Joshua 21:36-37 — two verses on the edge of the text
They are missing because Reading B omits the two verses, while Reading A has them standing in the city list. The difference affects Reuben’s four cities and the total of forty-eight.
What the APB prints.
Every witness, on the record.
What a blind committee did here.
The APB's translation committee works blind: it is never told it is translating the Bible, never given a book name or a verse number, and it never sees the witnesses above. Whatever it did at this verse, it did on the language alone — and its record is public.
The displayed APB text includes Joshua 21:36 and Joshua 21:37 as part of the list. For verse 36 it reads, "From the tribe of Reuben they gave Bezer and its pasture, and Jahaz and its pasture." Verse 37 then supplies Kedemoth and Mephaath and identifies the group as four cities.
The case for each reading.
If the verses belong
Reading A is represented by the Masoretic Text in the Westminster Leningrad Codex, which carries both verses. Its text at Joshua 21:36 begins וממטה ראובן את בצר, and the supplied translation lists Bezer and Jahaz in verse 36, followed by Kedemoth and Mephaath in verse 37. Together these are identified as Reuben’s four Levitical cities. The packet also states that the count of forty-eight cities needs these verses. On this reading, the city list includes the two-verse Reuben entry and its four-city total. That is a concrete advantage for the internal arithmetic, while the packet does not settle the wider textual question.
If the omission is original
Reading B is represented by Masoretic manuscripts described as part of the tradition. This branch omits both verses, following a Masoretic note. Its evidence therefore presents an actual omission rather than merely a different wording within the two verses. The packet is candid about the consequence: without the verses, the city arithmetic breaks. Still, the existence of this Masoretic branch means the omission must be considered as its own reading. The supplied information does not explain the Masoretic note or establish why this branch lacks the verses. It records the omission and its numerical consequence, without deciding between the two readings.
The packet leaves uncertain why one branch of Masoretic manuscripts omits the verses and why the Westminster Leningrad Codex retains them. What is clear in the supplied material is the effect on the Levitical city list: the two verses supply four Reuben cities, and the total of forty-eight needs them. The question is limited to these two verses and the list’s arithmetic; the packet supplies no basis for broader conclusions.
Asked plainly.
Why do some Hebrew Bibles omit Joshua 21:36-37?
A branch of Masoretic manuscripts, following a Masoretic note, omits both verses. The Westminster Leningrad Codex carries them.
What cities do the disputed verses list?
The supplied APB text lists Bezer and Jahaz in Joshua 21:36, then Kedemoth and Mephaath in Joshua 21:37—four cities from Reuben.
What changes if the verses are omitted?
The Reuben entry of four Levitical cities is absent, and the packet states that the city arithmetic breaks without the verses.
More places where the manuscripts argue.
Witness readings for critical editions are quoted from the SBLGNT apparatus (CC BY 4.0); Hebrew text from the Westminster Leningrad Codex (Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible). Readings of ancient manuscripts and versions are cited as published scholarly fact with their sources linked above. Nothing on this page declares a winner — the evidence is the point.
Weigh it yourself.
The registry doesn't tell you which reading is true. It puts every witness on one page, shows what a blind committee did with the same language, and leaves the verdict where it belongs — with the reader.