Not necessarily. In some languages, a line above can indicate that they are to be numbers. We have no evidence that this copyist was not following that tradition. Remember, he was copying, it did not have to be his tradition, so the use of the line need not be consistent with nomina sacra use elsewhere. If this is the case that it is a word, then one copy or the other is a deliberate alteration for theological reasons. Either, 666 is a theological variant, or this "word" is. It now becomes a question of which to accept. My Abraham story argues for the 666, the date argues for the word. How does the word "arithmos" in the passage apply if this is not a number?
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