The Nash Papyrus is a second-century BCE fragment containing the text of the Ten Commandments followed by the Šemaʿ. Prior to the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls it was the oldest known manuscript containing a text from the Hebrew Bible. The manuscript was originally identified as a lectionary used in liturgical contexts, due to the juxtaposition of the Decalogue (probably reflecting a mixed tradition, a composite of Exodus 20 and Deuteronomy 5) with the Šemaʿ prayer (Deuteronomy 6:4-5), and it has been suggested that it is, in fact, from a phylactery (tefillin, used in daily prayer). Purchased from an Egyptian dealer in antiquities in 1902 by Nash, W. L. (Walter Llewellyn) Dr Walter Llewellyn Nash and presented to the Library in 1903, the fragment was said to have come from the Fayyum. This item was included in the Library’s 600th anniversary exhibition Lines of Thought: Discoveries that changed the world .Condition: Holes; torn; barely legible. Four separate pieces fixed together.Layout: 24 lines, with traces of a 25th
Palimpsest with Aquila’s Greek translation of II Kings 23:11–27 (dating to the 6th century), overwritten with piyyuṭim of the liturgical poet Yannai. The upper script may be 9th–11th century CE. The Greek text uses paleo-Hebrew characters for the tetragrammaton. The pronunciation of this word was evidently kurios, ‘lord’ (like Hebrew adonay), for when the scribe ran out of room to write the tetragrammaton at the end of 2 Kings 23:24 (folio 2b, col. a, line 15), he simply wrote κυ, as an abbreviation of κύριος. The poems of Yannai contain Qerovot poems on four sedarim in Leviticus (13:29; 14:1; 21:1; 22:13), which can be joined with other leaves in the Genizah to make a complete quire.Condition: Torn, holes, stainedLayout: various lines
Palimpsest. Upper text: piyyuṭim for Sukkot in the form of a rotulus. Under text: Christian Palestinian Aramaic Bible, Deuteronomy 31:3-29, John 14:15-16. The under text is among the earliest manuscripts in the Genizah and is probably to be dated to the 6th-8th century CE. The upper text is ca. 10th century CE.Condition: Torn, holes, rubbedLayout: 6 x 3; 29 x 12; 58 lines?
Court record, dated 10th Nisan 14[..] (= 12th century CE?), in Fusṭāṭ. The parties involved are Abī Yaʿqūb Yūsuf al-Ḥarīrī and Abī l-Barakāt Joshua.Condition: Torn, holes, stained, rubbedLayout: 23 lines (recto; verso is blank)
The upper text of this palimpsest is Palestinian Talmud, Moʿed Qaṭan 82a-b; 83b. The under text is the Septuagint of Psalms 143:1-144:6.Condition: Badly torn, holes, fadedLayout: 10-23 lines
A large bifolium from a collection of Geonic responsa, including questions addressing Amram Gaon of Sura and Mattatya Gaon.Condition: Badly torn, holes, faded, stainedLayout: 35-36 lines