Papyrus Schøyen 2648

The Papyrus Schøyen MS 2648 (also Rahlfs 816, P. Schoyen. 1 23, TM 66869, LDAB 8119) are six leaves of a papyrus codex of the Septuagint that contain the text of Joshua 9:27-11:3 in Koine Greek. It has been dated to the early third century (from about 200/215 CE).

Description
The leaves measure 20 × 11 cm and are inscribed in single columns of 19 to 25 lines each with Alexandrian majuscules. They were probably part of a codex of the Book of Joshua comprising about 72 leaves. The leaves are the oldest surviving evidence of these passages in Greek and represent an older textual variant before Origen's Hexapla. It also differs from the later Masoretic text.

Variants
The manuscript does not have verses 15, 17 and 43 of chapter 10 as do other ancient Greek manuscripts that match the Hebrew text.

Version
Kristin De Troyer states:

"The texts of papyrus Schøyen MS 2648 (a Joshua codex) and MS 2649 (a Leviticus codex) belong to the Old Greek text tradition of the books of Joshua and Leviticus. But both codices attest not purely to the Old Greek text, but to an already slightly altered text. The Old Greek text of the two codices was already revised towards a Hebrew text, most often the Masoretic text. The two papyri are thus not witnesses for the Old Greek text as it left the hands of the first translators, but for an Old Greek text that was beginning to be revised towards the Hebrew text."

History
The manuscript probably originated at Oxyrhynchos. It was probably written by the same scribe as Papyrus Schøyen 2649. Around 1930, the leaves were acquired in Alexandria from an antique dealer by a collector from Zurich. In 1998, the Schøyen Collection in Oslo bought them, signature MS 2648. The leaves were in the midst of Papyrus Schøyen 2650.