Judges 18:30 — the letter that hangs in the air
Judges 18:30 is transmitted with grandson of Moses in one reading and grandson of Manasseh in another. The Hebrew form of Manasseh carries a suspended nun that leaves Moses visible beneath it.
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 committee record supplies no rationale note for this crux and gives the pericope audit verdict “clean.” Its printed text has Jonathan as son of Gershom, son of Manasseh, serving as priest to the tribe of the Danites.
The case for each reading.
If Moses
Reading A identifies Jonathan as the descendant of Moses. Its listed support is Vg, dated c. A.D. 400, which reads filii Moysi. That wording names Moses directly rather than Manasseh. In the Hebrew contrast presented here, the underlying form is משה. The case therefore rests on a versional witness whose wording preserves Moses in the genealogical sequence: Jonathan son of Gershom son of Moses. It also makes the disputed name correspond to the form visible if the added-looking letter in the other Hebrew form is not counted. The packet does not supply a rationale for why Vg has this wording, so the evidence establishes the reading's presence rather than its cause.
If Manasseh
Reading B identifies Jonathan as the descendant of Manasseh. The Masoretic Text in the Westminster Leningrad Codex, a codex A.D. 1008 with a tradition centuries older, reads מנשה. Its distinctive feature is the suspended nun: the letter is written above the line, producing Manasseh while leaving the letters of משה visible below. The Hebrew verse text supplied for the WLC accordingly says Jonathan son of Gershom son of Manasseh. This reading has a concrete scribal form in the manuscript tradition, not merely a different translation. The packet describes the nun as visibly inserted to keep an idolatrous priest out of Moses' family, while leaving open how that form should be evaluated.
The packet documents two transmitted names and a visibly suspended letter, but does not resolve why the forms differ. The variant changes the named ancestor in Jonathan's genealogy. No doctrine is decided here; doctrines rest on many passages, and the packet provides no wider doctrinal claim.
Asked plainly.
Does Judges 18:30 say Moses or Manasseh?
Both readings are represented in the packet. Vg reads Moses, while the WLC reads Manasseh with a suspended nun.
What is the suspended nun in Judges 18:30?
In the WLC, the nun of מנשה is written above the line. Removing that hanging letter leaves משה.
What does the APB print at Judges 18:30?
The APB prints Jonathan son of Gershom son of Manasseh and says that he and his sons served as priests to the tribe of the Danites.
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.