The Incredible Complutensian Polyglot Bible

Mainz, Germany, 1455. Soncino, Italy, 1488. Basel, Switzerland, 1516. These cities and dates mark pivotal moments in the history of biblical philology—the study of Scripture’s linguistic and textual history. Specifically, they mark the first printing or publication of the Latin Bible, the Hebrew Bible, and the Greek New Testament.

Bible ‘firsts’

In Mainz, Johannes Gutenberg, with financial backing by Johannes Fust, produced the first complete printed Bible using moveable type. He used the Latin translation by Jerome whose work had become the standard biblical text of the Roman Catholic Church. The printing of biblical texts in their original languages was only a matter of time.

Just over thirty years after the Gutenberg Bible, Joshua Solomon and printer Abraham ben Hayyim published the first printed Hebrew Bible, titled Biblia Hebraica integra cum punctis et accentibus (“Complete Hebrew Bible with Pointing and Accents”).

Twenty-seven years later, Desiderius Erasmus, in collaboration with printer Johann Froben, produced the Novum Instrumentum omne (“Complete New Testament”), a Greek-Latin diglot that would become a catalyst for the Protestant Reformation. Recognized as the first published Greek text of the New Testament, Erasmus secured exclusive distribution rights from the Holy See.

However, a group of Spanish philologists, under the direction of Archbishop of Toledo Francisco Jiménez de Cisneros, had already beaten Erasmus and Froben to the press. In January 1514, they completed their Greek-Latin New Testament, Novum Testamentum Graece et Latine,¹Novum Testamentum Graece et Latine in Academia Complutensi nouiter impressum. Alcalá de Henares: Arnao Guillén de Brocar, 1514. as part of a much larger endeavor.

This monumental project, the Complutensian Polyglot Bible, consisted of six volumes produced in the city of Alcalá de Henares just northeast of Madrid. It stands as one of the greatest philological achievements of the period, marking a significant milestone in biblical scholarship and textual history.

A library of volumes

The Complutensian Polyglot was printed in six volumes with multiple languages, and various tools to help the serious reader. These are the main contents of each volume:

• Volume 1: Pentateuch
• Volume 2: Historical Books (Joshua–2 Kings)
• Volume 3: Poetic and Wisdom Books (Psalms–Song of Solomon)
• Volume 4: Prophetic Books (Isaiah–Malachi)
• Volume 5: New Testament
• Volume 6: Tools for study

The Old Testament volumes

The first four volumes cover the Old Testament and follow the book order of the Latin Vulgate. These volumes present the Old Testament texts in three parallel columns with the Hebrew Masoretic Text in the outer column, the Latin Vulgate in the center, and the Greek Septuagint (or LXX) with an accompanying original Latin interlinear translation in the inside column. The Latin translation of the Septuagint was an original work created by the Complutensian editors. The LXX reflects many textual expansions, omissions, and lexical shifts that occurred during the 3rd and 2nd centuries BC.

Notably, Volume 1 differs from the others by including an important Aramaic paraphrase of the Torah, Targum Onkelos—another first in printed history. This text appears in a separate section beneath the Hebrew-Vulgate-LXX columns, with Latin in the outer column and the Aramaic in the inner column.

The Latin Vulgate and the Complutensian Latin translation of the LXX exhibit differences. For example, in Genesis 1:1, the Latin of the LXX reads “he made” (fecit), reflecting the LXX, whereas the Vulgate uses “he created” (creavit). Likewise, in Genesis 1:7, the Complutensian LXX text does not include the words “and it happened this way” (καὶ ἐγένετο οὕτως, kai egeneto houtōs), which explains its absence in the corresponding Latin translation (which should read et factum est ita).

The New Testament volume

Volume 5 is arguably the most significant of the six volumes for several reasons:

1. It was the first volume to be completed and printed.
2. It contained the first ever printed Greek text of the New Testament.
3. Cisneros invited Erasmus to collaborate on the project, but Erasmus declined.
4. A prominent scholar in Alcalá de Henares quickly took issue with Erasmus, launching a fierce critique of his Novum Instrumentum omne (and its subsequent editions), arguing that it offered an inferior and dangerous treatment of the Vulgate.

