The Egyptian Book of the dead

Thou art a lion, thou art a sphinx, thou art Horus who avengeth his father; thou art these four gods, those glorious ones who are shouting for joy, who are making incantations, and who bring out water by the power of the tramp of their feet. Thou risest on the right, thou risest on the left. Seb has opened thy blind eyes,(1) he has loosened thy legs which were fettered. Thou hast received thy heart of thy mother, thy whole heart of thy own body; thy soul is in the sky, thy body is under the ground. There is bread for thy body, water for thy throat, sweet breeze for thy nostrils.

Thou restest in their funereal chambers, which those who are in their coffins have opened for thee and for thy ... when thou journeyest; thou art firm on thy pedestal, of thy existence, thou appearest in heaven, and thou fastenest the tackle(2) by the side of Rā.

Thou fishest with the net on the river, the water of which thou drinkest; thou walkest on thy feet, and thou dost not walk headlong. Thou appearest on the surface of the earth, and thou doest not come forth from under solid ground, the strength(3) which is in thee will not be shaken through the action of the god of thy domain.

Thou art purified with the milk (given to) Apis, and with beer of the goddess Tenemit, with natron which removes all what is wrong in thee, and which was provided by the daughter of Rā when she gave it to her father Rā; and when she raised for thee the mountain where is buried her father Osiris.(4)

I have taken a bite of these sweet things which are on the hands (?) of Osiris N. the loaves (?) from above, which belong to Rā, made of grain of Abu, and four loaves from below which belong to Seb, made of grain from the South. The god(5) of thy domain brings thee the Field of Hotepit, his hands are before thee.

Thou goest out like Rā, thou art powerful like Rā, thou art in possession of thy feet. Osiris N. is in possession of his feet at all times and at all hours; thou wilt not be judged, thou wilt not be imprisoned, thou wilt not be guarded, thou wilt not be put in bonds, thou wilt not be placed in the house where are the enemies. Cakes are piled up before thee, and offerings are well guarded for thee.

Thou art great, a mighty(6) Chu, whose name is not known, the soul which opens the Amenta. It is mighty this soul of N., for he(7) is beloved of Rā and well pleasing to his circle, he joins (?) the ways, he guards the men, and guides the lion to the place where his ka is propitiated. N. ... the lord of mankind causes thee to live and that thy soul be sound, that thy body may be enduring and great, that thou mayest see the light(8) and breathe the wind, that thy face may be revealed in the house of right, that thou mayest be stationed in the meadow, and not see any storm, that thou mayest follow the lord of the two earths, that thou mayest refresh thyself under the merit tree by the side of the goddess, the great magician.(9)

Thy ka is with thee, that thou mayest rejoice; and the heart of thy birth; thou wakest thy ... are happy; the cycle of the gods give pleasure to thy heart. Thou goest out (and thou seest) four loaves for thee from Sechem, and four loaves from Hermopolis; thou goest out and there are four (loaves) from Heliopolis on the table of the lord of the two earths.

Thou seizest the sma(13) at Abydos and thou conductest victuals to the great gods and vases of drink to those who are above the clouds in the festival of Osiris, on the morning of the Uak festival; the hersheta priest decks thee with gold; thy garment is well arranged with byssus; the Nile rises over thy body; thou art glorious(14) ... thou drinkest on the shore of the lake; thou art welcome to the gods who are in it; thou comest forth in the sky with the gods who bring Maat to Rā, thou art brought before the cycle of the gods, thou art like one of them. Thou art the gander among the geese which are offered to Ptah Anebefres.

Both Chapters refer to the funereal bed or couch on which the deceased will lie like Osiris. None of them has a vignette. As in the course of these chapters there is no mention of the bed itself, we must suppose that they were read while the bed was raised or arranged. The translation of this text is particularly difficult, and often conjectural, owing to our papyrus having no other document to compare it with.

3.. I have kept Renouf’s translation, “strength,” but I believe the sense is the same as before: “solid ground, dry land, continent (Feste, Brugsch),” as we find in this sentence from the Stele at Abusimbel: “the mountains, the water, and the continents are shaken by thy name.”