Yfirmanni býðk — unnin
upps mærð borin — lærðra
— Jóan kǫllum svá — allrar
alþýðu brag hlýða.
Hefjum hendr, en leyfa
hyggk vin rǫðuls tyggja
— stóls vex hæð, þars hvílir
heilagr konungr — fagran.
Býðk yfirmanni allrar alþýðu lærðra — svá kǫllum Jóan — hlýða brag; unnin mærð [e]s borin upp. Hefjum hendr, en hyggk leyfa fagran vin tyggja rǫðuls; hæð stóls vex, þars heilagr konungr hvílir.
I ask the superior of the whole multitude of learned men [CLERICS > BISHOP] — thus we [I] call Jón — to listen to the poetry; the finished poem is offered up. We lift up our hands, and I intend to praise the beautiful friend of the king of the sun [= God > = Óláfr]; the eminence of the [bishop’s] seat increases, where the holy king rests.
[5] Hefjum: hófum Bb
[5] hefjum hendr ‘we lift up hands’: The gesture was associated with prayer and would have been familiar from Scripture (Ps. XXVII.2, LXII.5, CXXXIII.3; Lam. III.41; 1 Tim. II.8). The psalmist’s formula appears in a l. from the widely-used matins hymn Rerum creator optime (AH 51, 28; Ordo Nidr., 185, 195, 198): Mentes manusque tollimus ‘We lift up our minds and our hands’. Liturgical books commonly use the rubric manus elevans. The Bb reading hróðr is adopted in Skj B and Skald, hence hefjum hróðr ... fagran ‘I begin my fine poem’ (ll. 5, 8)