diff --git a/.ignore b/.ignore
index 4fa382dd..28b6245a 100644
--- a/.ignore
+++ b/.ignore
@@ -1,2 +1,3 @@
 !tests/SIL.Machine.Tests/Corpora/TestData/usfm/source/*
 !tests/SIL.Machine.Tests/Corpora/TestData/usfm/target/*
+!tests/SIL.Machine.Tests/Corpora/TestData/project/*
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/src/SIL.Machine/Corpora/UsfmTextBase.cs b/src/SIL.Machine/Corpora/UsfmTextBase.cs
index 7b0c016f..030580b7 100644
--- a/src/SIL.Machine/Corpora/UsfmTextBase.cs
+++ b/src/SIL.Machine/Corpora/UsfmTextBase.cs
@@ -133,6 +133,8 @@ public override void StartCell(UsfmParserState state, string marker, string alig
                 }
                 else if (CurrentTextType == ScriptureTextType.Verse)
                 {
+                    if (_rowTexts.Count == 0)
+                        return;
                     StringBuilder verseText = _rowTexts.Peek();
                     if (verseText.Length > 0 && !char.IsWhiteSpace(verseText[verseText.Length - 1]))
                         verseText.Append(" ");
diff --git a/tests/SIL.Machine.Tests/Corpora/UsfmMemoryTextTests.cs b/tests/SIL.Machine.Tests/Corpora/UsfmMemoryTextTests.cs
index db67e9a6..e1b25c76 100644
--- a/tests/SIL.Machine.Tests/Corpora/UsfmMemoryTextTests.cs
+++ b/tests/SIL.Machine.Tests/Corpora/UsfmMemoryTextTests.cs
@@ -49,6 +49,27 @@ public void GetRows_LastSegment()
         });
     }
 
+    [Test]
+    public void GetRows_DuplicateVerseWithTable()
+    {
+        TextRow[] rows = GetRows(
+            @"\id MAT - Test
+\c 1
+\v 1 First verse
+\periph Table of Contents Abbreviation
+\rem non verse content 1
+\v 1 duplicate first verse
+\rem non verse content 2
+\mt1 Table
+\tr \tc1 row 1 cell 1 \tc2 row 1 cell 2
+\tr \tc1 row 2 cell 1 \tc2 row 2 cell 2
+",
+            includeAllText: true
+        );
+
+        Assert.That(rows, Has.Length.EqualTo(5));
+    }
+
     private static TextRow[] GetRows(string usfm, bool includeMarkers = false, bool includeAllText = false)
     {
         UsfmMemoryText text =