1. Once were the gods together met, And the goddesses came and council held,

2. And the far-famed ones the truth would find, Why baleful dreams to Baldr had come.

3. Then Othin rose, the enchanter old, And the saddle he laid on Sleipnir's back; Thence rode he down to Niflhel deep, And the hound he met that came from hell.

4. Bloody he was on his breast before, At the father of magic he howled from afar; Forward rode Othin, the earth resounded Till the house so high of Hel he reached.

5. Then Othin rode to the eastern door, There, he knew well, was the wise-woman's grave; Magic he spoke and mighty charms, Till spell-bound she rose, and in death she spoke:

6. "What is the man, to me unknown, That has made me travel the troublous road? I was snowed on with snow, and smitten with rain, And drenched with dew; long was I dead."

7. Othin: "Vegtam my name, I am Valtam's son; Speak thou of hell, for of heaven I know: For whom are the benches bright with rings, And the platforms gay bedecked with gold?"

8. The Wise-Woman: "Here for Baldr the mead is brewed, The shining drink, and a shield lies o'er it; But their hope is gone from the mighty gods. Unwilling I spake, and now would be still."

9. Othin: "Wise-woman, cease not! I seek from thee All to know that I fain would ask: Who shall the bane of Baldr become, And steal the life from Othin's son?"

10. The Wise-Woman: "Hoth thither bears the far-famed branch, He shall the bane of Baldr become, And steal the life from Othin's son. Unwilling I spake, and now would be still."

11. Othin: "Wise-woman, cease not! I seek from thee All to know that I fain would ask: Who shall vengeance win for the evil work, Or bring to the flames the slayer of Baldr?"

12. The Wise-Woman: "Rind bears Vali in Vestrsalir, And one night old fights Othin's son;

13. His hands he shall wash not, his hair he shall comb not, Till the slayer of Baldr he brings to the flames. Unwilling I spake, and now would be still."

14. Othin: "Wise-woman, cease not! I seek from thee All to know that I fain would ask: What maidens are they who then shall weep, And toss to the sky the yards of the sails?"

15. The Wise-Woman: "Vegtam thou art not, as erstwhile I thought; Othin thou art, the enchanter old."

16. Othin: "No wise-woman art thou, nor wisdom hast; Of giants three the mother art thou."

17. The Wise-Woman: "Home ride, Othin, be ever proud; For no one of men shall seek me more

18. Till Loki wanders loose from his bonds, And to the last strife the destroyers come."

About this reader

What is Scripture?

Scripture is a browser-based reader for sixteen sacred texts spanning multiple religious and literary traditions. It provides chapter-by-chapter navigation, full-text search across all works, word concordance with frequency analysis, verse-linked notes, text-to-speech, and deep linking to any chapter or verse.

Traditions Represented

The collection spans Abrahamic, East Asian, Zoroastrian, Buddhist, and Nordic traditions. Christian texts include the King James Version Old and New Testaments (1611) and Apocrypha. The Quran uses Marmaduke Pickthall's 1930 English translation. Latter-day Saint scripture includes the Book of Mormon (1830), Doctrine and Covenants (1835), and Pearl of Great Price (1851).

Confucian works include James Legge's translations of The Four Books (1893) and the Book of Poetry (1876). The Tao Te Ching uses Legge's 1891 translation. The Kojiki uses Basil Hall Chamberlain's 1919 English translation. Zoroastrian texts include the Bundahishn (E. W. West, 1880) and the Arda Viraf (Haug & West, 1872). The Lotus Sutra uses Hendrik Kern's 1884 translation. The Finnish Kalevala uses John Martin Crawford's 1888 translation, and the Norse Poetic Edda uses Henry Adams Bellows' 1923 translation.

Public Domain Translations

Every translation in this collection is in the public domain. The most recent translation dates to 1930 (Pickthall's Quran). All texts are freely available for reading, study, quotation, and redistribution with no copyright restrictions.

Concordance and Related Passages

The concordance indexes every word across all sixteen works, showing frequency and distribution. TF-IDF (term frequency-inverse document frequency) scoring identifies passages with similar vocabulary across different traditions, enabling comparative study without requiring prior knowledge of each text's structure. TF-IDF weights words that are frequent in one chapter but rare across the corpus, surfacing meaningful thematic connections rather than common function words.

Deep Linking

Every chapter and verse has a permanent URL. Chapter links follow the pattern /scripture/{work}/{book}-{chapter} (e.g., /scripture/ot/gen-1 for Genesis 1). Verse links append the verse number (e.g., /scripture/ot/gen-1:26 for Genesis 1:26). These URLs can be shared, bookmarked, or cited directly.

Accessibility

Scripture supports keyboard navigation throughout: Tab moves between controls, Enter activates verse actions, and arrow keys navigate chapters. The reading pane has a skip-to-content link. All overlays (search, concordance) are focus-trapped ARIA dialogs. Dynamic content regions use aria-live for screen reader announcements. High-contrast mode is available via the theme toggle. Verse numbers are visible to assistive technology. No flashing content or motion hazards.

Scripture is part of a suite of educational simulations at a9l.im. Explore particle physics with Geon, redistricting with Gerry, or cellular metabolism with Cyano.