Anon Lil 32VII/3 — miskunn ‘mercy’
Hjörtun játi; falli og fljóti
fagnaðarlaug af hvers manns augum;
æ þakkandi miskunn mjúka
minn drottinn, í holdgan þinni;
Sie þier dýrð með sannri prýði,
sunginn heiðr af öllum tungum
eilífliga með sigri og sælu;
sæmd og vald það minkaz aldri.
Hjörtun játi; fagnaðarlaug falli og fljóti af hvers manns augum, æ þakkandi mjúka miskunn í holdgan þinni, drottinn minn. Sie þier dýrð með sannri prýði, heiðr sunginn af öllum tungum, eilífliga með sigri og sælu; sæmd og það vald minkaz aldri.
Let hearts confess; let a hot spring of joy [TEARS] fall and flow from every man’s eyes, forever thanking mild mercy in your Incarnation, my Lord. Let there be to you glory with true beauty, honour sung from all tongues, eternally with victory and blessing; honour and that power will never be diminished.
readings
[3] miskunn mjúka: mikla miskunn 720a VIII, miskunn mikla 99a, 713, 705ˣ, 4892
notes
[3] mjúka miskunn ‘mild mercy’: This may be an allusion to the medieval topos of the dispute in heaven between the personified virtues Mercy, Truth, Peace, and Justice: the virtues debate the fate of fallen humanity, and Mercy eventually prevails, persuading the second person of the Trinity to become incarnate and bring about salvation. The topos, based on Ps. LXXXIV.11 (misericordia et veritas occurrerunt iustitia et pax deosculatae sunt ‘Mercy and truth have met each other: justice and peace have kissed’) was widespread: for classic examples see Meditaciones Vite Christi, De Contencione inter Misericordiam et Veritatem (Stallings-Taney 1997, 12-14; Taney 2000, 6-8), and Bernard of Clairvaux, Sermo 1 In Annuntiatione Dominica (Leclerq and Rochais 1968, 22-9).