Kedemoth with her suburbs,.... Near to which was a wilderness of that name; see De 2:26;and Mephaath with her suburbs; of which See Gill on "Jos 13:18"; where the two preceding cities are mentioned along with it:four cities, Jos 21:35, are not in some ancient copies of the Hebrew Bible, as is noted by the Masorites; but are in some others, as Kimchi owns, and stand in the Targum, in the Septuagint, Syriac, and Arabic versions, and in a manuscript referred to by Hottinger ; and the same words are to be, found in 1Ch 6:78, and are absolutely necessary to be retained, since without them there would be but eight cities for the Merarites, whereas they are expressly said to be twelve, Jos 21:40.
Thesaur. Philolog. l. 1. c. 2. p.