Psalm 145:13, the acrostic's missing line
The nun line is missing in the received Hebrew text because it preserves reading B, מ → ס (), while other witnesses preserve reading A, נאמן אלוהים בדבריו. The question is whether the alphabetic gap belongs to the psalm.
The APB text at this verse
The manuscripts, editions, and versions
The committee record at this verse
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. Since revision 3.5, the places where the manuscripts disagree are decided before translation by three readers, Grok 4.3, GPT-6 Astra, and Claude Fable 5.1, who see the readings and the witnesses by age and class but never a reference or a manuscript name. Whatever was done at this verse was done on the language and the evidence alone, and the record is public.
“The base text reads ודור׃. The copies also carry ודור׃ נאמן יהוה בכל דבריו וחסיד בכל־מעשיו [hebrew manuscript attestation; early hebrew scroll; ancient greek version]; the committee kept the base text. External evidence favors ודור׃ נאמן יהוה בכל דבריו וחסיד בכל־מעשיו because of its earlier and more diverse witnesses, yet internal evidence favors ודור׃ as the lectio brevior that accounts for the expansion. The balance is close, hence the moderate confidence.”
For release apb_v3_5, the blind committee kept the base text at this crux, and the committee’s printed Psalm 145:13 contains the kingdom and dominion line without a nun line. The decision records: “the committee kept the base text.” It also reports that external evidence favors the longer reading because of earlier and more diverse witnesses, while internal evidence favors the shorter reading as lectio brevior. The stated confidence is moderate. The pericope audit verdict is “clean,” and no matching rationale note is recorded.
The argument for each reading
If the line belongs
Reading A supplies the line expected between the mem and samekh lines of Psalm 145’s alphabetic sequence: נאמן אלוהים בדבריו. The Dead Sea Scrolls witness 11QPsᵃ preserves a fuller Hebrew line, נאמן אלוהים בדבריו וחסיד בכול מעשיו, and the Septuagint likewise includes a Greek line about the Lord’s faithfulness in his words. Thus the listed evidence for A includes both a Hebrew manuscript and an ancient Greek version. The line also addresses the visible structural gap: with it, the acrostic has a nun line where the received text moves directly onward. Its wording is not identical across the supplied witnesses, including “God” in the Hebrew scroll and “Lord” in the Greek.
If the gap is original
Reading B follows the Masoretic Text as represented by the Westminster Leningrad Codex. Its text at Psalm 145:13 gives the mem line, מלכותך מלכות כל עלמים, and transmits no nun line before the acrostic moves to samekh. The Hebrew verse text supplied for the codex continues with dominion through every generation, without an additional line. The APB 3.5 decision kept this base text. Its note says that internal evidence favors the shorter form because it can account for expansion, while also describing the balance as close. On this reading, the skipped letter is part of the transmitted shape of the psalm rather than a line to be printed here.
The uncertainty concerns both the acrostic’s missing nun position and whether a line about faithfulness in words and graciousness in works belonged here. The supplied witnesses preserve different forms, and the committee describes the balance as close. This variant changes neither the printed wording of Psalm 145:13 nor the fact that Psalm 145 remains an alphabetic poem with a visible gap in the received text. No doctrine can be settled by this single line; most doctrines rest on many passages.
Common questions
Why does Psalm 145 skip nun?
The Masoretic Text moves from the mem line to samekh and transmits no nun line. 11QPsᵃ and the Septuagint preserve a line at that point, so the witnesses present two forms of the acrostic.
What is the missing nun line in Psalm 145?
The supplied Hebrew reading is נאמן אלוהים בדבריו, with the fuller 11QPsᵃ line נאמן אלוהים בדבריו וחסיד בכול מעשיו.
Did the APB committee add the nun line to Psalm 145:13?
No. In its 3.5 decision, the committee kept the base text, and its printed Psalm 145:13 does not include a nun line. The note nevertheless describes the external evidence for the longer reading as earlier and more diverse.
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 as published scholarly fact with their sources linked above. The page does not declare which reading is original.
The registry gives no verdict
The registry does not say which reading is original. Each page lists the witnesses, shows what the committee did with the same text, and leaves the judgment to the reader.