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Book of the Dead Chapter 1

Sources for the composition: before the New Kingdom, much of this composition is found among funerary compositions written on the walls of late Middle Kingdom coffins (numbered by de Buck as 'Coffin Texts', number 314). The additional passages are not found in the sources for this chapter before the Third Intermediate Period.

This chapter is regularly the first in New Kingdom and Third Intermediate Period as well as in Late Period and Ptolemaic Period Books of the Dead. From the Ramesside Period onwards, it is often written below an extended illustration depicting the funeral procession and the funeral rites in front of the tomb-chapel; this becomes the standard illustration above chapters 1-15 in Late Period and Ptolemaic Period manuscripts. The following transliteration and translation are taken from the Papyrus of Nu (mid-Eighteenth Dynasty, about 1400 BC), where it occurs third in the sequence of chapters on that manuscript (after chapters 17 and 18). The letter N alone denotes the Name of the deceased (Nu) with or without title and epithet.

 

hrw n qrs wsir aq m-xt prt in N
kA imnt in DHwty nswt nHH
ink nTr r-gs dpt
aHA.n.i Hr.k
ink wa m nw n nTrw
DADAt smAa xrw wsir r xftyw
hrw wDa mdw
n-wi wnDwt.k wsir
ink wa m nw n nTrw
msw nwt smAyw xftyw wsir
xnriw sbiw Hr.f
n-wi wnDwt.k wsir
aHA.n.i Hr.k
sb.n.i Hr rn.k
ink DHwty smAa xrw Hr r xftyw.f
hrw pwy n wDa mdw m Hwt-sr wrt imt iwnw
ink Ddy m Ddw
wn.i Hna HAyt wsir
iAkbyt nt wsir m idbwy rxty
smAa xrw wsir r xftyw.f
xrwy-fy sw ra n DHwty
smAa xrw wsir r xftyw.f
xrwy-fy irw.n.i DHwty
wn.i Hna Hr hrw Hbs tStS wn tpHwt
n ia wrdw-ibw
sStA r n sStAyw m r-sTAw
wn.i Hna Hr m nD.tw qaH pwy iAb n wsir imy xm
pr.i aq.i m wnmyt hrw dr sbiw m xm
wn.i Hna Hr hrw irt Hbw nw wsir
n irt aAbt n ra sint dnit m iwnw
ink wab m Ddw sqAy imy qA
ink Hm-nTr n AbDw hrw n qA tA
ink mA sStAw m r-sTAw
ink Sdd Hbt bA m Ddt
ink sm m irt.f
ink wr xrp Hmw hrw n rdit Hnw Hr mfx
ink Ssp xbsyt hrw n xbs tA m Hwt-nn-nswt
stknyw bAw mnxw m pr wsir
stkn bA.i Hna.Tn r pr wsir
sDm.f mi sDm.Tn
mAA.f mi mAA.Tn
aHa.f mi aHa.Tn
Hms.f mi Hms.Tn
i.ddyw t Hnqt n bAw mnxw m pr wsir
di.Tn t r trwy n bA.i Hna.Tn
i.wnnyw wAwt wppyw mTnw n bAw mnxw m pr wsir
wn irf.Tn wAwt wp irf.Tn mtnw n bA.i Hna .Tn
aq.f m dndn pr.f m Htp m pr wsir
nn xsf sw nn Sna sw
aq.f Hsw pr.f mrw xrw.f mAa
irw wD.f m pr wsir
Sm.n.i aA n gm wn.i
iw mxAt Sw.ti m sp.f

 

Day of burial of Osiris; going in after going out by N
O Bull of the West, says Thoth, King of Eternity.
I am the god of protection of the boat
I have fought for you,
I am one of those gods
the council justifying Osiris against the enemies
on the day of judgement.
I am of your flock, Osiris.
I am one of those gods
the children of Nut slaying the enemies of Osiris
and repelling those who rebel against him.
I am of your flock, Osiris.
I have fought for you,
I have travelled at your name.
I am Thoth who justifies Horus against his enemies,
on that day of judgement in the Great Temple of the Official which is in Iunu.
I am the man of Djedu who is in Djedu.
I am with the mourning women of Osiris,
the women who lament Osiris at the Two Riverbanks of the Washermen.
Justify Osiris against his enemies, said Ra to Thoth.
Justify Osiris against his enemies, so he said as I, Thoth, have done.
I am with Horus the day of wrapping the dismembered god and opening the caverns,
and of washing the weary-hearted,
secrets of the mouth of the secret ones in Rosetau.
I am with Horus when this left arm of Osiris which is in Khem is rescued,
I go in and out of the devouring fire on the day of repelling the rebels from Khem.
I am with Horus on the day of performing the festivals of Osiris,
of making the offerings to Ra on the day 6 and half-month festivals in Iunu.
I am the pure-priest in Djedu, raising he who is in the mound.
I am the god's servant in Abydos on the day of raising of the land.
I am the one who sees the secrets in Rosetau.
I am the one who recites the festival-book of the Ram in Djedet.
I am the sem-priest in his task.
I am the Greatest of Directors of Craftsmen the day of placing the Henu-bark on the sledge.
I am the one who takes up the hoe on the day of hacking the earth in Nensu.
O you who bring effective souls close in the house of Osiris,
bring my soul close with you to the house of Osiris,
so that it may hear as you hear,
so that it may see as you see,
so that it may stand as you stand,
so that it may sit as you sit.
O you who give bread and beer to the effective souls in the house of Osiris,
give bread at every occasion to my soul with you.
O you who are the openers of ways and the cleavers of roads for effective souls in the house of Osiris,
Open then the ways, cleave then the roads for my soul with you,
so that he may go in in fury, and emerge in peace from the house of Osiris,
without being blocked, without being turned back.
May it enter praised, and emerge loved, its voice true,
its decision accomplished in the house of Osiris.
I have proceeded here, and no fault has been found with me:
the scales are free of its moment.


 

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