Five sons or no sons?

2 Samuel 21:8—”Did Michal have five sons or no sons (2 Samuel 6:23)?”

Two ancient Hebrew manuscripts and some Septuagint manuscripts and Syriac read “Merab”; other manuscripts read “Michal.” It is quite clear that originally the text said “Merab” as in the former manuscripts and there was a copyist mistake in the others, since Merab was the one of the sisters remarried to Adriel (1 Samuel 18:19). We must also remember that the scribes who were responsible for the copies were meticulously honest in handling Biblical texts. They delivered them as they received them, without changing even obvious mistakes, which are few indeed.