diff --git a/src/SIL.Machine/Corpora/UpdateUsfmParserHandler.cs b/src/SIL.Machine/Corpora/UpdateUsfmParserHandler.cs
index 03c9bb12..da941864 100644
--- a/src/SIL.Machine/Corpora/UpdateUsfmParserHandler.cs
+++ b/src/SIL.Machine/Corpora/UpdateUsfmParserHandler.cs
@@ -380,7 +380,7 @@ private bool ReplaceWithNewTokens(UsfmParserState state)
                 || (newText && !existingText)
                 || (newText && _behavior == UpdateUsfmBehavior.PreferNew);
 
-            if (useNewTokens)
+            if (useNewTokens && !state.DoNotTranslate)
                 _tokens.AddRange(_newTokens);
 
             _newTokens.Clear();
diff --git a/src/SIL.Machine/Corpora/UsfmParserState.cs b/src/SIL.Machine/Corpora/UsfmParserState.cs
index 1ad2c85b..5b1f56dd 100644
--- a/src/SIL.Machine/Corpora/UsfmParserState.cs
+++ b/src/SIL.Machine/Corpora/UsfmParserState.cs
@@ -81,6 +81,10 @@ public UsfmParserState(UsfmStylesheet stylesheet, ScrVers versification, IReadOn
         /// </summary>
         public bool IsFigure => CharTag?.Marker == "fig";
 
+        public bool DoNotTranslate => _doNotTranslateIndex >= 0;
+
+        private int _doNotTranslateIndex = -1;
+
         /// <summary>
         /// Current paragraph tag or null for none.
         /// Note that book and table rows are considered paragraphs for legacy checking reasons.
@@ -189,12 +193,21 @@ internal UsfmParserElement Peek()
         internal void Push(UsfmParserElement elem)
         {
             _stack.Add(elem);
+            if (
+                _doNotTranslateIndex == -1
+                && (UsfmStylesheet.IsReference(elem.Marker) || UsfmStylesheet.IsFigure(elem.Marker))
+            )
+            {
+                _doNotTranslateIndex = _stack.Count - 1;
+            }
         }
 
         internal UsfmParserElement Pop()
         {
             UsfmParserElement element = _stack[_stack.Count - 1];
             _stack.RemoveAt(_stack.Count - 1);
+            if (_doNotTranslateIndex == _stack.Count)
+                _doNotTranslateIndex = -1;
             return element;
         }
     }
diff --git a/src/SIL.Machine/Corpora/UsfmStylesheet.cs b/src/SIL.Machine/Corpora/UsfmStylesheet.cs
index e63f8c96..3fc244b2 100644
--- a/src/SIL.Machine/Corpora/UsfmStylesheet.cs
+++ b/src/SIL.Machine/Corpora/UsfmStylesheet.cs
@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@ namespace SIL.Machine.Corpora
     public class UsfmStylesheet
     {
         private static readonly Regex CellRangeRegex = new Regex(@"^(t[ch][cr]?[1-5])-([2-5])$", RegexOptions.Compiled);
+        private static readonly Regex ReferenceRegex = new Regex(@"^(fr|r|rq|xo|xt|)$", RegexOptions.Compiled);
 
         private static readonly Dictionary<string, UsfmJustification> JustificationMappings = new Dictionary<
             string,
@@ -111,6 +112,16 @@ public static bool IsCellRange(string tag, out string baseMarker, out int colSpa
             return false;
         }
 
+        public static bool IsReference(string tag)
+        {
+            return !(tag is null) && ReferenceRegex.IsMatch(tag);
+        }
+
+        public static bool IsFigure(string tag)
+        {
+            return tag == "fig";
+        }
+
         private static IEnumerable<string> GetEmbeddedStylesheet(string fileName)
         {
             using (
diff --git a/src/SIL.Machine/Corpora/UsfmTextBase.cs b/src/SIL.Machine/Corpora/UsfmTextBase.cs
index af2820e4..2e623073 100644
--- a/src/SIL.Machine/Corpora/UsfmTextBase.cs
+++ b/src/SIL.Machine/Corpora/UsfmTextBase.cs
@@ -289,7 +289,7 @@ protected override void StartNonVerseText(UsfmParserState state, ScriptureRef sc
             protected override void EndNonVerseText(UsfmParserState state, ScriptureRef scriptureRef)
             {
                 string text = _rowTexts.Pop().ToString();
-                if (_text._includeAllText)
+                if (_text._includeAllText && !state.DoNotTranslate)
                     _rows.Add(_text.CreateRow(scriptureRef, text, _sentenceStart));
             }
 