As mentioned, Volume 5 presents the New Testament texts in two columns: Greek (left) and Latin Vulgate (right). Additionally, it includes five dedicatory notes, a list and analysis of proper names—designed to help students locate biblical figures (e.g., tracking Timothy’s appearances of Acts and Paul’s letters)—and a Greek-Latin lexicon, marking the beginning of New Testament lexicography.²Thomas W. Hudgins, “Lexicography, Greek New Testament,” Encyclopedia of the Bible and Its Reception, vol. 16, ed. Christine Helmer et al. (Berlin: De Gruyter, 2018), 438–439. The following are examples of lexical entries:

• Deacon: διάκονος.ου.ὁ.Minister.i.
• Slave: δοῦλος.ου.ὁ.Servus.

Manuscripts for the New Testament

Erasmus, relying almost exclusively on a single manuscript, made minimal editorial revisions and hastily presented his Greek New Testament text to Froben for printing. By contrast, the Complutensian editors claimed to have consulted multiple manuscripts—but did they? The author of the Greek preface claimed that manuscripts were “brought from the Apostolic Library, sent to the Most Revered Lord Cardinal of Spain.” The actual extent of their textual sources remains uncertain, and no definitive evidence confirms the existence of the alleged manuscripts from the Vatican Apostolic Library. What is certain, however, is that these manuscripts—if they ever existed—are no longer preserved in the Vatican. Given this, scholars should reconsider repeating the assertion made in the Greek preface.

Related

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  Erasmus and the Search for the Original Text of the New Testament

  Erasmus’s Greek New Testament was a monumental achievement, but left room for later scholars to improve it.

  Martin Heide

Following the text of Revelation, there are five intriguing dedicatory notes. While it is impossible to determine with certainty who served as editors of the New Testament volume, these dedicatory poems provide valuable clues. Two are written in Greek—the first by Demetrios Doukas and the second by Nicetas Fausto—while three are in Latin, authored by Juan de Vergera, the second by Hernán Núñez, and Bartolomeo de Castro.

It is highly plausible that these individuals comprised the New Testament editorial team, each contributing a dedicatory note in the language corresponding to the section they edited. If this assumption is correct, the order in which the dedicatory notes appear could indicate the ranking of the editorial team, with the most senior editors listed first.³Thomas W. Hudgins, “The Greek New Testament of the Complutensian Polyglot: Vatican Manuscripts and the Gospel of Matthew.” PhD diss., Complutense University of Madrid, 2016. Notably absent is the name Diego López de Zúñiga.

Putting differences on display

One often-overlooked hallmark of the Complutensian Polyglot Bible is the presence of superscript letters accompanying every Greek word. The same superscript letter appears above its corresponding Latin word. Why was this done? The simple answer is that the editors wanted readers to conduct their own comparative study, tracing how the Latin text corresponded—or did not correspond—to the Hebrew and Greek. However, this technique also reflects a broader debate that was already unfolding: Should the Latin text be modified to align more closely with the original languages? The question was theologically loaded: Should the Vulgate be corrected after a millennium of use and dogma? Erasmus thought so and was severely criticized by some for it.

At the heart of this debate was the growing movement to return to the sources (ad fontes) and the question of which texts—the Vulgate or the original languages—held ultimate authority. Erasmus, both a Catholic and a Humanist, made his own controversial decision, not only printing the Greek text but also altering the words of the Vulgate. In contrast, the Spanish editors deliberately chose to preserve the Vulgate as it had been since Jerome. It is likely that Cardinal Cisneros brokered a compromise, allowing the use of superscripts to highlight textual correspondences while ensuring that the Vulgate itself remained unchanged.

Helps for the budding scholar

Finally, there is Volume 6, a crucial companion to the previous volumes. It begins with a Hebrew-Aramaic lexicon for the Old Testament, followed by a corresponding Latin index, allowing users to cross-reference key terms across languages. Additionally, the editors compiled a comprehensive index of proper names, covering Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek (LXX) references, which is likewise followed by a Latin index for easier navigation.

