Opened · Evidence
Manuscripts
How we know what the Bible’s authors wrote.
The Bible was copied by hand for centuries, and thousands of copies survive. Comparing them lets scholars see what was written and where the copies differ. Where early copies differ, Opened says so in the reader. Here are the key manuscripts, and every such place.
How We Know
5,800+
Greek New Testament manuscripts
Over 5,800 are catalogued, from scraps to whole Bibles. Many are fragments and most are medieval, but no other ancient book survives in nearly as many copies.
100–200 years
From writing to the first full copies
For the Gospels and Paul’s main letters, the earliest copies of any length date from about 100 to 200 years after they were written. For most classical Greek and Latin authors the gap is many centuries.
1,000 years
Older Old Testament copies
The Dead Sea Scrolls took our oldest Hebrew copies of most Old Testament books back by about a thousand years, and showed how carefully the text had been handed down.
Mostly minor
How copies differ
Counting every difference in every copy, variants run to hundreds of thousands. Most are spelling, word order or slips of the pen that make no difference to the meaning. A small share affect the meaning, and fewer still are both meaningful and hard to decide.
In the open
Doubts are in your Bible
Where the wording is uncertain, modern translations say so in footnotes, and Opened marks those places in the reader. Scholars of different views generally agree that they don’t change the central teachings of the faith, though some affect how particular verses read.
Open questions
What scholars still debate
How early some papyri are (dates from handwriting can span a century or more); whether we can recover the authors’ exact words or the earliest text that can be traced; and how to weigh the Hebrew text, the Dead Sea Scrolls and the Septuagint where they differ.
Claims to Avoid
- “The Bible has been copied without a single change.” Copies differ; the evidence lets scholars see where, and usually why.
- “We have first-century copies of the Gospels.” No claim has held up: a fragment of Mark announced as first-century was published in 2018 and dated to the late 2nd or early 3rd century.
- “The number of manuscripts proves the text is accurate.” Numbers help, but what matters is how old the copies are, how good, and how they agree.
From the Oldest Copies to Erasmus
The key manuscripts in date order, about 2,100 years from the oldest to the first printed Greek New Testament. Dates are approximate.
Key Manuscripts
Old Testament6
The Hebrew Scriptures, from silver amulets and the Dead Sea Scrolls to the great medieval codices.
- AmuletLate 7th or early 6th century BC
Ketef Hinnom silver amulets
Two tiny rolled silver sheets inscribed with a form of the priestly blessing, “The LORD bless you and keep you…”.
- Language
- Hebrew, in the old Hebrew script
- Found
- A burial cave at Ketef Hinnom, Jerusalem, 1979
- Now
- Israel Museum, Jerusalem
Why it matters
The oldest known text of words that are also in the Bible, from before the Babylonian exile.
Limits and debates
They are amulets, not copies of a biblical book, and their wording is shorter than Numbers. A minority of scholars date them later.
- Collectionc. 250 BC – AD 68
Dead Sea Scrolls
Remains of over 900 scrolls, more than 200 of them copies of books of the Hebrew Bible. Every book except Esther is represented, most only by fragments.
- Language
- Hebrew, Aramaic and some Greek
- Found
- Eleven caves near Qumran, by the Dead Sea, 1947–56
- Now
- Mostly the Israel Museum (Shrine of the Book) and the Israel Antiquities Authority, Jerusalem; some in the Jordan Museum, Amman
Why it matters
They took our oldest copies of most Old Testament books back by about a thousand years. Many agree closely with the standard Hebrew text copied centuries later, which shows how carefully it was handed down.
Limits and debates
They also show that some books circulated in more than one form: some scrolls side with the Septuagint or the Samaritan Pentateuch instead (a shorter Jeremiah, for example). And since 2002 many fragments sold on the antiquities market have proved to be modern forgeries; in 2020 the Museum of the Bible in Washington found that all 16 of its fragments were fake.
- Scrollc. 125 BC
Great Isaiah Scroll
1QIsaᵃ
All 66 chapters of Isaiah, on 17 sheets of leather sewn into a scroll about 7.3 metres long.