diff --git a/tests/SIL.Machine.Tests/Corpora/TestData/usfm/Tes/41MATTes.SFM b/tests/SIL.Machine.Tests/Corpora/TestData/usfm/Tes/41MATTes.SFM
index 672b93da..2c8f11af 100644
--- a/tests/SIL.Machine.Tests/Corpora/TestData/usfm/Tes/41MATTes.SFM
+++ b/tests/SIL.Machine.Tests/Corpora/TestData/usfm/Tes/41MATTes.SFM
@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@
 \v 7
 \v 8
 \c 2
+\r (Mark 1:2-3; Luke 4:5-6)
 \tr \tc1 Row one, column one. \tc2 Row one, column two.
 \tr \tc1 Row two, column one. \tc2 Row two, column two.
 \s1 Chapter \it Two \it*
@@ -38,7 +39,7 @@
 \p
 \v 6 Chapter two, verse \w six|strong="12345" \w*.
 \p
-\v 6 Bad verse. \x - \xo abc\xt 123\x* and more content.
+\v 6 Bad verse. \x - \xo 2:3-4 \xt Cool Book 3:24 \xta The annotation \x* and more content.
 \p
 \v 5 Chapter two, verse five \rq (MAT 3:1)\rq*.
 \v 7a Chapter two, verse seven A,
diff --git a/tests/SIL.Machine.Tests/Corpora/UpdateUsfmParserHandlerTests.cs b/tests/SIL.Machine.Tests/Corpora/UpdateUsfmParserHandlerTests.cs
index d27873d3..8873adbc 100644
--- a/tests/SIL.Machine.Tests/Corpora/UpdateUsfmParserHandlerTests.cs
+++ b/tests/SIL.Machine.Tests/Corpora/UpdateUsfmParserHandlerTests.cs
@@ -76,7 +76,7 @@ public void GetUsfm_Verse_SkipNote()
     }
 
     [Test]
-    public void GetUsfm_Verse_ReplaceNote()
+    public void GetUsfm_Verse_ReplaceNoteKeepReference()
     {
         var rows = new List<(IReadOnlyList<ScriptureRef>, string)>
         {
@@ -87,7 +87,38 @@ public void GetUsfm_Verse_ReplaceNote()
         string target = UpdateUsfm(rows);
         Assert.That(
             target,
-            Contains.Substring("\\v 1 First verse of the second chapter. \\f + \\ft This is a new footnote.\\f*\r\n")
+            Contains.Substring(
+                "\\v 1 First verse of the second chapter. \\f + \\fr 2:1: \\ft This is a new footnote.\\f*\r\n"
+            )
+        );
+    }
+
+    [Test]
+    public void GetUsfm_Verse_PreserveFiguresAndReferences()
+    {
+        var rows = new List<(IReadOnlyList<ScriptureRef>, string)>
+        {
+            // fig
+            (ScrRef("MAT 1:5"), "Fifth verse of the first chapter."),
+            (ScrRef("MAT 1:5/1:fig"), "figure text not updated"),
+            // rq
+            (ScrRef("MAT 2:5/1:rq"), "quote reference not updated"),
+            // r
+            (ScrRef("MAT 2/1:r"), "parallel reference not updated"),
+            // xo
+            (ScrRef("MAT 2:6/3:xo"), "Cross reference not update"),
+            // xt
+            (ScrRef("MAT 2:6/4:xt"), "cross reference - target reference not updated"),
+            // xta
+            (ScrRef("MAT 2:6/5:xta"), "cross reference annotation updated"),
+        };
+
+        string target = UpdateUsfm(rows);
+        Assert.That(
+            target,
+            Contains.Substring(
+                "\\v 1 First verse of the second chapter. \\f + \\fr 2:1: \\ft This is a new footnote.\\f*\r\n"
+            )
         );
     }