nu-story-of-7q5/: "It’s not the case that O’Callaghan judged the editors’ omega–iota-space-alpha sequence to be a bad reading in need of improvement. Rather, he appears to have failed to understand that Baillet and Boismard rendered the script ⲱⲓ (omega–iota) by means of a printed ῳ employing the iota subscript. O’Callaghan took the printed ῳ to represent just one letter–ⲱ–and then believed the editors had misconstrued the following vertical line (“el palo vertical”) as part of an alpha." Nongbri cites as the source of this observation Stuart R. Pickering and Rosalie R.E. Cook, ''Has a Fragment of the Gospel of Mark Been Found at Qumran?'' (Sydney: Macquarie University Ancient History Documentary Research Centre, 1989).</ref> The Greek text below shows O'Callaghan's reconstruction with bold font representing proposed identifications with characters from 7Q5:<ref>{{cite book|page=315|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1u_QZmC8TesC&q=7q5&pg=PA315|title=The Meaning of the Dead Sea Scrolls: Their Significance for Understanding the Bible, Judaism, Jesus, and Christianity|year=2004|edition=First HarperCollins paperback|publisher=HarperCollins|location=New York|isbn=0-06-068465-8|first=James|last=VanderKam|author2=Peter Flint}}</ref>
{{Col-begin}}
{{Col-2}}
<div class="center">ου γαρ<br />
συνηκαν '''<span style="color: red">ε</span>'''πι τοις αρτοις,<br />
αλλ ην α'''<span style="color: red">υτων η</span>''' καρδια πεπωρω-<br />
μεν'''<span style="color: red">η. και δι</span>'''απερασαντες [επι την γην]<br />
ηλθον εις γε'''<span style="color: red">ννησ</span>'''αρετ και <br />
προσωρμισ'''<span style="color: red">θησα</span>'''ν. και εξελ-<br />
θοντων αυτων εκ του πλοιου ευθυς<br />
επιγνοντες αυτον.</div>
{{Col-2}}
<div class="center">hou gar<br />
synēkan '''<span style="color: red">e</span>'''pi tois artois,<br />
all ēn a'''<span style="color: red">utōn ē</span>''' kardia pepōrō-<br />
men'''<span style="color: red">ē. kai di</span>'''aperasantes [epi tēn gēn]<br />
ēlthon eis ge'''<span style="color: red">nnēs</span>'''aret kai <br />
prosōrmis'''<span style="color: red">thēsa</span>'''n. kai exel-<br />
thontōn autōn ek tou ploiou euthys<br />
epignontes auton.</div>
{{Col-end}}

<poem>
for they did not
understand '''c'''oncerning the loaves
but was t'''heir''' heart harden-
e'''d. And cr'''ossing over [unto the land]
they came unto Ge'''nnes'''aret and
drew to the sh'''or'''e. And com-
ing forth out of the boat immediately
they recognized him.
</poem>

== Argument ==
[[File:Cave7Q.JPG|right|thumb|200px|The 7th Cave at Qumran, where 7Q5 was found.]]
O'Callaghan's argument is as follows:
# According to O'Callaghan, in line 2 "after the ⲱ, the ⲁ suggested by the editors seems inadmissible. The traces of the facsimile are too uncertain to allow a satisfactory reading, even though one comes to discover the left vertical stroke and the peculiar descending contour of a ⲛ similar to that of line 4."<ref>Brent Nongbri, "The Strange 'nu' Story of 7Q5," ''Variant Readings'' (March 19, 2022) https://brentnongbri.com/2022/03/19/the-strange-nu-story-of-7q5/.</ref> By reading a nu after the omega, O'Callaghan was able to reconstruct the words [α]υτων η [καρδια], which could be matched with a passage in Mark's gospel.
# O'Callaghan pointed out that the combination of letters '''ννησ''' <nnēs> in line 4 may be part of the word Γε'''ννησ'''αρετ <[[Gennesaret|Gennēsaret]]>.
# O'Callaghan argued that the spacing before the word '''και''' <kai> ("and") suggests a paragraph break, which is consistent with the normative layout for Mark 6:52-53.
# Furthermore, a computer search "using the most elaborate Greek texts ... has failed to yield any text other than Mark 6:52-53 for the combination of letters identified by O'Callaghan et al. in 7Q5".<ref>Thiede n. 31, pp. 40-41</ref>