- Language
- Hebrew
- Found
- Qumran Cave 1, 1947
- Now
- Shrine of the Book, Israel Museum, Jerusalem
Why it matters
The oldest complete copy of a book of the Bible. Set beside Hebrew manuscripts a thousand years younger, it reads the same in most verses; most differences are in spelling.
Limits and debates
It has many small differences in wording too. A few are readings that modern translations adopt, such as “he will see light” in Isaiah 53:11, which the Septuagint also has.
- Papyrus2nd or 1st century BC
Nash Papyrus
The Ten Commandments, mixing the wording of Exodus 20 and Deuteronomy 5, followed by the Shema: “Hear, O Israel…”.
- Language
- Hebrew
- Found
- Egypt; acquired by W. L. Nash and published in 1903
- Now
- Cambridge University Library
Why it matters
Until the Dead Sea Scrolls were found, it was the oldest known manuscript of any part of the Hebrew Bible.
Limits and debates
A single sheet, probably for prayer or teaching rather than a copy of a biblical book. Its date rests on the style of the handwriting.
- Codexc. AD 930
Aleppo Codex
The Hebrew Bible with the vowel signs, accents and notes of the Masoretes, the scribes who guarded the text. About 60% of it survives.
- Language
- Hebrew
- Found
- Written in Tiberias; kept for centuries in the synagogue of Aleppo, Syria; brought to Israel in 1958
- Now
- Shrine of the Book, Israel Museum, Jerusalem
Why it matters
The most carefully corrected manuscript of the standard Hebrew text, traditionally linked with the scribe Aaron ben Asher. The philosopher Maimonides praised it as a model copy.
Limits and debates
Nearly all of the Five Books of Moses and other parts were lost after riots in Aleppo in 1947. What became of the missing leaves is still unclear.
- CodexAD 1008
Leningrad Codex
The whole Hebrew Bible with vowels, accents and the Masoretes’ notes: the oldest complete copy that survives.
- Language
- Hebrew
- Found
- Copied in Cairo; collected by Abraham Firkovich in the 19th century
- Now
- National Library of Russia, St Petersburg
Why it matters
The base text of the standard scholarly editions of the Hebrew Bible (Biblia Hebraica), from which most modern translations of the Old Testament start.
Limits and debates
It was copied over a thousand years after the last Old Testament books were written, so translators also weigh the Dead Sea Scrolls, the Septuagint and other ancient witnesses.
New Testament11
Greek papyri from Egypt and the great codices of the 4th and 5th centuries.
- Papyrusc. AD 125–175 (debated)
P52
Rylands Library Papyrus P52
A scrap about the size of a credit card from a book (not a scroll), with parts of John 18:31–33 on one side and 18:37–38 on the other.
- Language
- Greek
- Found
- Egypt; bought in 1920, identified in 1934
- Now
- John Rylands Library, Manchester
Why it matters
Often called the oldest surviving piece of the New Testament. If the usual date is right, John’s Gospel was being copied and read in Egypt within a few decades of being written.
Limits and debates
Dates from handwriting are approximate, and some scholars allow a date around AD 200 or later. It holds only parts of a few verses.
- Papyrusc. AD 200
P46
Chester Beatty Papyrus II
86 leaves of a book of Paul’s letters, including Romans, Hebrews, 1 and 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians and 1 Thessalonians.
- Language
- Greek
- Found
- Egypt; bought in the early 1930s
- Now
- Chester Beatty, Dublin, and the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
Why it matters
The oldest surviving collection of Paul’s letters, copied about 150 years after he wrote them. It places Hebrews among Paul’s letters, as many early Christians did.
Limits and debates
Leaves are missing at both ends, so we can’t be sure what else it held. Most date it to about AD 200, some a little earlier or later. Like every copy, it has its own slips and corrections.
- Papyrusc. AD 200 (debated)
P66
Papyrus Bodmer II
Most of John’s Gospel: chapters 1–14 almost complete, with fragments of the rest.
