1. Aegir, who was also called Gymir, had prepared ale for the gods, after he had got the mighty kettle, as now has been told. To this feast came Othin and Frigg, his wife. Thor came not, as he was on a journey in the East. Sif,

2. Thor's wife, was there, and Brag, with Ithun, his wife. Tyr, who had but one hand, was there; the wolf Fenrir had bitten off his other hand when they had bound him. There were Njorth and Skathi his wife, Freyr and Freyja, and Vithar, the son of Othin. Loki was there, and Freyr's

3. servants Byggvir and Beyla. Many were there of the gods and elves.

4. Aegir had two serving-men, Fimafeng and Eldir. Glittering gold they had in place of firelight; the ale came in of itself; and great was the peace. The guests praised much the ability of Aegir's serving-men. Loki might not endure that, and he slew Fimafeng. Then the gods shook their shields and howled at Loki and drove him away to the forest, and thereafter set to drinking again. Loki turned back, and outside he met Eldir. Loki spoke to him:

5. "Speak now, Eldir, for not one step Farther shalt thou fare; What ale-talk here do they have within, The sons of the glorious gods?"

6. Eldir: "Of their weapons they talk, and their might in war, The sons of the glorious gods; From the gods and elves who are gathered here No friend in words shalt thou find."

7. Loki: "In shall I go into Aegir's hall, For the feast I fain would see;

8. Bale and hatred I bring to the gods, And their mead with venom I mix."

9. Eldir: "If in thou goest to Aegir's hall, And fain the feast wouldst see, And with slander and spite wouldst sprinkle the gods, Think well lest they wipe it on thee."

10. Loki: "Bethink thee, Eldir, if thou and I Shall strive with spiteful speech; Richer I grow in ready words If thou speakest too much to me."

11. Then Loki went into the hall, but when they who were there saw who had entered, they were all silent.

12. Loki: "Thirsty I come into this thine hall, I, Lopt, from a journey long, To ask of the gods that one should give Fair mead for a drink to me.

13. "Why sit ye silent, swollen with pride, Ye gods, and no answer give?

14. At your feast a place and a seat prepare me, Or bid me forth to fare."

15. Bragi: "A place and a seat will the gods prepare No more in their midst for thee; For the gods know well what men they wish To find at their mighty feasts."

16. Loki: "Remember, Othin, in olden days That we both our blood have mixed; Then didst thou promise no ale to pour, Unless it were brought for us both."

17. Othin: "Stand forth then, Vithar, and let the wolf's father Find a seat at our feast;

18. Lest evil should Loki speak aloud Here within Aegir's hall."

19. Then Vithar arose and poured drink for Loki; but before he drank he spoke to the gods:

20. "Hail to you, gods! ye goddesses, hail! Hail to the holy throng! Save for the god who yonder sits, Bragi there on the bench."

21. Bragi: "A horse and a sword from my hoard will I give, And a ring gives Bragi to boot, That hatred thou makst not among the gods; So rouse not the great ones to wrath."

22. Loki: "In horses and rings thou shalt never be rich, Bragi, but both shalt thou lack; Of the gods and elves here together met Least brave in battle art thou, (And shyest thou art of the shot.)"

23. Bragi: "Now were I without as I am within,

24. And here in Aegir's hall, Thine head would I bear in mine hands away, And pay thee the price of thy lies."

25. Loki: "In thy seat art thou bold, not so are thy deeds, Bragi, adorner of benches! Go out and fight if angered thou feelest, No hero such forethought has."

64 more verses…

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.

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