Source for the
composition: chapters 96 and 97 are not attested before the New Kingdom. In
the earlier Eighteenth Dynasty manuscripts, they form a single composition;
in latere Eighteenth Dynasty manuscripts they are divided into two. Chapter
96 is a short declaration to secure a place beside Thoth, god of knowledge,
in the afterlife; in the declaration the deceased seems to carry
out the tasks of that god. Chapter 97 asserts control over the fields and
waters that guarantee an eternal supply of offerings.
The
following transliteration and translation are taken from the version preserved
in the mid to late Eighteenth Dynasty papyrus of Nu (British Museum EA 10477),
where the two chapters are combined.
Title
of combined Chapter 96-97
r n wn r-gs DHwty
rdit Ax s m Xrt-nTr
Formula for being
beside Thoth and causing a man to be a transfigured spirit
in the underworld
Chapter 96
ink Hry irt.f
ii.n.i di.i mAat n ra
sHtp.n.i swty m nXX n Akrw
dSrw n imAx n gb
I am the one who is over his eye.
I have come to give What is Right to Ra.
I have pacified Seth with the spittle of Aker
and the blood of the spine of Geb
Chapter 97
msktt wAs n inpw
Htp n.i Axw ipn imyw Sms n nb xt
ink nb sxt m wd.sn
ink it baH dr ibt sAA Sw
mAA irf Tn nTrw ipw wrw aAw
xntyw bAw iwnw
iw.i qa.kwi Hr tp.Tn
ink mnx imy.Tn
mk wi twri.i n bA.i wr aA
n rdi.tw.i n sDb pwy pr m r.Tn
iw sbw n wDb.f Hr.i
wab.i m S n sHtp wDa
m SdH.n.i m ntrt.i
Xr nht n ntrt.i n pt
ist sqbb mAa xrw nbw tp-a
spr wnw mAat
ink mty mAa imy tA
ink aw n r.f
sxm n nb wa ra wr anx m mAat
im rdi nkn r.i
HAw hrw m xntyw r xt nbt
O night-bark, O sceptre of Anubis,
Those spirits who are in the following of the
lord of offerings are content for me.
I am the lord of the marsh by their command.
I am the father of the flood, removing thirst,
guarding the pools.
See then, O those great and grand gods,
the foremost of the powers of Iunu:
I am higher than your heads,
I am the effective one among you.
See, I am cleansed for my soul, great and grand.
I have not been given to that obstacle that
comes from your mouths;
it is gone - it did not turn on me.
I am purified in the pool from pacifying the
judgement,
when I had tied the headband with my divine
eye,
under the sycamore of my divine quality of the
sky.
Indeed all the previously justified are refreshed,
as those who travel in What is Right arrive.
I am one who is exact and right, who is in the
earth.
I am the interpreter for his speech,
the powerful one of the sole lord, Ra, the great
one who lives on What is Right.
Do not inflict injury on me.
The day is unveiled with those who are foremost
in all offerings.
Copyright © 2002 University College London. All rights reserved.