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Book of the Dead Chapter 125C (picture)

Following the protestations of innocence (‘negative confession’ BD125B) many manuscripts add a further address to the deities of the judgment, a compilation combining passages of varying content. There are no known antecedents for the compilation. In the papyrus of Hepres (UC 71000), it is separated from BD125B. The following version is taken from the papyrus of Nu; the sections are those found in T G Allen (Allen 1974); the Hepres fragment with the final part of section 6 includes a further column with the name of Hepres and five more columns, content unidentified. The manuscript therefore appears to omit the Sections 7 and 8 found in other manuscripts, a dialogue between the deceased and the parts of the judgment hall, similar to the dialogues with the afterlife ferryman and identification of parts of his boat:

Section 1
i.nD Hr.tn nTrw ipw imyw wsxt tn nt mAaty
iw.i rx.kwi tn rx.kwi rnw.tn nn xr.i n Sat.tn
n sar.tn bin.i n nTr pn nty tn m-xt.f
nn iwt sp.i Hr.tn Dd.tn maat r.i m-baH nb-r-Dr
Hr-ntt ir.n.i mAat m tA-mri
n Snt.i nTr n iw sp.i Hr nswt imy hrw.f


Hail to you, those gods who are in this broad hall of the Two Goddesses of Right
I know you, I know your names, I will not fall to your slaughter
you have not raised my evil
to this god in whose following you are
there being no fault of mine before you; you say Right of me before the Lord of All
because I have done what is right in the Land of the Reed (= Egypt)
I have not blasphemed, no case of mine has come before a king in his reign

Section 2
i.nD Hr.tn imyw wsxt tn nt mAaty
iwtyw grg m Xt.sn
anxyw m mAat samyw m mAat m-baH Hr imy itn.f
nHm.tn wi m-a bbn anx m bskw wrw hrw pwy n ipt aAt


Hail to you, who are in this broad hall of the Two Goddesses of Right
in whose bodies there is no falsehood,
who live on truth, who consume truth before Horus who is in his sun-disk
Rescue me from Bebon who lives on the entrails of the great, this day of the great count

Section 3
mtn wi ii.kwi xr.tn nn isft.i nn xbnt.i
nn Dwt.i nn mtrw.i nn irt.n.i xt r.f
anx.i m mAat sam.i m mAat iw ir.n.i Ddt rmT hrrt nTtrw Hr.s
iw sHtp.n.i nTr m mrrt.f
iw rdi.n.i t n Hqr Hnqt n ib Hbsw n HAwy mXnt n iw
iw ir.n.i Htp-nTtr n nTtrw prt-xrw n Axw


See I am come before you, there being no evil of mine, no crime of mine,
no wrong of mine, no witness to me, none against whom I have done anything
I live on truth, I consume truth, I have done what men ask and what pleases the gods
I have pacified the god with what he loves
I have given bread to the hungry, beer to the thirsty, clothes to naked, boat to boatless
I have offered divine offerings to the gods, voice offerings to the blessed dead

Section 4
nHmw wi irf.tn xw wi irf.tn
nn smi.tn r.i m-baH
ink wab r wab awy Ddw n.f iiwy iiwy m Htp in mAAw sw
Hr-ntt sDm.n.i mdw pwy aA Ddw saH Hna miw m pr HApd-r
mtrw.i m Hr.f HA.f di.f dniwt
iw mA.n.i psS iSd m-Xnw r-stAw
ink smwy n nTrw rx xt Xt.sn
ii.n.i aA r smtr maAt r rdit iwsw r aHaw.f m-Xnw iwgrt

Rescue me then, protect me then
You should not report me in the presence
I am pure of mouth, pure of arm, told ‘come, come in peace’ by those who see him
because I have heard that great word of the noble with the cat in the house of the silenced
Would I testify in his face or behind him, he would give out a cry
I have seen the splitting of the ished-tree within Rosetjau
I am the semwy-priest for the gods, who knows the matter of their bodies
I am come here to testify truth, to place the balance in its levels within the land of silence

Section 5
i.qA hr iAt.f nb Atfw nb TAw
nHm wi m-a nAy.k n wpwtyw wddyw timsw sxpryw idryt
iwtyw TAmt nt Hr.sn
Hr-ntt ir.n.i mAat n nb mAat
iw.i wab.kwi HAty.i m abw pHwy.i twri Hr-ib.i m Sdyt mAat
nn at im.i Swt m mAat

O he who is tall on his standard, lord of the atef-crown, lord of the winds
Rescue me from your messengers spreading blood, creating devastation
those in whose face there is no mercy
because I have done what is right for the lord of what is right
I am pure, my fore in purity, my rear undefiled, my middle body in the plot of truth
There is no limb in me empty of truth

Section 6
wab.i m Sdyt rst Htp.n.i m niwt mHtt m sxt sAnHmw
wabt ist ra im.s m wnwt snnwt nt grH xmtnwt nt hrw
snaat ib nTrw m-xt swA.sn Hr.s m grH m hrw
di.k iwt.f in.sn r.i
ptr tw ptr rn.k in.sn r.i
ink spd Xry n mHyt imy-bAq.f rn.i
swAt.n.k Hr-m in.sn r.i
swA.n.i Hr niwt mHtt bAq
ptr mAt.n.k im
xnd pw Hna msdt
ptr in.k n.sn
iw mA.n.i ihhy m nw tAw fnxw
ptr rdi.n.sn n.k
bsw pw n sDt Hna wDA n THnt
ptr irf irt.n.k r.s
iw qrs.n.i st Hr wdb n mAat m xt-xAwy
ptr gmt.n.k Hr.f wdb n mAat

wAs pw n ds di-TAw rn.f

ptr irf irt.n.k r pA bs n sDt Hna pA wAD n THnt m-xt qrs.n.k st

iw ht.n.i Hr.s iw axm.n.i sDt iw sd.n.i wAD qmAw n S

mi ir.k aq Hr sbA pn n wsxt nt mAaty

iw.k rx.ti n

I am pure in the southern plot, I have rested in the northern city, in the field of locusts,

in which the crew of Ra is pure in the second hour of night, and third hour of day,

which contents the gods after they pass by it in night or in day.

Let him approach, they say of me.

Who are you, what is your name, they ask of me.

I am the lower thorn of the papyrus reed, He who is in his moringa-tree is my name.

What have you passed, they ask of me.

I have passed the city north of the moringa.

What did you see there?
It was a haunch and a thigh.

What did you say to them?
I have seen celebration in those lands of the untied.

What did they give you?
It was a fire brand and a block of green.

What did you do to that?
I buried them on the shore of the place of greatness as an evening offering.

What did you find on it, the shore of the place of greatness?

It was a sceptre of flint, called Giver of Breath.

What then did you do to the fire brand and a block of green after burying them?
I mourned over them, I quenched the flame, I broke the green, cast into the lake.

Come then, enter this gate of this broad hall of the Two Goddesses of Right.

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