- Language
- Greek
- Found
- Egypt; acquired by Martin Bodmer in the 1950s
- Now
- Bodmer Foundation, Cologny (Geneva)
Why it matters
One of the oldest substantial copies of a Gospel. Its many corrections show a scribe checking his work: a window on how copying was done.
Limits and debates
Estimates of its date range from the 2nd century to the 4th, most around AD 200. It doesn’t contain John 7:53–8:11.
- Papyrusc. AD 175–225 (debated)
P75
Papyrus Bodmer XIV–XV
Large parts of Luke and John in one book.
- Language
- Greek
- Found
- Egypt; acquired by Martin Bodmer in the 1950s
- Now
- Vatican Library, Rome (given in 2007)
Why it matters
Its text is remarkably close to Codex Vaticanus, copied over a century later. That showed that the kind of text in Vaticanus was not a late revision but already existed around AD 200.
Limits and debates
Its date is debated. Agreement with Vaticanus shows careful copying of one form of the text, not by itself that every word is original.
- Collection2nd–4th centuries AD
Chester Beatty biblical papyri
Early books (codices) of the Greek Bible, among them P45 (the four Gospels and Acts), P46 (Paul’s letters) and P47 (Revelation), with Old Testament books in the Septuagint.
- Language
- Greek
- Found
- Egypt; bought by Alfred Chester Beatty and the University of Michigan, 1930–31
- Now
- Chester Beatty, Dublin, with some leaves at the University of Michigan
Why it matters
P45 is one of the oldest books to hold all four Gospels and Acts together, evidence that Christians were gathering the Gospels into one volume by the 3rd century.
Limits and debates
Most of the leaves are damaged or fragmentary, and exactly where in Egypt they were found is unknown.
- Collection2nd–7th centuries AD
Bodmer papyri
A large find of early books, among them P66 (John), P75 (Luke and John) and P72, the oldest copy of Jude and 1 and 2 Peter.
- Language
- Greek and Coptic
- Found
- Upper Egypt; bought by Martin Bodmer in the 1950s
- Now
- Bodmer Foundation, Cologny (Geneva); P75 at the Vatican Library
Why it matters
Some of the oldest and fullest copies of New Testament books, showing the text as it was read in Egypt around AD 200–300.
Limits and debates
How and exactly where they were found is unclear, and the dates of several are debated.
- Codexc. AD 300–350
Codex Vaticanus
Vat. gr. 1209 · B
Most of the Greek Old Testament and the New Testament as far as Hebrews 9:14. The rest of Hebrews, 1 and 2 Timothy, Titus, Philemon and Revelation are lost.
- Language
- Greek
- Found
- In the Vatican Library since at least the 15th century
- Now
- Vatican Library, Rome
Why it matters
Probably the oldest nearly complete Bible, highly valued by editors for its careful text, which closely matches P75 from about a century earlier.
Limits and debates
Its last part is lost. It ends Mark at 16:8 but leaves a blank column, which some think shows the scribe knew of a longer ending.
- Codexc. AD 350
Codex Sinaiticus
א (Aleph)
Originally the whole Bible in Greek. Large parts of the Old Testament survive, with the whole New Testament, the Letter of Barnabas and part of the Shepherd of Hermas.
- Language
- Greek
- Found
- St Catherine’s Monastery, Sinai; taken to Europe by Constantin von Tischendorf in 1844 and 1859; more leaves found at the monastery in 1975
- Now
- British Library, London (most of it), with parts in Leipzig, St Petersburg and at St Catherine’s; the whole is online
Why it matters
The oldest complete New Testament, and one of the two most important early copies of the Greek Bible. Thousands of corrections by later hands show how the text was checked over the centuries.
Limits and debates
Like Vaticanus, it ends Mark at 16:8 and lacks John 7:53–8:11. How it left the monastery in 1859 is still disputed.
- Codexc. AD 400
Codex Bezae
D
The Gospels, in the order Matthew, John, Luke, Mark, and Acts, with a scrap of 3 John in Latin.