The reasons why most scholars have rejected O'Callaghan's arguments include the following:
* Several of the letters read or reconstructed by O'Callaghan are highly debatable (especially the nu in line 2).<ref>Robert H. Gundry, "No NU in Line 2 of 7Q5: A Final Disidentification of 7Q5 With Mark 6:52-53," ''Journal of Biblical Literature'' 118 (4): 698–707. doi:10.2307/3268112.</ref>
* The spacing before the word '''και''' <kai> ("and") proposed as a paragraph break may not be indicative of anything.
* In papyri spacings of this width can be also found within words (Pap. Bodmer XXIV, plate 26; in Qumran in fragment 4Q122).
* Other examples in the Qumran texts show that the word '''και''' <kai> ("and") usually was separated with spacings – and this has nothing to do with the text's structure (as proposed by O'Callaghan).
* The sequence '''ννησ''' can be also found in the word εγε'''ννησ'''εν <egennēsen> ("begot"), a very common word used in biblical genealogies and the reconstruction suggested by the original editor.<ref name="M. Baillet, J.T. Milik 1962"/>

Further counterarguments
* To make the identification of the fragment with Mark 6:52-53, O'Callaghan had to substitute a '''δ''' (delta) {{angbr|d}} for the '''τ''' (tau) {{angbr|t}} found in line 3 of 7Q5, a substitution most scholars{{who|date=June 2021}} do not accept, although it is not without precedent in the ancient world.<ref name="wallace">{{Clarify|date=September 2009}}
* {{cite journal|first=Daniel|last=Wallace|title=7Q5: 'The Earliest NT Papyrus?'|journal=Biblical Studies|year=2000|url=http://www.bible.org/page.php?page_id=1196}} quoted at {{cite book|page=252|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=o7futW840scC&q=7q5&pg=PA252|first=Stephen L.|last=Cox|author2=Kendell H. Easley|title=Harmony of the Gospels|publisher=Broadman & Holman|year=2007|isbn=978-0-8054-9444-0}}</ref>
* To make 7Q5 'fit' Mark 6:52-53, the words επι την γην <epi tēn gēn> ("to the land") in line 4, which are found in Mark 6:53, would have to be considered as being omitted from 7Q5 in order to fit into its column. However, this omission is found in no extant manuscripts of Mark's Gospel.<ref name="wallace" />
* The identification of the last letter in line 2 with ''nu'' does not fit into the pattern of this Greek letter as it is clearly written in line 4.<ref>Gundry (1999)</ref>
* The computer search performed by Thiede assumed that all the disputed letter identifications made by O'Callaghan were correct, an assumption which is rejected by scholars.
** A similar search performed by scholar Daniel Wallace, which allowed other identifications for the disputed letters, found sixteen matches.<ref name="wallace" />
** A computer search performed with the undisputed letters of the fragment 7Q5 does not find the text Mk 6:52-53, because the undisputed letter '''τ''' in line 3 does not fit to this text.<ref>See Wallace, footnote 18.</ref>

Anachronism found in Mark's Gospel
* Another problem with identifying 7Q5 as Mark's gospel is the argument that Mark 12:13–17 may potentially contain a reference to [[Vespasian|Vespasian's]] [[Fiscus Judaicus]] imposed in 71 AD, meaning the gospel had to be written after this date, while 7Q5 dates to before 50 AD.<ref>Zeichmann, Christopher (2017). "The Date of Mark’s Gospel Apart from the Temple and Rumors of War: The Taxation Episode (12:13–17) as Evidence". https://www.academia.edu/34194619/The_Date_of_Mark_s_Gospel_Apart_from_the_Temple_and_Rumors_of_War_The_Taxation_Episode_12_13_17_as_Evidence(2017)</ref>

