Violent events in the Middle East and the discovery of an ancient manuscript in a bog in the midlands last week have conspired to force the National Museum to issue a statement denying any link between the two.
The discovery of the manuscript last week was described on Teusday by the National Museum of Ireland as being of "staggering importance."
Fragments of the Book of Psalms, estimated to be between 1,000 and 1,200-years-old were uncovered by a bulldozer in a bog in the south midlands last Thursday.
Staff at the National Museum compared the discovery to that of the Dead Sea Scrolls. However, callers to the Museum were concerned that the timing of the find may not have been a coincidence.
The museum has been approached by people querying the content of the manuscript and if it makes a refererence to "wiping out Israel."
Part of Psalm 83 is legible in the manuscript, and in modern versions of the Bible, Psalm 83 is a lament to God over other nations' attempts to wipe out Israel.
Some had wondered at the coincidence of such a discovery at a time of heightened tension in the Middle East.
"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 museum said in a statement released today.
The confusion arose because the manuscript uses an old Latin translation of the Bible known at the Vulgate, which numbers the psalms differently from the later King James version from which many modern texts derive.
According to a today's statement, the Director of the Museum, Dr. Patrick F. Wallace was quoted as saying he "would like to highlight that the text visible on the manuscript does NOT refer to wiping out Israel but to the 'vale of tears."
The vale of tears is in Psalm 84 in the more modern King James version.
"It is hoped that this clarification will serve comfort to anyone worried by earlier reports of the content of the text," the museum said.
