Gripla - 20.12.2011, Qupperneq 73

73
g[u]þ het noa . at ei- |19 ge skẏ[l]ẟe oftaS flóþ koma þat er heim |20 eɴ e[y]
þe ſa ſem á hanſ dogom hafþe |21 orþet ||

[Standard Old Icelandic transcription:] [Á]18 regnboga eru þrír litir:
vatns ok brennusteinsloga ok elds. Þat minnir oss á at óttask þre-
falda reiði Guðs, þá er kømr yfir heiminn. Vatn kom í Nóaflóði;
brennusteinslogi kom yfir Sódómam ok Gómorram; eldr mun ganga
yfir allan heim fyrir dómsdag. Þessir enir sǫmu litir á [regn]boga
merkja þrefalda fyrgefning synða: ein er í skírn, ǫnnur er í iðrun
synða, en þ[riðja] er í lífláti fyr Guðs sakar. Vatns litr [merkir]19
fyrgefning synða í skírn; því fylgir blíðleikr mikill ok engi torveldi.
Brennusteinslogi merkir iðrun synða; því fylgir beiskleikr mikill.
El[dz litr] merkir fyrgefning synða í lífláti fyr Guðs sakar; því fylgir
ógn mikil ok bjartleikr mikill. Þessa þrefalda ógn reiði Guðs táknar
regnbogi. Hann var eigi sénn fyrir Nóaflóð. Síðan er hann sýndr
í minn[ing] heits þess, er Guð hét Nóa, at eigi skyldi oftarr flóð
koma, þat er heiminn eyði svá sem á hans dǫgum hafði orðit.
[English Translation:] In the rainbow there are three colours: of
water and of sulphur-flame and of fire. This reminds us to fear the
threefold wrath of God, which comes upon the world. Water came
in Noah’s flood; sulphur-flame came upon Sodom and Gomorrah;
fire will go over the whole world before Judgement Day. These
same colours in the rainbow signify the threefold forgiveness of
18 The preposition is restored mainly on the basis of the author’s use in l. 7 (cf. earlier, in the
textual notes), but see also the lectio in the Hauksbók variant text (cf. Hauksbók, 174). The
Rímbegla version has “I”, both in AM 730, 4to, p. 81 (cf. Rymbegla, 336) and in AM 731, 4to,
f. 19r (cf. Alfræði Íslenzk III, 9).
19 Or, alternatively, [jarteinir] (see above, the relevant item in the textual notes [l. 10]).
THE RAINBOW ALLEGORY
parchment at the beginning of the line. ſkẏ[l]ẟe Kölbing read sky[lde], Larsson skylde; but
only l is partly lost in a little parchment hole, and d has the uncial form ẟ. oftaʀ Kölbing’s
incorrect reading s[v]o stoR was corrected by Larsson. flóþ Kölbing marked no accent.
20: eⲛ is hardly readable (see beginning of l. 19). e[y]þe Kölbing’s reading he[rja]þe has no
paleographic grounds; Larsson corrected as e[y]þe, y being partly lost in a little parchment hole.
á Kölbing marked no accent. 21: last word is aligned at the right-hand margin of the page and
preceded by the snail sign Ꝯ. The end of the text is marked by a combination ∵ of three
puncti.