Skeið ert fróns und fríðum
farsæl konungs þrælum
fljót ok farmi ítrum
fóstrlands á vit strandar.
Þú snýr böls hjá bárum
— boðar kasta þér lasta —
lýðs und líknar auði
lífs hafnar til stafni.
Ert farsæl, fljót skeið und fríðum þrælum konungs fróns ok ítrum farmi á vit strandar fóstrlands. Þú snýr stafni hjá bárum böls til lífs hafnar und auði líknar lýðs; boðar lasta kasta þér.
You are a voyage-prosperous, swift warship bearing [lit. under] beloved servants of the king of earth [RULER = Christ] and a glorious cargo towards the shore of our native land. You turn your prow past the waves of evil to life’s haven bearing the wealth of grace for mankind; billows of vices toss you.
[1-2] und fríðum þrælum ‘bearing [lit. under] beloved servants’: For fríðum 399a-bˣ reads firðum ‘fjords’; so Sveinbjörn Egilsson 1844, 45 (although in a marginal note to 444 Sveinbjörn wrote fríðum). Und ‘under’ also governs the dat. farmi ‘cargo’ (l. 3) (on Christ as the cargo, and possibly as captain, see Notes to ll. 3 and 7). The ‘beloved servants’ are perhaps the saints or more generally the righteous, possibly even the clergy who guide the faithful.