D or 05 in the Gregory-Aland list.
Usually dated to the late fourth or early fifth century.
Greek and Latin in facing columns.
Cambridge University Library, Nn.II.41.
The Greek left page faces the Latin right page in short, line-matched sense units.
I. A Bilingual Codex
Codex Bezae is arranged as a true diglot. Each opening presents Greek on the left-hand page and Latin on the right, with the two languages laid out in short sense-lines that correspond line for line. This format was designed not merely for display but for study: a reader could move quickly between the original and its translation, comparing vocabulary and syntax. The Latin column preserves an Old Latin text older than Jerome's Vulgate, making the codex doubly important for the history of the Bible in the West.
The manuscript contains the four Gospels in the Western order Matthew, John, Luke, Mark, followed by Acts and a small fragment of 3 John. It once also included the Catholic and Pauline epistles, but those leaves have disappeared except for a few fragments. The unusual Gospel order, with John placed second, is attested in other Western sources and suggests that the codex was produced in a milieu where liturgical and catechetical considerations shaped the canon sequence.
"Codex Bezae is the most important witness to the Western text of the Gospels and Acts.", David C. Parker, Codex Bezae: Studies in the Text of the Greek Bible
II. History and Provenance
The codex was probably copied in the Latin-speaking West, perhaps in southern Gaul, during the decades around 400 CE. Its bilingual character points to a Christian community in which Greek was still cultivated alongside Latin. By the ninth century it had reached the monastery of Saint-Irénée in Lyon, as a note on the manuscript records. During the Wars of Religion in 1562, the manuscript was plundered and taken to Geneva, then to the library of Théodore de Bèze, the Protestant theologian and successor of Calvin. Bèze presented it to the University of Cambridge in 1581, where it remains.
The manuscript's modern name comes from Bèze's Latinized name, Beza. Its adventures mirror the larger story of the Greek Bible text in Europe: copied in late antiquity, sheltered by monasteries, displaced by war, rescued by Reformers, and finally deposited in a university library where scholars could study it without interruption.
III. The Western Text-type
Textual critics use Codex Bezae as the flagship Greek witness of the Western text-type. This label is partly geographical and partly stylistic. Western readings are marked by expansion, harmonization, and explanatory addition. Where the Alexandrian text tends to be shorter and harder, the Western text tends to be fuller and smoother in its own way, often supplying details that clarify the narrative.
The Western text is especially powerful in Acts. Codex Bezae's version of Acts is roughly one-eighth longer than the Alexandrian text represented by Vaticanus. The additional material is not random. It often heightens the role of the Holy Spirit, sharpens speeches, or supplies names and places. Whether these additions preserve authentic Lucan material or represent later embellishment is one of the longest-running debates in Greek Bible textual criticism.
IV. Peculiar Readings and Scholarly Debate
Codex Bezae is famous for readings found nowhere else in Greek. In Matthew 1:16 it identifies Joseph as the son of Jacob "to whom Mary the virgin was betrothed." In Luke 6:5 it includes the so-called "angry Jesus" pericope, in which Jesus heals on the Sabbath and asks whether it is better to save life or destroy it. In Acts it expands Stephen's speech and adds details to Paul's travels. These readings are supported at times by Old Latin, Syriac, and other versional evidence, suggesting that the Western text had a wide circulation in the earliest centuries.
Scholars disagree about how to evaluate such readings. Some, following the priority of the Alexandrian text, regard them as secondary expansions. Others argue that the Western text sometimes preserves authentic details that were accidentally omitted or deliberately simplified in the Egyptian tradition. The debate matters for more than technical textual criticism: it touches the question of how the early congregation remembered and retold the story of Jesus and the apostles.
| Passage | Codex Bezae Reading | Scholarly Note |
|---|---|---|
| Matthew 1:16 | Joseph, to whom Mary the virgin was betrothed | Clarifies relationship. Supported by Old Latin |
| Luke 6:5 | Additional Sabbath-healing saying | Known as the "angry Jesus" pericope |
| Acts | Expansions to speeches and travel narrative | About 8% longer than Alexandrian text |
| Mark 1:41 | Jesus moved with compassion (not anger) | Bezae reads "compassion," some witnesses "anger" |
V. Significance and Access
Codex Bezae is indispensable for anyone studying the Western text, the Old Latin Gospels, or the bilingual culture of early Western Christianity. It demonstrates that the Greek Bible was transmitted not in one uniform stream but in several regional traditions, each with its own scribal habits and theological accents. The manuscript is available for scholarly consultation at Cambridge Digital Library, which provides high-resolution images of the entire codex.
Even when modern editions prefer Alexandrian readings, they record Codex Bezae's variants in the critical apparatus. Those variants are evidence of how the Gospels and Acts were read, preached, and copied in the Latin West long before the Middle Ages. They are part of the manuscript chorus that modern critics must hear.