GunnLeif Merl I 96VIII/1 — spjǫll ‘the sayings’
Lesi sálma, spjǫll lesi spámanna,
lesi bjartar þeir bœkr ok roðla,
ok finni þat, at inn fróði halr
hefr horskliga hagat spásǫgu,
sem fyr hônum fyrðar helgir.
Lesi sálma, lesi spjǫll spámanna, lesi þeir bjartar bœkr ok roðla, ok finni þat, at inn fróði halr hefr hagat spásǫgu horskliga, sem helgir fyrðar fyr hônum.
Let them read the psalms, read the sayings of the prophets, let them read bright books and rolls, and discover that the wise man has devised his prophecy sagaciously, like holy men before him.
notes
[1-2] lesi spjǫll spámanna ‘read the sayings of the prophets’: Previous eds have treated each line as a syntactic unit but a spjǫll sálma ‘sayings of psalms’ makes inferior sense and leaves the gen. spámanna hanging: Skj B, following Bret 1848-9, ignores the difficulty, translating lese profeterne ‘read the prophets’; Merl 2012 supplies die Reden ‘the speeches’, translating the initial vísuorð as follows: Sie mögen die Reden der Psalmen lesen, sie mögen [die Reden] der Propheten lesen ‘they can read the sayings of the psalms, they can read [the sayings] of the prophets’.