Volume 6—and the Complutensian Polyglot Bible as a whole—concludes with a short Hebrew grammar, authored by Alfonso de Zamora, one of the leading scholars on the project. This grammar was designed to provide foundational linguistic instruction, enabling students and theologians to engage directly with the Hebrew scriptures. Its inclusion reflects the broader humanist commitment to returning to the biblical sources in their original languages (ad fontes), a movement that would shape biblical scholarship for centuries to come.

A monumental achievement

The six-volume Complutensian Polyglot Bible stands as a monumental achievement in biblical scholarship and printing history. It was the first polyglot Bible ever produced, the first time the New Testament was printed (1514), the first printed edition of the LXX (1517), and the first Greek lexicon of the New Testament.

This work epitomizes the ad fontes movement of the 15th and 16th centuries—a defining feature of Renaissance Humanism that sought to return to the original sources of classical antiquity. Within biblical studies, this shift signified a radical turn back to the Holy Scriptures in their original languages.

The editors of the Complutensian Polyglot Bible provided an unprecedented resource for scholars and students of Scripture from the Iberian Peninsula to Catholic priest-missionaries in the New World, enabling them to study the sacred texts with a depth never before possible.

Their rigorous emphasis on grammar and lexicography encouraged readers to engage directly with the biblical languages—to examine individual words, their meanings, and their textual variants. Though they never explicitly challenged the authority of the Vulgate, their work implicitly invited inquiry into cases where the Latin text diverged from the Hebrew and Greek originals.

As a testament to their scholarly foresight, five text-critical marginal notes in the New Testament volume (Matt. 6:13; 1 Cor. 13:3; 15:31; 15:51; and 1 John 5:7–8) provided readers with models for analyzing manuscript evidence—an approach that foreshadowed later developments in textual criticism. The editors likely hoped that such annotations would inspire further examination and debate among scholars and theologians.

Having personally examined multiple surviving copies of the Complutensian Polyglot Bible—from Washington, D.C. to the Vatican, to Peru, and throughout the Iberian Peninsula—it is evident that many were actively used as study tools. Some contain annotations in the margins, interlinear notes, and traces of rigorous engagement with the text. In contrast, today’s copies, preserved in national libraries and museums, are revered as untouchable artifacts. No scholar would dare mark a page with fresh ink. (They better not!)

Conclusion

More than a historical treasure, the Complutensian Polyglot Bible represents the crown of Spanish philology. Its significance stands alongside the great milestones of early printing. To return to our list: Mainz, 1455; Soncino, 1488; Basel, 1516; we must add Alcalá de Henares, 1514–1517. Each of these landmarks in the history of the printed Bible represents a turning point in the transmission of the biblical text. Yet, the Complutensian Polyglot was not merely an edition—it was a statement, a bold declaration that biblical scholarship had entered a new era. And we are forever in the editors’ debt that, by God’s grace, it did.

This article is dedicated to the memory of J. K. Elliott (1943–2024), whose scholarship, generosity, and critical engagement in the study of the New Testament textual criticism set a standard for all who follow. His support and intellectual rigor were invaluable, and his legacy continues to inspire those engaged in this field.

Notes

• 1
  Novum Testamentum Graece et Latine in Academia Complutensi nouiter impressum. Alcalá de Henares: Arnao Guillén de Brocar, 1514.
• 2
  Thomas W. Hudgins, “Lexicography, Greek New Testament,” Encyclopedia of the Bible and Its Reception, vol. 16, ed. Christine Helmer et al. (Berlin: De Gruyter, 2018), 438–439.
• 3
  Thomas W. Hudgins, “The Greek New Testament of the Complutensian Polyglot: Vatican Manuscripts and the Gospel of Matthew.” PhD diss., Complutense University of Madrid, 2016. Notably absent is the name Diego López de Zúñiga.

Thomas W. Hudgins

Thomas (PhD, Complutense University of Madrid) is Associate Professor of New Testament and Greek at Liberty University’s John W. Rawlings School of Divinity. His doctoral research focused on the Greek New Testament of the Complutensian Polyglot Bible. He also serves as Editorial Secretary for the journal Filología Neotestamentaria.