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Wednesday, July 9, 2008

Photo: Newfound Book of Psalms Doesn't Predict Doom, Experts Say


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This Book of Psalms dated to about A.D.1000 was unearthed by a construction worker in a bog in Ireland last week. Since then, some observers have expressed concern about the passage to which the book was open when it was discovered: Psalm 83. In the King James Bible the psalm tells of "the name of Israel" being wiped out.

But officials at the National Museum of Ireland, where the manuscript is being kept, announced today that Psalm 83 in this ancient Latin translation is actually Psalm 84 in the modern, English-language King James Bible. Psalm 84 is a song of praise and longing for godliness, not of doom.

Photograph courtesy National Museum of Ireland