Papyrus 70

Papyrus 70 (in the Gregory-Aland numbering), designated by P ⁷⁰, is an early copy of the New Testament in Greek. It is a papyrus manuscript of the Gospel of Matthew. The surviving texts of Matthew are verses 2:13-16; 2:22-3:1; 11:26-27; 12:4-5; 24:3-6.12-15. P ⁷⁰ has a fairly reliable text, though it was carelessly written. The manuscript palaeographically had been assigned to the late 3rd century.

The Greek text of this codex is a representative of the Alexandrian text-type. Aland ascribed it as a “strict text”, and placed it in Category I.

It is currently housed at the Ashmolean Museum (P. Oxy. 2384) in Oxford and at the Papyrological Institute of Florence in National Archaeological Museum (Florence) (PSI 3407 – formerly CNR 419, 420).