Judges 18:30, the letter that hangs in the air
Judges 18:30 reads Manasseh in the Masoretic Text and Moses in the Vulgate. A suspended Hebrew letter distinguishes the names and changes whether the idolatrous priest Jonathan is identified as Moses' grandson.
The APB text at this verse
The manuscripts, editions, and versions
The committee record at this verse
The APB is translated by a committee of language models that works blind. The translators are never told they are translating the Bible, never given a book name or a verse number, and never shown the witnesses listed above. Where the manuscripts disagree, the choice between readings is made before translation by the same kind of translator working the same way: it sees the competing readings and the witnesses by age and class, but never a reference or a manuscript name. There are 14,877 such places. For APB 4.0 every one was decided again in October 2026. GPT-6.1 Sol decided every one first. Claude Fable 5.1, from another model family, decided 2,483 of them second, including every place where the first translator left the base text. A departure from the base text needs both translators to agree and the first to be at least 0.8 confident. There is no third translator, so the base text stands when the two disagree. APB 4.0 is translated over those decisions. Whatever was done at this verse was done on the language and the evidence alone, and the record is public.
The APB committee's printed text reads "Jonathan son of Gershom, son of Manasseh" in Judges 18:30. It therefore prints Manasseh for the disputed name. The verse identifies Jonathan and his sons as priests to the Danite tribe and places their service alongside the setting up of the idol.
The argument for each reading
If Moses
The case for Moses rests on the Vulgate and the letters beneath the suspended nun in the Masoretic Text. The Vulgate reads filii Moysi, son of Moses, and names Moses outright. In the Masoretic form, removing the raised letter leaves משה, Moses. The physical form therefore preserves a visible connection between the two readings. Reading Moses places Jonathan, the priest serving the Danite idol, in Moses' family through Gershom. The stake is the family connection: the account links this priesthood to Moses' grandson.
If Manasseh
The case for Manasseh rests on the form transmitted by the Masoretic Text (Westminster Leningrad Codex). It includes the nun and reads מנשה, Manasseh. The letter's raised position marks it as unusual, but the transmitted name still contains it. Reading Manasseh follows that complete written form and keeps the idolatrous priest out of Moses' family. The suspended letter remains part of the evidence that needs explaining. This reading changes Jonathan's ancestry while retaining the account of his family's service as priests to the Danite tribe.
The suspended nun makes the relationship between the names visible, but its position alone does not settle which reading preceded the other. The disagreement concerns Jonathan's ancestry. Both readings leave him and his sons serving as priests to the Danite tribe in an account of an idol being set up.
Related entries
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 from the sources linked above.