| Manuscript: | M15 |
| Sigla: | P. Mich. Inv. 599 + 594 + 603 + 596 + 598 + 597 + 595 |
Text no. 
Position of the text within the manuscript. | 36 |
| Coptic Scriptorium: | |
| Date: | 501 – 700 |
| Text position: | p. 5 (P. Mich. Inv. 603, ro) ll. 6-12 |
| Type of text: | Prayer for grace and joy (magical, formulary) |
| Original title: | |
| Original title (translated): | |
| Conventional title: | Ciphered prayer for grace and joy |
| Language: | Egyptian (Coptic) |
| Dialect: | Sahidic (non-standard) |
| Script: | Coptic (cipher) |
| Image: | http://quod.lib.umich.edu/a/apis/x-2616/599r.tif & http://quod.lib.umich.edu/a/apis/x-2616/599v.tif |
| Text: | Translation: |
| p. 5 (P. Mich. Inv. 603, ro) |
[6] ⳨⳨⳨⳨⳨⳨⳨ Iak Iak Sabaoth! Give me [7] grace and joy before every man, [9] in the power of Christ, the one who is above, [10] God and this invisible one, [11] … the son (of?) Sabaoth. [12] Amen, amen, amen, amen! |
| Tableau: | |
| Tracing by: |
| Apparatus: | 6-12. l. ϥⲑⲡ ϥⲑⲡ ⲱⲑⲏⲑⲥⲁ ϯ ⲛⲑϥ ⲛⲗⲭϩⲝⲗⲯ ⲝⲛ ⲗⲭⲉⲭⲫⲩⲣⲗⲱⲭⲛⲃ ⲝⲕⲉⲝⲯⲗ ⲉⲏⲗⲟ ⲛⲩⲣⲥⲝⲉ ⲛϥⲝ ϩⲛ ⲯϭⲗⲝ ⲝⲕⲉⲩⲱ ⲕⲉⲯⲉϩⲟⲑϥ ⲕⲉ ⲕⲛⲗⲭⲯⲉ ⲑⲭⲥ ⲕϥⲑⲯⲛⲑⲭ ⲉⲩⲣⲗⲓ ⲉϥⲕ . ⲕϣⲃⲩⲣⲉ ⲱⲑⲏⲑⲥⲁ ϩⲑⲝⲃⲛ ϩⲑⲝⲃⲛ ϩⲑⲝⲃⲛ ϩⲑⲝⲃⲛ |
| Notes: | Parallel text: P. Mich. inv. 593, p. 12 ll. 6-14 (KYP M9, Ⲧ896) 6-12. The text is written in the Coptic variant of the atbash cipher, commonly used from at least the fourth to the tenth centuries, for a wide variety of texts, often quite mundane (such as letters and short graffiti). For the cipher, see Dieleman 2010; Doresse 1952; Doresse 1991; Wisse 1979. Worrell and Mirecki print it simply as a series of voces magicae. The Coptic sampi (ϡ) may resemble a ligature of ⲩⲣ, for example, in the ciphered closing title of Zostrianos in Nag Hammadi codex VIII (p. 132; cf. Sieber 1991: p. 224-225; Wisse 1979: p. 105), and the manuscript from which this scribe copied seems to have thus miscopied it as these letters. The enciphered words are broken into groups which do not respect morpheme boundaries (e.g., the sequence deciphered as ⲛⲟⲩϩⲙⲟⲧ in ll. 6-7, where the first two letters are separated from the rest by a colon). This copy was probably made after the one in P. Mich. Inv. 593 p. 12 ll. 6-14 (KYP M9, T896), which already contained a number of mistakes. The scribe of this manuscript adds further changes, but it is not clear if these are always mistakes, or rather attempts to make sense of a text which was not recognised as a cipher. In l. 6, for example, the intended sequence ϯ ⲛⲁⲓ, enciphered as ϯⲛⲑϥ, was miscopied as ϯⲛⲟϥ in P. Mich. Inv. 593 p. 12 l. 7, and this scribe instead writes ϯⲟⲩⲛⲟϥ, probably understanding this as the phrase “give joy”. In other places, such as ⲑⲝⲃ︦ⲛ︦ (where P. Mich. Inv. 593 p. 12 ll. 12-13 has ϩ̣ⲑⲝⲃⲛ) in l. 12, we are probably dealing with real errors, in this case skipping a letter written at the end of a line. |
| Bibliography: |
Dieleman, Jacco. “Cryptography at the Monastery of Deir el-Bachit.” In Honi soit qui mal y pense: Studien zum pharaonischen, griechisch-römischen und spätantiken Ägypten zu Ehren von Heinz-Josef Thissen, edited by Hermann Knuf, Christian Leitz, and Daniel von Recklinghausen. Orientalia Lovaniensia analecta 194. Leuven: Peeters, 2010, 511–517. |
| Editor: | KD, MPS, RBS (23/7/2026) |
How to cite:
[Editor names]. "KYP T7016: Ciphered prayer for grace and joy," Kyprianos Database of Ancient Ritual Texts and Objects, Korshi Dosoo, Markéta Preininger, & Roxanne Bélanger Sarrazin (principal editors), www.coptic-magic.phil.uni-wuerzburg.de/index.php/text/kyp-t-7016. Accessed on 07/10/2026For the "editor names", see the abbreviated names in the field "Editor", and to resolve the abbreviations, see the help page.