Skip to content
mannafest.faith
Read
Manuscript

Codex Bezae Cantabrigiensis

Also known as Codex Bezae · D (Gregory-Aland) · 05 · Cambridge MS Nn.2.41
great-codicesnew-testamentactstextual-criticism

Summary

Greek on the left page, Latin on the right — and a book of Acts noticeably longer than anyone else's.

  • Copied c. AD 400 (late fourth or fifth century).
  • Written in greek and latin (facing pages) on parchment.
  • Kept at Cambridge University Library (MS Nn.2.41).
  • Contains Matthew, John, Luke.
  • Named in 7 of the places your Bible carries a footnote.
A parchment page of Codex Bezae written in short sense-lines of Greek capitals
Codex Bezae at John 3:26–4:1: Cambridge University Library, public domain

Sources (3)

  1. Cambridge Digital Library, Codex Bezae Cantabrigiensis (MS Nn.2.41) · accessed 2026-08-06The holding institution's own imaging. Link-only; images are never rehosted.
  2. Elijah Hixson, "The Digital Recovery of a Lost Page of Codex Bezae", Cambridge University Library Special Collections, 14 November 2017 · accessed 2026-08-06
  3. Metzger & Ehrman, The Text of the New Testament: Its Transmission, Corruption, and Restoration, 4th ed. (Oxford University Press, 2005) · accessed 2026-08-06The standard handbook of New Testament textual criticism.

What it is

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
Held at
Cambridge University Library (MS Nn.2.41)
Found at
Monastery of St Irenaeus, Lyon; given to Cambridge in 1581
Contains
Matthew · John · Luke · Mark · Acts · 3 John (fragment)
Why it matters
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

The words used here: uncial
uncial
a book hand of Greek capital letters, used for the oldest whole Bibles.

The KJV and the ASV translate the Hebrew Masoretic Text. Where Codex Bezae Cantabrigiensis reads differently, the footnote in your Bible is pointing here.

Where the manuscripts differ, all 15 places →Every handwritten copy, shelved and in date order →