Posted on 07/29/2006 8:29:22 PM PDT by Blogger
Ancient Latin Translation of Psalms Found in Irish Bog 01:24 Jul 30, '06 / 5 Av 5766 by Ezra HaLevi
Archaeologists in Ireland found an ancient Latin translation of the Psalms of King David last week. Which Psalm the book was open to when preserved in the Irish bog has been a subject of confusion.
(file photo) The ancient book was discovered in a bog by a construction worker who spotted it while driving the shovel of his backhoe into an area nearby. The approximately 20-page book has been dated to the years 800-1000.
It was initially reported that Latin Vulgate version of the book was opened to Psalm 83, which in the Hebrew Tanach exhorts G-d to not hold Yourself silent as the nations plot against Israel explicitly mentioning Edom, Ishmael and the residents of Philistia and Tyre.
It turns out, however, that the Vulgate uses a different numbering of the chapters than the Hebrew Bible and the chapter that was actually facing outwards was not Psalm 83.
It was then reported that the visible text on the bog book is from the seventh verse of Psalm 82, which reads: "But you will die like mere men; you will fall like every other ruler."
Finally, the the Director of Ireland's museum Patrick F. Wallace said in a statement Friday that it was actually Psalm 84 that was exposed. He said that the original announcement had led to misconceptions about the revealed wording. It is hoped that this clarification will serve comfort to anyone worried by earlier reports of the content of the text.
The words of Psalm 84 are as follows: 1. For the conductor, on the gittith, of the sons of Korah, a song. 2. How beloved are Your dwelling places, O L-rd of Hosts! 3. My soul yearns, yea, it pines for the courts of the Lord; my heart and my flesh pray fervently to the living G-d. 4. Even a bird found a house and a swallow her nest, where she placed her chicks upon Your altars, O Lord of Hosts, my King and my G-d. 5. Fortunate are those who stay in Your house; they will continually praise You forever. 6. Fortunate is the man who has strength in You, in whose heart are the highways. 7. Transgressors in the valley of Baka (weeping) make it into a fountain; also with blessings they enwrap [their] Teacher. 8. They go from host to host; he will appear to G-d in Zion. 9. O L-rd, G-d of Hosts, hearken to my prayer; bend Your ear, O G-d of Jacob, forever. 10. See our shield, O G-d, and look at the face of Your anointed. 11. For a day in Your courts is better than a thousand; I chose to sit on the threshold of the house of My G-d rather than dwell in tents of wickedness. 12. For a sun and a shield is the L-rd G-d; the L-rd will give grace and glory; He will not withhold good from those who go with sincerity. 13. O L-rd of Hosts, fortunate is the man who trusts in You.
The Psalm is recited by many Jews at the beginning of the afternoon prayers on a daily basis. The Valley of Weeping can be read as the Bekaa Valley, one of the areas focused upon in Hizbullah attacks since Israel's withdrawal from Lebanon six years ago. US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has suggested that Israel cede the area to Lebanon, allowing Hizbullah to declare victory.
Do you know the history behind how the name God for The LORD came into existence?
It used to bug me a lot, too.
So much that I'd even tend a bit to spell GOD out in all caps to sort of rub it in their faces.
God made very clear to me I was wrong.
Not that He'd insist I follow their practice but that I have respect for it.
For them, it's that God is SOOOOOOO HOLY, they are not worthy to spell it all out.
Emphasizing God's Holiness is not a bad thing.
There is no real word. The word is God. G-d is not a word and it doesn't replace the word God. It merely substitutes a hyphen for the letter o. People who use G-d may think they are doing it out of some kind of respect, but all it really is, is a form of conceit.
The word God is used throughout the Bible. Should someone go through the Bible and change the word to G-d throughout? That would be recognized as nonsense. So using G-d instead of God in other written discussions is equally nonsense.
It's like substituting a hyphen for the middle letter in Jesus: Je-us. Dumb, pointless and a silly conceit. How about Holy Trinity: H-ly Tri-ity. Or Christ: Ch-ist. Makes a mockery out of the words and names, all for the sake of someone trying to prove a point about themselves. The very definition of conceit.
This is the initial report that came out, reported on Free Republic at http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1672039/posts
Notice that it says in the report that Psalm 83 is LEGIBLE....and then it gives a brief overview of Psalm 83.
It appears that the person reporting (from the museum?) was referring to OUR Psalm 83 by virtue of the quote about what was "legible." In other words, the words of the psalm was the identifier used.
Thanks for the update.
Don't you mean "hyphen" respect?
1. Ditto your remark, accent on the pretty stupid part. Perhaps some Christians focus way too much on the unnecessary.
Am I so off-base here? That kind of speculation is simply the wild kind, meaningless.
Imho, the finding of the book is the wonder, not the page it was open to.
about 6,000 years ago.
That might explain some of the difficulty I have in reading Hebrew. I expect tense in verbs rather than nouns.
I've read elsewhere that a more literal translation would be "Valley of Thorns", although "Valley of Tears" is a homonymous play on words.
npr has it. I'm sorry, did you say source or reliable source?
It's been going on for a long time as a means to avoid violation of the Third Commandment.
Nonsense. The etymology of the word God is: Middle English, from Old English; akin to Old High German got.
In other words, it dates from English as spoken in the Middle Ages.
I've read all the justifications on this thread for replacing the o with a hyphen. The fact remains that it is a modern affectation which, to the best that I'm able to determine, started in the internet age.
That's ironic, since the Bible, itself, does not spell God as G-d. When one speaks the word, one cannot hyphenate it. Simply to discuss God and religious matters is not taking His name in vain. Otherwise God could never be mentioned in churches -- or at all, for that matter.
I think it's a deliberate affectation people use to try to convey the message that they are somehow more reverent than the next guy.
So it's OK to use YHWH as an internet screen name, but not to spell the English word God correctly? Once again, the word God is not Jewish or Hebrew in origin. It's etmology is Middle English, from Old English, akin to the Germanic word Got.
I'm a Roman Catholic, so can't claim to know the tenets of the Jewish-Hebrew faith. But I do know that nothing whatsoever in Catholic-Christrian law or tradition prevents one from saying the word God (other than to not take it in vain -- meaning to not use it as a curse or in an abusive manner) or of spelling it correctly.
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