About that Ancient Irish Psalter …

Recent news reports of the ancient Psalter found in Ireland, especially those filtered through blogs, placed great weight on the book’s — prophetically, some believed — being “open to” Psalm 83 or to that Psalm’s pristine condition. Some became energized about their understanding of the prophetic nature of this Psalm about Israel coupled with their beliefs about the current war in the Middle East.

Now this …

27-July-2006

Clarification re Psalm 83 in Ancient Book of Psalms

In the press release issued by the National Museum of Ireland on 26th July the following reference was made to Psalm 83:

“While part of Psalm 83 is legible, the extent to which other Psalms or additional texts are preserved will only be determined by painstaking work by a team of invited experts probably operating over a long time in the Museum laboratory”

The above mention of Psalm 83 has led to misconceptions about the revealed wording and may be a source of concern for people who believe Psalm 83 deals with “the wiping out of Israel”.

The Director of the National Museum of Ireland, Dr. Patrick F. Wallace, would like to highlight that the text visible on the manuscript does NOT refer to wiping out Israel but to the ‘vale of tears’.

This is part of verse 7 of Psalm 83 in the old latin translation of the Bible (the Vulgate) which, in turn, was translated from an original Greek text would have been the version used in the medieval period. In the much later King James version the number of the Psalms is different, based on the Hebrew text and the ‘vale of tears’ occurs in Psalm 84. The text about wiping out Israel occurs in the Vulgate as Psalm 82 = Psalm 83 (King James version).

It is hoped that this clarification will serve comfort to anyone worried by earlier reports of the content of the text.

Thanks to FWD from Jean-Michel.
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I’ll leave it to the industrious to look up the two Psalms (82 & 83). There’s a world of difference between the two.