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Journey of a Passage

Joshua 21:36–37

Two verses missing from the oldest Hebrew codices

Four Levitical towns of Reuben, Bezer, Jahaz, Kedemoth and Mephaath, are listed in most Bibles but are absent from the Leningrad and Aleppo codices. Without them the chapter's own totals do not add up.

Manuscript variant: witnesses differ in wording

The family tree

Each row is a language or text tradition. Witnesses in the same row may share ancestry, revise one another, or have an uncertain relationship; the line under each box says which. A solid arrow appears only where direct copying or a documented revised edition is established. Order by date never implies copying. Scroll sideways on a phone.

✓ contains it · ✕ does not · ❝ quotes part of it · ⓘ reports on manuscripts · ▢ pages lost · – no copy survives

  • Same line, through lost copies
  • Translation
Hebrew
  1. Original JoshuaUnknown (debated)
  2. Aleppo Codexc. AD 930Descends, through lost copies, from Original Joshua
  3. Masoretic Text (Leningrad Codex)AD 1008Descends, through lost copies, from Original Joshua
  4. Other medieval Hebrew manuscripts and printed BiblesMedieval to modernDescends, through lost copies, from Original Joshua
Greek
  1. Septuagint (Old Greek)Translated c. 2nd century BCTranslated from a Hebrew text of the 2nd century BC
Latin
  1. Jerome's Vulgatec. AD 400Translated from Hebrew texts of Jerome's day
English
  1. King James Bible1611Translated from printed Masoretic Hebrew

The arithmetic

Merarites
Twelve towns: four each from Zebulun, Reuben and Gad. Without 36–37, only eight.
Total
Forty-eight (21:41) requires the four Reubenite towns.
Chronicles
1 Chronicles 6:78–79 lists the same four towns.

Every witness, in order

  1. Unknown (debated)

    Original Joshua

    – No copy survives

    No original survives.

  2. Translated c. 2nd century BC

    Septuagint (Old Greek)

    ✓ Contains this passageTranslated from a Hebrew text of the 2nd century BC

    How the site knows this: Known here only through a translation.

    from the tribe of Reuben, the city of refuge Bezer in the wilderness… Jazer, Dekmon, Mapha: four cities

    Giguet's French (21:36) has the Reubenite towns, with additions.

  3. c. AD 400

    Jerome's Vulgate

    ✓ Contains this passageTranslated from Hebrew texts of Jerome's day

    How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: Clementine Vulgate (1592 edition).

    De tribu Ruben… Bosor in solitudine, Misor et Jaser et Jethson et Mephaath, civitates quatuor

    Present, in a combined verse.

  4. c. AD 930

    Aleppo Codex

    ✕ Passage not in this witnessDescends, through lost copies, from Original Joshua

    How the site knows this: Reported in scholarship; not checked by the site.

    Lacks 21:36–37.

  5. AD 1008

    Masoretic Text (Leningrad Codex)

    ✕ Passage not in this witnessDescends, through lost copies, from Original Joshua

    How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: Westminster Leningrad Codex, a digital transcription of the Leningrad Codex.

    X וּמִמַּטֵּה רְאוּבֵן אֶת־בֶּצֶר… (supplied)

    The Leningrad Codex lacks the verses. The library's Hebrew edition supplies them from other manuscripts and marks them with "X" as not in Leningrad.

    Source: SBL, The Hebrew Bible: A Critical Edition (prospectus, Joshua 21:36–37) ↗

  6. Medieval to modern

    Other medieval Hebrew manuscripts and printed Bibles

    ✓ Contains this passageDescends, through lost copies, from Original Joshua

    How the site knows this: Reported in scholarship; not checked by the site.

    Many manuscripts include the verses.

    Source: Masoretica: Joshua 21:37 in medieval Hebrew manuscripts ↗

  7. 1611

    King James Bible

    ✓ Contains this passageTranslated from printed Masoretic Hebrew

    How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: King James Version (1769 text).

    And out of the tribe of Reuben, Bezer with her suburbs, and Jahazah with her suburbs, Kedemoth… and Mephaath… four cities.

    Includes the verses.

What changed, and why

This is a real manuscript difference within the Masoretic tradition, not a digital data gap. Most scholars restore the verses as original and lost by accident; the SBL's critical edition discusses the case.

What the evidence shows

Sources

Related lessons

  • The Levitical Cities →The Levites receive forty-eight towns with their pasturelands, spread through all the tribes. The chapter ends: "There failed not ought of any good thing." Two verses listing four Reubenite towns are missing from the Leningrad and Aleppo codices, though other manuscripts and the Greek have them.
  • How Joshua Came to Us →Who wrote Joshua, and when? How does its Greek form differ from the Hebrew? Where does the altar ceremony belong? Why do the oldest Hebrew codices lack two verses? Here is the history of the book from its setting to your Bible, with every major variant linked.