diff --git a/src/SIL.Machine/Corpora/ScriptureRefUsfmParserHandlerBase.cs b/src/SIL.Machine/Corpora/ScriptureRefUsfmParserHandlerBase.cs
index 5fea1947..047e3664 100644
--- a/src/SIL.Machine/Corpora/ScriptureRefUsfmParserHandlerBase.cs
+++ b/src/SIL.Machine/Corpora/ScriptureRefUsfmParserHandlerBase.cs
@@ -182,10 +182,10 @@ public void StartEmbed(UsfmParserState state, string marker)
                 NextElement(marker);
             }
 
-            StartEmbed(state, CreateVerseRefs());
+            StartEmbed(state, CreateNonVerseRef());
         }
 
-        public virtual void StartEmbed(UsfmParserState state, IReadOnlyList<ScriptureRef> scriptureRefs) { }
+        public virtual void StartEmbed(UsfmParserState state, ScriptureRef scriptureRef) { }
 
         public virtual void EndEmbed(
             UsfmParserState state,
diff --git a/src/SIL.Machine/Corpora/UpdateUsfmParserHandler.cs b/src/SIL.Machine/Corpora/UpdateUsfmParserHandler.cs
index f51e00ab..a9327306 100644
--- a/src/SIL.Machine/Corpora/UpdateUsfmParserHandler.cs
+++ b/src/SIL.Machine/Corpora/UpdateUsfmParserHandler.cs
@@ -200,9 +200,9 @@ bool closed
             base.EndChar(state, marker, attributes, closed);
         }
 
-        public override void StartEmbed(UsfmParserState state, IReadOnlyList<ScriptureRef> scriptureRefs)
+        public override void StartEmbed(UsfmParserState state, ScriptureRef scriptureRef)
         {
-            _embedRowTexts = AdvanceRows(scriptureRefs).ToList();
+            _embedRowTexts = AdvanceRows(new[] { scriptureRef }).ToList();
             _embedUpdated = _embedRowTexts.Count > 0;
 
             // strip out notes in verses that are being replaced
@@ -407,8 +407,8 @@ private bool ReplaceWithNewTokens(UsfmParserState state, bool closed = true)
                 ClearNewTokens();
 
             // figure out when to skip the existing text
-            bool embedInNewVerseText = _replace.Any(r => r);
-            if (embedInNewVerseText && _embedUpdated)
+            bool embedInNewVerseText = _replace.Any(r => r) && inEmbed;
+            if (embedInNewVerseText || _embedUpdated)
             {
                 if (_embedBehavior == UpdateUsfmIntraVerseMarkerBehavior.Strip)
                 {
diff --git a/tests/SIL.Machine.Tests/Corpora/UpdateUsfmParserHandlerTests.cs b/tests/SIL.Machine.Tests/Corpora/UpdateUsfmParserHandlerTests.cs
index 40641fe8..1cb1f070 100644
--- a/tests/SIL.Machine.Tests/Corpora/UpdateUsfmParserHandlerTests.cs
+++ b/tests/SIL.Machine.Tests/Corpora/UpdateUsfmParserHandlerTests.cs
@@ -45,8 +45,8 @@ public void GetUsfm_PreferExisting()
     {
         var rows = new List<(IReadOnlyList<ScriptureRef>, string)>
         {
-            (ScrRef("MAT 1:6"), "Update 1"),
-            (ScrRef("MAT 1:7"), "Update 2"),
+            (ScrRef("MAT 1:1"), "Update 1"),
+            (ScrRef("MAT 1:2"), "Update 2"),
         };
         var usfm =
             @"\id MAT - Test
diff --git a/tests/SIL.Machine.Tests/Corpora/UsfmFileTextTests.cs b/tests/SIL.Machine.Tests/Corpora/UsfmFileTextTests.cs
index 40391b66..c00888e2 100644
--- a/tests/SIL.Machine.Tests/Corpora/UsfmFileTextTests.cs
+++ b/tests/SIL.Machine.Tests/Corpora/UsfmFileTextTests.cs
@@ -82,7 +82,7 @@ public void GetRows_NonEmptyText_AllText()
         Assert.That(rows[1].Text, Is.EqualTo("Matthew"));
 
         Assert.That(rows[2].Ref, Is.EqualTo(ScriptureRef.Parse("MAT 1:0/3:ip", corpus.Versification)));
-        Assert.That(rows[2].Text, Is.EqualTo("An introduction to Matthew with an empty comment"));
+        Assert.That(rows[2].Text, Is.EqualTo("An introduction to Matthew"));
 
         Assert.That(rows[3].Ref, Is.EqualTo(ScriptureRef.Parse("MAT 1:0/3:ip/1:fe", corpus.Versification)));
         Assert.That(rows[3].Text, Is.EqualTo("This is an endnote."));
@@ -256,7 +256,7 @@ public void GetRows_IncludeMarkers_AllText()
 
         IText text = corpus["MAT"];
         TextRow[] rows = text.GetRows().ToArray();
-        Assert.That(rows, Has.Length.EqualTo(47));
+        Assert.That(rows, Has.Length.EqualTo(46));
 
         Assert.That(rows[2].Ref, Is.EqualTo(ScriptureRef.Parse("MAT 1:0/3:ip", corpus.Versification)));
         Assert.That(rows[2].Text, Is.EqualTo("An introduction to Matthew\\fe + \\ft This is an endnote.\\fe*"));