- Language
- Greek and Latin, on facing pages
- Found
- Given to Cambridge University by the reformer Theodore Beza in 1581
- Now
- Cambridge University Library
Why it matters
The chief witness to the “Western” text, with many striking differences: its Acts is noticeably longer, and in Luke 6 it has a saying of Jesus to a man working on the Sabbath that no other manuscript has.
Limits and debates
Most scholars think its additions are not original, though some may preserve early traditions.
- CodexLate 4th or 5th century AD
Codex Washingtonianus
The Freer Gospels · W
The four Gospels, in the order Matthew, John, Luke, Mark.
- Language
- Greek
- Found
- Bought in Egypt by Charles Lang Freer in 1906
- Now
- Freer Gallery of Art (National Museum of Asian Art), Smithsonian, Washington DC
Why it matters
One of the oldest Gospel books, with a text that changes character from book to book. It is the only Greek manuscript with an extra saying of Jesus after Mark 16:14, the “Freer Logion”.
Limits and debates
Its mixed text shows it was copied from several sources; the Freer Logion is generally agreed not to be original.
- Codexc. AD 400–450
Codex Alexandrinus
A
Nearly the whole Greek Bible, with 1 and 2 Clement. Most of Matthew and parts of John and 2 Corinthians are lost.
- Language
- Greek
- Found
- Given to King Charles I of England in 1627 by Cyril Lucaris, Patriarch of Constantinople
- Now
- British Library, London
Why it matters
In the Gospels it is the oldest good example of the Byzantine text, the form that most later manuscripts and the King James Version follow; in the other books it is closer to the older text of Sinaiticus and Vaticanus.
Limits and debates
Leaves are missing, and its Gospels are generally thought to preserve a later form of the text than Sinaiticus and Vaticanus.
Translations and Printed Editions3
How the text travelled into Greek and Latin, and into print.
- Translation3rd–1st centuries BC
The Septuagint
LXX
A Greek translation of the Hebrew Scriptures, begun with the Law in Alexandria, with some further books that the Hebrew Bible doesn’t include (part of the Old Testament in Catholic and Orthodox Bibles; Protestants call them the Apocrypha).
- Language
- Greek
- Found
- Translated in Egypt; known from fragments of the 2nd century BC onwards, and complete in Codex Vaticanus, Codex Sinaiticus and Codex Alexandrinus
- Now
- In many manuscripts, above all the great codices in Rome and London
Why it matters
The Bible of Greek-speaking Jews and of the first churches; the New Testament often quotes it. Where it differs from the later Hebrew text, the Dead Sea Scrolls sometimes show it was translating a different Hebrew original.
Limits and debates
It is a translation, so recovering the Hebrew behind it takes judgement, and its books range from very literal to free. The story that 72 translators made it in 72 days (the Letter of Aristeas) is legendary.
- Translationc. AD 382–405
The Latin Vulgate
Jerome’s Latin Bible: a revision of the Latin Gospels and a fresh translation of most of the Old Testament from the Hebrew. Other books were revised by others, or kept from older Latin versions.
- Language
- Latin
- Found
- Made in Rome and Bethlehem. The oldest complete copy, the Codex Amiatinus, was written in north-east England about AD 700
- Now
- Thousands of manuscripts; the Codex Amiatinus is in the Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana, Florence
Why it matters
The Bible of the Western church for over a thousand years, and an early witness to the Hebrew and Greek texts Jerome worked from.
Limits and debates
Centuries of copying changed its text, so medieval copies differ from one another. Jerome probably didn’t revise the whole New Testament himself.
- Printed edition1516 (first edition)
Erasmus’s Greek New Testament
The Textus Receptus
The first published printed Greek New Testament. Later editions by Erasmus, Stephanus and Beza came to be called the Textus Receptus, “the received text”, after a phrase in a 1633 edition.
- Language
- Greek, with Erasmus’s Latin
- Found
- Printed by Johann Froben in Basel
- Now
- Copies in many libraries
Why it matters
The Greek text behind the Reformation translations of Luther, Tyndale and the King James Version.
