Manuscript
Codex Bezae Cantabrigiensis
Also known as Codex Bezae · D (Gregory-Aland) · 05 · Cambridge MS Nn.2.41
Greek on the left page, Latin on the right — and a book of Acts noticeably longer than anyone else's.
great-codicesnew-testamentactstextual-criticism
Overview
Codex Bezae Cantabrigiensis(c. AD 400 (late fourth or fifth century))— Monastery of St Irenaeus, Lyon; given to Cambridge in 1581
Four hundred and six parchment leaves survive of perhaps five hundred and thirty-four, carrying the four Gospels, Acts, and a fragment of 3 John, with the Greek and Latin facing each other page by page.
Its Acts is the striking thing. Where other manuscripts have one sentence, Bezae often has two, with extra names, extra travel details, extra speeches — running roughly a tenth longer overall.
It sat for centuries at the monastery of St Irenaeus in Lyon, came to Theodore Beza in 1562, and was given to the University of Cambridge in 1581.
Manuscript Details
- Date
- c. AD 400 (late fourth or fifth century)
- Language
- Greek and Latin (facing pages)
- Script
- Uncial (majuscule)
- Material
- Parchment
- Current location
- Cambridge University Library (MS Nn.2.41)
- Discovery location
- Monastery of St Irenaeus, Lyon; given to Cambridge in 1581
- Contains books
- Matthew · John · Luke · Mark · Acts · 3 John (fragment)
- Tags
- great-codices · new-testament · acts · textual-criticism
Significance
The clearest surviving case of a New Testament book circulating in two shapes. Bezae is the main witness to what scholars call the Western text, and its longer Acts forces the honest question of how much a book could vary — and, just as honestly, shows that the variation is in detail and expansion, not in a different story.
Where this witness is read
Codex Bezae Cantabrigiensis is one of the manuscripts named in the places your Bible carries a footnote. Each passage below shows what this witness reads and the case each way.
- Mark 16:9-20The Ending of MarkCodex Bezae (D) (5th century) reads: Contains the long ending, in both its Greek and its Latin columns.
- John 7:53 - 8:11The Woman Caught in AdulteryCodex Bezae (D) (5th century) reads: Contains the passage in its familiar place after John 7:52. This is the earliest surviving Greek manuscript that has it.
- Matthew 6:13"For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory"The earliest Greek manuscripts, including Codex Sinaiticus, Codex Vaticanus, and Codex Bezae (4th–5th centuries) reads: The prayer ends at "deliver us from evil."
- Luke 22:43-44The angel in Gethsemane and the sweat like drops of bloodCodex Bezae and Old Latin manuscripts (5th century and later, reflecting an older Western text) reads: The verses in full.
- John 5:4The angel who troubled the water at BethesdaCodex Sinaiticus, Codex Vaticanus, and Codex Bezae (4th–5th centuries) reads: Also without the explanation.
- Mark 1:41Compassion or anger? Jesus and the leperCodex Bezae and a small group of Old Latin manuscripts (5th century and later, reflecting an older Western text) reads: *orgistheis* — "moved with anger" or "indignant."
- Romans 8:1"No condemnation" — with a condition, or without one?Codex Bezae, original hand (5th century) reads: Also the short form.