Harðrôðum gekk heiðis
hjaldrmagnaði skjaldar
skatna ætt á skreytta
skotjǫrð loga fjarðar.
Lýð gat lofðungr ráða
— landherr frá sið vǫndum
þá hvarf allr —, ok illum,
ólítt, goðum nítti.
Ætt skatna gekk á skotjǫrð heiðis, skreytta loga fjarðar, harðrôðum skjaldar hjaldrmagnaði. Lofðungr gat ráða lýð ólítt; allr landherr hvarf þá frá vǫndum sið, ok nítti illum goðum.
The kindred of men put themselves in the swaying earth of the hawk [HAND], adorned with the fire of the fjord [GOLD], of the hard-ruling increaser of the uproar of the shield [(lit. ‘uproar-increaser of the shield’) BATTLE > WARRIOR]. The king could rule people to no small degree; all the land’s people turned then from a wicked faith, and rejected bad gods.
[8] nítti: om. Bb
[8] nítti ‘rejected’: The final word of this line is omitted in Bb. Sveinbjörn Egilsson’s suggestion (1832, 11) of nítti (3rd pers. sg. pret. indic.) ‘denied, rejected’ fits grammar, sense and metre, and has been adopted by all subsequent eds.