Codex Alexandrinus

Codex Alexandrinus, or A, is an early fifth century biblical manuscript kept at the British Library in London. The language of the text is in koine Greek. It is the principle source of Revelation as it appears in modern Bible translations. The codex also has an excellent version of Isaiah. The Greek version of the Old Testament, called the Septuagint, is significant as a source of various New Testament quotes and allusions.

In 1627, the patriarch of Constantinople presented the manuscript to King Charles I of England. Beginning with Wettstein in 1730, scholars noticed that the text of Alexandrinus was older than that of Textus Receptus, the standard Greek text of the time, and significantly different from it. Textus Receptus is the source text used by the translators of the King James Version. The text of Alexandrinus was published in 1786 by Carl Gottfried Woide.