Iceland National Anthem

Lofsöngur

Lofsongur

Hymn

Written 1874

Adopted 1918

Lyrics Matthías Jochumsson

Music Sveinbjörn Sveinbjörnsson

✝ God / Faith 🌿 Nature 🏺 Ancestors / Heritage | Prayerful

Key Facts

1. The hymn's central image comes from Psalm 90, where a thousand years in God's sight are like a day that has gone by. Its two-way wording, 'one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years a day', is closer to 2 Peter 3:8.
2. It is notoriously difficult to sing. In the official score the melody spans a minor fourteenth, an octave plus a minor seventh, and the government itself says the range is much too wide for many people. Usually only the first of the three stanzas is sung.
3. Act No. 7 of 1983 formally made Lofsöngur the national anthem of Iceland and forbids performing or publishing it in any form other than the original, or using it for commercial or advertising purposes; before that the song's status rested on custom. The state had acquired the copyright to the music in 1948 and to the poem in 1949.
4. Jochumsson wrote the first stanza in the autumn of 1873 while staying with Sveinbjörnsson at 15 London Street in Edinburgh, where a plaque has marked the house since 1974. He wrote the other two stanzas in London, and the music followed in the spring of 1874.

Iceland National Anthem Lyrics

Ó, guð vors lands! Ó, lands vors guð! Vér lofum þitt heilaga, heilaga nafn! Úr sólkerfum himnanna hnýta þér krans þínir herskarar, tímanna safn. Fyrir þér er einn dagur sem þúsund ár og þúsund ár dagur, ei meir: eitt eilífðar smáblóm með titrandi tár, sem tilbiður guð sinn og deyr. Íslands þúsund ár, Íslands þúsund ár, eitt eilífðar smáblóm með titrandi tár, sem tilbiður guð sinn og deyr. Ó, guð, ó, guð! Vér föllum fram og fórnum þér brennandi, brennandi sál, guð faðir, vor drottinn frá kyni til kyns, og vér kvökum vort helgasta mál. Vér kvökum og þökkum í þúsund ár, því þú ert vort einasta skjól. Vér kvökum og þökkum með titrandi tár, því þú tilbjóst vort forlagahjól. Íslands þúsund ár, Íslands þúsund ár, voru morgunsins húmköldu, hrynjandi tár, sem hitna við skínandi sól. Ó, guð vors lands! Ó, lands vors guð! Vér lifum sem blaktandi, blaktandi strá. Vér deyjum, ef þú ert ei ljós það og líf, sem að lyftir oss duftinu frá. Ó, vert þú hvern morgun vort ljúfasta líf, vor leiðtogi í daganna þraut og á kvöldin vor himneska hvíld og vor hlíf og vor hertogi á þjóðlífsins braut. Íslands þúsund ár, Íslands þúsund ár, verði gróandi þjóðlíf með þverrandi tár, sem þroskast á guðsríkis braut.

Translations are non-official and intended to convey meaning, not replace originals

Analysis

Editorial

Matthías Jochumsson wrote Lofsöngur for the celebrations of the thousandth year since the settlement of Iceland, and it was first sung at the festival service in Reykjavík Cathedral on 2 August 1874, with Sveinbjörn Sveinbjörnsson's music composed in Edinburgh, where he spent most of his working life. The poem is a hymn rather than a march: it was inspired by Psalm 90, the text set for that day's sermons, in which a thousand years in God's sight are like a single day, and each of its three stanzas includes the refrain of Iceland's thousand years. It became the national anthem by tradition between home rule in 1904 and sovereignty in 1918, was sung as Iceland's anthem on Sovereignty Day, 1 December 1918, and was confirmed as the official anthem by Act No. 7 of 1983.