Tehillim Pey-Gimmel (Psalm 83) found in Irish Bog

Some people are calling this an important omen.

Irish archaeologists Tuesday heralded the discovery of an ancient book of psalms by a construction worker while driving the shovel of his backhoe into a bog.

The approximately 20-page book has been dated to the years 800-1000. Trinity College manuscripts expert Bernard Meehan said it was the first discovery of an Irish early medieval document in two centuries.

“There’s two sets of odds that make this discovery really way out,” Wallace said. “First of all, it’s unlikely that something this fragile could survive buried in a bog at all, and then for it to be unearthed and spotted before it was destroyed is incalculably more amazing.”

The book was found open to a page describing, in Latin script, Psalm 83, in which God hears complaints of other nations’ attempts to wipe out the name of Israel.

For several years now, Gedolim (leading scholars) have called for the daily recitation of Tehillim Pey-Gimmel, Psalm 83, on behalf of our brethren in the Land of Israel. Does the discovery of this ancient Psalm in the middle of the current conflict mean something? I’m not sure that I want to attribute great spiritual meaning to the discovery of a Latin translation of a Psalm in an Irish bog. If this inspires more people to say Psalm 83 then so much the better, and if posting this article makes people pull out a Tehillim and look at the words of this Kepitel more carefully, then that’s better still.

Interestingly enough, Yeranen Yaakov published a piece on “Psalm 83 and Ahmedinejad” just a few weeks ago — another indication of the timeliness of this discovery.

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12 Responses

  1. YeshivisheLiberal says:

    Thanks for the post! May you continue to be a great source of Chizuk!

  2. 1.5 opinions says:

    According to the head of the Irish Museum (as heard on the radio), the book was opened to what was THEN known as psalm 83, but is NOW called psalm 84. Perhaps, then, this event is not so amazing.

  3. Bob Miller says:

    Actually, Psalm 84 (as we call it now) is very encouraging!

  4. S. says:

    Not to pour cold water on this, but truth is very important. As it turns out there was a misunderstanding reported as fact. This psalter was opened to what we would consider Psalm 84. In the Latin Vulgate Psalm 83 (shir mizmor le-‘asaph) is number 82. So when it was reported that this was opened to 83 a lot of people cracked opened their Bibles and their Tanakhs not realizing that the initial report meant Psalm 83 of the Latin Vulgate, which is le-benei qorah mizmor, our Psalm 84.

    Nevertheless, 84 is quite wonderful as well.

  5. david g. says:

    see divrei Hayamim 2:21:12. Would you compare this to the letter ?
    I am not sure what the meaning of such a discovery is other
    than a simple coincidence. That letter was Nevuah specifically for the situation.

  6. HILLEL says:

    Here is a practical answer to all these threats:

    Tactical Tshuva needed to counter Iranian missiles
    Lazer with Rav Amnon Yitzchak shlit’a in Bnai Brak

    Rav Amnon Yitzchak shlit’a yesterday gave the most powerful and on-target spiritual analysis of the current war. For those of you who understand Hebrew, you can hear the most cogent 3 minutes of his talk here. He doesn’t sugar-coat things, as follows:

    “What, we don’t understand what the holiness of Jerusalem has to be? Do you think that Hashem sends missiles for no reason?Hashem sent fire and brimstone from the sky on Sodom. Now fire and brimstone from the sky is being rained all over Israel. Jerusalem is not Sodom!”

    People don’t want to understand. They bury their heads in the ground, and don’t believe that the lack of modesty and outright debauchery are the angels of death that manifest themselves in Hizbolla and Katyusha rockets, like the Melitzer Rebbe warned before the war.

    Rabbi Amnon also said, “Terrorist attacks won’t cease, they’ll just get worse. A few years ago, the Arabs threw rocks at us. Hashem wanted us to make tshuva, but we didn’t. Instead of rocks, we got homemade incendiary bombs. Hashem wanted us to make tshuva, but we didn’t. Instead of the incendiary bombs, we got shot at with rifles. Hashem wanted us to make tshuva, but we didn’t. After the rifles, the terrorists acquired machine guns. Hashem wanted us to make tshuva, but we didn’t. After the machine guns, the terrorist developed Qassam rockets and began firing them at us. Hashem wanted us to make tshuva, but we didn’t. Since we still didn’t heed Hashem’s voice, the Qassam rockets became Katyushas, and now the Katyushas are becoming Raad and Fajr missiles. What, are we now waiting for the 125-kilometer range missiles to hit Natanya and Tel Aviv?!? And then Gog and Magog? That’s what will happen if there’s no tshuva!”

    Urgent Update, 5 PM, Israel: To show you just how right Rabbi Amnon is, 5 Fajr missiles have just now fallen near Afula, with longer ranges and more explosives on deadly 220 mm warheads. Iran (and our lack of tshuva) are behind the escalation. Haifa, Nahariya, Akko, Tzfat, Kiryat Shmona, and the central Galilee are under bombardment at this time.

    Instead of getting used to missiles, let’s get used to Torah and mitzvot. Now’s the time for Tactical Tshuva, Israel’s secret ultraconventional weapon.

  7. S. says:

    >“What, we don’t understand what the holiness of Jerusalem has to be? Do you think that Hashem sends missiles for no reason?Hashem sent fire and brimstone from the sky on Sodom. Now fire and brimstone from the sky is being rained all over Israel. Jerusalem is not Sodom!”

    There aren’t ten tzadikkim? ?הֲשֹׁפֵט כָּל-הָאָרֶץ לֹא יַעֲשֶׂה מִשְׁפָּט

    Frankly, pop references to events in Tanakh that do not bear out with even slightly close scrutiny aren’t so inspiring or impressive.

  8. Alexander Seinfeld says:

    Nevertheless, this episode has caused me to study Psalm 83 more closely, and here’s something I discovered:

    Psalm 83 says, “Do unto them as [unto] the Midianites; as [to] Sisera, as [to] Jabin, at the brook of Kison.” I read that Bashar Assad was raised in the Syrian town of Jabin. And Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was born in Siseria — near Iran’s Kison river.

  9. micha says:

    Well, it turns out they found it open to their chapter 83, which is our chapter 84.

  10. Joshua Meisner says:

    R’ Seinfeld –

    What is your source for this? I tried googling Ahmadinejad and Siseria, and the only two hits were this page and this page, which followed its statement up with “No, not really”.

  11. G. Ian Goodson says:

    As regards the Psalm in the Irish Bog, this is Eire and not ACLU run US stae schools or Nu-Labour England. Do you really think they would make a basic mistake like that? More likely is that Catholics did not recognise the prophetic significance of the Psalm. In Roman theology the Church has replaced Israel. When they saw what others made of it, they preferred to admit to an elementary error rather than allow the Word of God to continue.

    OK, it’s theory – but cui bono?

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