Vígðiz oss, þá er vatni dögðiz,
valdr himnanna á þrítugsaldri,
í Jórdán við æðar hreinar;
Jón baptista drottni þjónar.
Þessi ástvinr Jésú Kristi
er nú váttr, er þann dag mátti
sjá skínandi á grænni grundu
guðs þrenning með lýðum kennaz.
Valdr himnanna vígðiz oss á þrítugsaldri, þá er dögðiz vatni, við æðar hreinar í Jórdán; Jón baptista þjónar drottni. Þessi ástvinr Jésú Kristi er nú váttr, er þann dag mátti sjá þrenning guðs, skínandi á grænni grundu kennaz með lýðum.
The ruler of the heavens [= God (= Christ)] consecrated himself to us at the age of thirty, when he was sprinkled with water by the pure springs in the Jordan; John the baptist serves the Lord. This, the belovedfriend of Jesus Christ [= John], is now the witness, who that day could see God’s Trinity, shining on the green earth, make itself known among men.
[1] dögðiz: ‘dogdir’ 622
[1] dögðiz ‘was sprinkled’: The more usual iconography of the Baptism of Jesus shows him being submerged in the Jordan rather than being sprinkled. The practice of baptism by sprinkling began in Scandinavia and Iceland in C13th, and though it was resisted by the church (C14th statutes insist that infants be dipped in the font: see e.g. NGL III, 297), it became the standard custom (see Fæhn 1958).