Bog Psalm confusion

ACCORDING to a report on an ancient Irish manuscript found in a midlands bog (Irish Examiner, July 26), the only text already identified in the manuscript speaks of God’s enemies plotting to wipe out Israel.

This is not so.

The text was from Psalm 83, but Psalm 83 in the Catholic Bible does not talk about Israel, it talks about “the valley of tears”. You quoted Psalm 82.

The confusion arises because the Protestant King James Bible numbers the Psalms differently to the Catholic Bible. When the National Museum said the book was found open on Psalm 83, it was following the convention of the traditional Catholic Bible. You obviously reached for the King James version.

Michael Bermingham

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