Óvinum þínum trú þú aldrigi,
þótt fagrt mæli fyr þér;
góðu þú heit; gótt er annars
víti hafa at varnaði.
Trú þú aldrigi óvinum þínum, þótt mæli fagrt fyr þér; heit þú góðu; gótt er hafa annars víti at varnaði.
Never trust your enemies, though they speak fair words to you; promise good things; it is good to have another’s punishment as a warning.
[4] góðu þú heit ‘promise good things’: Þú is omitted by both Skj B and Skald. Falk (1914a, 11) suggests, but does not incorporate into his text, the emendation góðu þó heiti ‘though they promise good things’, a suggestion followed by Björn M. Ólsen (1915, 34). This continues the admonition of the preceding ll.