diff --git a/app/ui-alphabet-text.js b/app/ui-alphabet-text.js
index 7a31760..dac9168 100644
--- a/app/ui-alphabet-text.js
+++ b/app/ui-alphabet-text.js
@@ -528,9 +528,7 @@
     const verses = Array.isArray(passage?.verses) ? passage.verses : [];
 
     return verses.reduce((totals, verse) => {
-      const translationText = source?.features?.hasTokenAnnotations
-        ? buildTokenTranslationText(verse?.tokens, verse?.text)
-        : verse?.text;
+      const translationText = getVerseTranslationText(verse);
       const counts = getTextCounts(extractVerseCountText(verse, source, displayPreferences, translationText));
 
       totals.words += counts.words;
@@ -1583,6 +1581,14 @@
     return glossText || String(fallbackText || "").trim();
   }
 
+  function getVerseTranslationText(verse) {
+    const translationText = normalizeTextValue(verse?.text);
+    if (translationText) {
+      return translationText;
+    }
+    return buildTokenTranslationText(verse?.tokens, "");
+  }
+
   function appendVerseTextLines(target, verse, source, displayPreferences, translationText, highlightQuery = "") {
     if (!(target instanceof HTMLElement)) {
       return;
@@ -1626,7 +1632,7 @@
   }
 
   function createTokenVerse(verse, lexiconId, displayPreferences, source, options = {}) {
-    const translationText = buildTokenTranslationText(verse?.tokens, verse?.text);
+    const translationText = getVerseTranslationText(verse);
     const verseCounts = getTextCounts(extractVerseCountText(verse, source, displayPreferences, translationText));
     const isHighlighted = options.highlight !== false && isHighlightedVerse(verse);
     const article = document.createElement("article");