Nú hefi eg út fyrir ýtum
— intag svá, að minti —
inta jartegn eina
alhróðigs guðs móður.
Veittu, Máría, meiri
miskunn, en vier kunnum
oss, þá er andir missum,
iðröndum guð biðja.
Nú hefi eg inta eina jartegn móður alhróðigs guðs út fyrir ýtum; intag svá, að minti. Máría, veittu meiri miskunn, en vier kunnum biðja guð oss iðröndum, þá er missum andir.
Now I have told one miracle of the mother of all-glorious God [= Mary] to the end before the people; I composed it thus, so that it should be remembered. Mary, grant more mercy than we are able to ask God for us penitents, when we give up our spirits.
[8] biðja: biðjum 721
[6, 8] kunnum biðja ‘are able to ask for’: The inf. biðja ‘ask for’ (l. 8) is connected with the modal auxiliary kunnum (1st pers. pl. pres. indic.) ‘are able to’ (l. 6). Earlier eds read kunnim (1st pers pl. pres. subj.) ‘will be able to’, but both mss have the indic. form kunnum. Biðjum (1st pers. pl. pres. indic.) ‘we ask’ (so 721) is ungrammatical. Wrightson tries to avoid emendation by construing the last two words of l. 8 as a separate cl.: Guð biðjum ‘let us pray to God’, but that interpretation is very strained.