John Gill Bible Commentary

Kedemoth with her suburbs,.... Near to which was a wilderness of that name; see Deu 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 (e); and the same words are to be, found in Ch1 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. (e) Thesaur. Philolog. l. 1. c. 2. p. 181, &c.