Anon Heildr 2VII/4 — lífsins ‘of life’
Fæsk, en frá líða lestir,
friðr, þeim er synda iðrask;
hljóta menn af mætum
miskunn lífsins brunni.
Greindr skínn orð ok andi
…
Friðr fæsk, þeim er iðrask synda, en lestir líða frá; menn hljóta miskunn af mætum brunni lífsins. Greindr andi skínn ok orð …
Peace is obtained for those who who repent their sins, and flaws pass away; men receive mercy from the worthy spring of life. The discerning spirit shines and the word …
notes
[4] brunni lífsins ‘spring of life’: This is one of a cluster of metaphors characterising the Holy Spirit as a spring or river. Compare brunnr miskunnar ‘spring of mercy’ in 8/4, eilífr ok heilagr brunnr ‘eternal and holy spring’ in 12/6, and brunnr vits ‘spring of wisdom’ in 16/2. Such epithets are widespread in medieval devotional literature and hymnody, and their ultimate source is undoubtedly biblical. Brunnr lífsins appears to be a calque on Jer. II.13, where God describes himself as fons aquae vitae ‘the fountain of the water of life’. The image of God as the source of life-restoring water is one of the most common biblical metaphors, perhaps the most common occurrences of which are Ezekiel’s vision of the river of life (Ezek. XLVII.1-12), S. John’s parallel vision of the crystal-clear river in Rev. XXII.1-2, and Christ’s claim to be the source of life-giving water in John IV.14.