Yfirpostulinn ástar
Andréas var með bandi
festr á * kross og Kristi
kærr miðviku næri.
Lífið liet með gæfu
ljóss á helgum krossi
föstudag, sá er fýstiz
fagnaðar guðs af magni.
Yfirpostulinn ástar, Andréas, og kærr Kristi, var festr með bandi á * kross næri miðviku. Ljóss, sá er fýstiz af magni fagnaðar guðs, liet lífið föstudag með gæfu á helgum krossi.
The chief Apostle of love, Andrew, and dear to Christ, was tied with a bond on a cross near midweek. The bright one, who yearned mightily for the joy of God, gave up his life on a Friday with good fortune on the holy cross.
[6] ljóss ‘the bright one’: To produce aðalhending with krossi, Finnur Jónsson prints ljoss (Skj B); but it is inherently unikely that the vowel of ljóss is short. Finnur likewise interprets ljóss as m. gen. sg., modifying fagnaðar, and translates ljóss ... fagnaðar guðs as guds lyse glæde ‘the bright joy of God’. Kock (NN §1756) points out that it is of course not unusual to find in any of the half-sts of Andr an adj. modifying the subject of the poem (cf. fýstr ‘eager’ 1/3; æstr ‘most noble’ 1/6; kærr ‘dear’ 2/4; prýddr ‘adorned’ 4/7), and suggests that ljóss functions in just this way here.