== Significance ==
If 7Q5 was actually a fragment of {{bibleref|Mark|6:52-53}} and was deposited in the cave at Qumran by 68 AD, it would become the earliest known fragment of the [[New Testament]], predating [[Rylands Library Papyrus P52|P52]] by at least some if not many decades. Yet, since the amount of text in the manuscript is so small, even a confirmation of 7Q5 as Markan "might mean nothing more than that the contents of these few verses were already formalized, not necessarily that there was a manuscript of Mark's Gospel on hand".<ref>{{cite book|page=11|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5VVcEmE6ZJMC&q=7q5&pg=PA11|first=Robert E.|last=Picirilli|title=The Gospel of Mark|publisher=Randall House Publications|year=2003|isbn=0-89265-500-3|edition=first|location=Nashville, TN}}</ref> Since the entirety of the find in Cave 7 consists of fragments in Greek, it is possible that the contents of this cave are of a separate "Hellenized" library than the Hebrew texts found in the other caves.

==See also==
* [[4Q108]]
* [[4QMMT]]
* [[List of New Testament papyri]]
* [[List of New Testament uncials]]

==Notes==
{{reflist}}

==References==
* {{Cite journal
|first=Robert H.
|last=Gundry
|title=No NU in Line 2 of 7Q5: A Final Disidentification of 7Q5 With Mark 6:52-53
|journal=Journal of Biblical Literature
|volume=118
|pages=698–707
|date=Dec 1999
|issue=4
|doi=10.2307/3268112
|jstor=3268112
|publisher=The Society of Biblical Literature
}}
* {{cite book
|first=Carsten Peter
|last=Thiede
|title=The Earliest Gospel Manuscript?: the Qumran Papyrus 7Q5 and its Significance for New Testament Studies
|publisher=Paternoster Press
|year=1992
|isbn=0-85364-507-8
|location=Exeter
}}
* Vito Sibilio, La datazione dei Vangeli. Una messa a punto della situazione, in Christianitas. Rivista di storia cultura e pensiero del Cristianesimo I/1 2013 Gennaio pp.&nbsp;15–29 http://www.christianitas.it/n.1-incipit-indice.pdf
* Zeichmann, Christopher (2017). "The Date of Mark’s Gospel Apart from the Temple and Rumors of War: The Taxation Episode (12:13–17) as Evidence". https://www.academia.edu/34194619/The_Date_of_Mark_s_Gospel_Apart_from_the_Temple_and_Rumors_of_War_The_Taxation_Episode_12_13_17_as_Evidence

==Further reading==
* Enste, Stefan: ''Kein Markustext in Qumran. Eine Untersuchung der These: Qumran-Fragment 7Q5 = Mk 6,52-53'', Freiburg/Göttingen 2000 (NTOA 45).
* Estrada, David and White, Jr., William: ''The First New Testament'', Nashville/Thomas Nelson Inc. 1978, {{ISBN|0-8407-5121-4}}.

==External links==
{{Commons category}}
* [http://www.bible.org/page.asp?page_id=1196 7Q5: The Earliest NT Papyrus?]
<!--*[http://www.breadofangels.com/7q5/key.html 7Q5: Key to the Controversy]-->
* [https://archive.today/20130105013928/http://www.theologicallycorrect.com/studycenter/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=32 Greek Qumran Fragment 7Q5: Possibilities and Impossibilities]
* [http://www.stefan-enste.de/7Q5DetailEngl.htm 7Q5 – An Interesting Detail]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20150119024410/http://www.centuryone.org/essene.html Jerusalem's Essenes Gate]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20050529080703/http://www.monografias.com/trabajos21/cambiar-pregunta/cambiar-pregunta.shtml 7q5: Cambiar la pregunta (In Spanish)]
{{Gospel of Mark}}
{{Dead Sea Scrolls}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:1st-century biblical manuscripts]]
[[Category:Dead Sea Scrolls]]
[[Category:Papyrus]]