Fingr vann eigi eingan
eins með vatni hreinu
guðs á virðum víða
vinning að því sinni.
Fingr eins guðs vann víða að því sinni eigi eingan vinning á virðum með hreinu vatni.
The finger of the one God gained widely at that time not no [= great] advantage for men with pure water.
[1, 2, 3] fingr eins guðs ‘the finger of the one God’: A kenning-like phrase for the Holy Spirit, which has a parallel in Anon Heildr 13/1, 3, 4VII hreinn fingr hægri handar sólar salkonungs ‘pure finger of the right hand of the king of the hall of the sun [(lit. ‘of the hall-king of the sun’) SKY/HEAVEN > = God]’. The periphrasis in Heildr is a direct imitation of st. 3/2 (dextrae Dei tu digitus ‘you, finger of the right hand of God’) of the Latin Pentecost hymn Veni Creator Spiritus (see Heildr 11VII Note to [All] for details of the source), which was normally sung during the office of Pentecost at Terce, because the Holy Spirit was thought to have descended upon the Apostles at the third hour (cf. Acts II.15).