Heims lézt verð ok virða
vegit gimsteinum fegra,
himna ljóss, í hvössum,
háleitr, friðar skálum.
Vág erat víst né frægri
(vétt sýnir þú rétta)
ófs til ýta gæfu
(alsetrs vera) betri.
Háleitr, ljóss himna, lézt vegit verð heims ok virða, fegra gimsteinum, í hvössum skálum friðar. Erat víst betri né frægri vág til ýta ófs gæfu; þú sýnir rétta vétt alsetrs vera.
High, radiant one of the heavens [CROSS], you weighed the price of the world and men, fairer than gems, in sharp scales of peace. Surely there is not a better or more famous balance for men’s bounteous good fortune; you show the just weight of the common seat of men [WORLD].
[7] ófs (gen. sg.) ‘bounteous’: Lit. ‘of great quantity’. Skj B (LP) construes as overmod ‘pride’; Finnur Jónsson 1901, 24 suggests that óf is a contraction of óhóf ‘immoderation’. The gen. sg., however, often functions as an intensive, ‘greatly, very’; LP (1860), Rydberg 1907, 51, and NN §1396 read it this way but apply it to rétta, i.e. ‘very just’. Here, however, it is taken with gæfu, i.e. ‘bounteous good-fortune’, with reference to the immeasurable grace extended to mankind through the Passion.