Bible Synapse
Codex Bezae
Manuscript · c. AD 400 · Bible manuscripts · also called Codex Bezae Cantabrigiensis
See it on the map and timeline
- Date
- c. AD 400 (the copying (an estimate from the handwriting))
- Found
- Monastery of St Irenaeus, Lyon, France, 1581. Probably kept at the monastery of St Irenaeus in Lyon from the 9th century. It was apparently taken to the Council of Trent in 1546, came to the Reformer Theodore Beza after Lyon was sacked in the wars of religion, and was given by him to Cambridge University in 1581.
- Now
- Cambridge University Library, Cambridge (MS Nn.2.41)
- Passages
- John 7:53 – John 8:11, Mark 16:9–20, Luke 6:1–5, Acts 12:10
What it is
A manuscript of the Gospels and Acts with the Greek text on each left-hand page and a Latin version facing it on the right. It holds the Gospels in the order Matthew, John, Luke, Mark, then a page of 3 John in Latin and the Acts of the Apostles; only Luke is complete. One scribe, trained mainly to copy Latin, wrote it.
How it connects to the Bible
It is the oldest manuscript to contain the story of the woman taken in adultery (John 7:53–8:11), and the oldest to contain the longer ending of Mark, though only verses 9–15 survive in the original hand. Its text often differs from other manuscripts: after Luke 6:4 it tells of Jesus seeing a man working on the sabbath, a story found nowhere else, and its Acts is nearly 8% longer than usual, adding for example that Peter and the angel went down seven steps (Acts 12:10).
What scholars debate
Where it was made is unknown; southern France, North Africa, Egypt, Palestine and Beirut have all been proposed.