Limits and debates
Erasmus worked quickly from a handful of late medieval manuscripts. For the last verses of Revelation, missing from his copy, he translated from Latin back into Greek, and he added the longer wording of 1 John 5:7–8 in his third edition (1522). The far older manuscripts found since are why modern translations sometimes differ from the KJV.
Where Copies Differ
10 passages that every translation prints, at least in a footnote, but that raise a manuscript question, and 16 verses that aren’t in the earliest manuscripts. The BSB and most modern translations leave those verses out or put them in a footnote; the KJV and other translations made from later manuscripts include them. Most repeat words found elsewhere, shown under “Compare”.
Matthew
The ending of the Lord’s Prayer
The closing words “For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.” aren’t in the earliest manuscripts of Matthew, so most modern translations put them in a footnote. Christians were already ending the prayer with similar words early on: a shorter form appears in the Didache, an early Christian manual, and the words probably came into Matthew from worship.
Not in the earliest manuscripts
Mark
“The Son of God” in Mark 1:1
Most manuscripts read “the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God”, but a few early ones, including the original hand of Codex Sinaiticus, don’t have “the Son of God”. Scholars are divided over whether the words were added or accidentally dropped. Mark calls Jesus the Son of God elsewhere either way (1:11; 15:39).
The ending of Mark
The two earliest complete manuscripts of Mark, from the 4th century, end at 16:8. Most later manuscripts include verses 9–20, and translations print them, usually with a note. What these verses report is also told in the other Gospels and Acts.
Not in the earliest manuscripts
Luke
The angel and the sweat like drops of blood
Verses 43–44 are missing from several of the earliest manuscripts, including P75 and Codex Vaticanus, but present in others, including the original hand of Codex Sinaiticus, and writers of the 2nd century already knew them. Scholars are divided over whether Luke wrote them; many translations print them in brackets or with a note.
“Father, forgive them”
Jesus’ prayer “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do” is missing from some important early manuscripts, including P75 and Codex Vaticanus, but present in many others, including Codex Sinaiticus. Scholars are divided over whether it was part of Luke’s Gospel from the start or a true early memory of Jesus written in later; most translations print it, with a note.
Not in the earliest manuscripts
John
“The only Son” or “the only God”
Where many translations read “the only begotten Son” (or “the one and only Son”), the earliest manuscripts, including P66 and P75, read “the only begotten God” (or “the one and only God”). Most later manuscripts read “Son”. Translations differ over which is original; both readings present Jesus as uniquely from the Father, and the chapter has already called the Word God (1:1).
The woman caught in adultery
This account (7:53–8:11) isn't in the earliest manuscripts of John, and some later ones place it elsewhere. Many scholars think it is a true early story about Jesus that was kept by the church and later written into John.
Not in the earliest manuscripts
Acts
“The church of God” or “of the Lord”
Manuscripts differ between “the church of God, which he purchased with his own blood” and “the church of the Lord…”. Early manuscripts are divided; Codex Sinaiticus and Codex Vaticanus read “of God”, and most modern translations follow them. The last words can also be read as “with the blood of his own”, meaning his own Son, which some translations give in a note.
Not in the earliest manuscripts
Romans
Not in the earliest manuscripts
1 Timothy
“God was manifest in the flesh”
The KJV reads “God was manifest in the flesh”; most modern translations read “He appeared in the flesh” or similar. In Greek manuscripts the two readings differ by a stroke or two (ΘΣ, the usual short form of “God”, and ΟΣ, “who”), and the earliest manuscripts support “who”. The verse speaks of Christ either way.
1 John
The longer wording in the KJV
The KJV adds “in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one.” That wording appears in only a few late Greek manuscripts and isn't in the earliest ones. The church's teaching on the Trinity was settled centuries earlier from the rest of Scripture, not from this verse.
Drafted with Opened AI and awaiting review by Opened’s textual and apologetics advisors. Dates are those most specialists give; where they are debated, the card says so.