Egyptian Religious Texts

“The Pyramid Texts”, 2400 BC (excerpt)

Translated by J. H. Breasted
http://alexm.here.ru/mirrors/www.enteract.com/jwalz/Eliade/166.html

THE DEAD PHARAOH ASCENDS TO HEAVEN

Your two wings are spread out like a falcon with thick feathers, like the hawk seen in the evening crossing the sky.

He flies who flies; this king Pepi flies away from you, all you mortals. He is not of the earth, he is of the sky. . . . This king Pepi flies like a cloud to the sky, like a bird; this king Pepi kisses the sky like a falcon, this king Pepi reaches the sky like the god of the Horizon (Harakhte).

You fly into to the sky as a falcon, your feathers are like those of geese.

Osiris standing between Isis and Nephthys (public domain image) King Unis goes to the sky, king Unis goes to the sky! On the wind! On the wind ! -

…

Your messengers go, your swift messengers run, your heralds make haste. They announce to Re that you have come, (even) this king Pepi -

This king Pepi found the gods standing, wrapped in their garments, their white sandals on their feet. They throw down their white sandals to the earth, they throw off their garments. 'Our heart was not glad until you came,' they say.

... This king Pepi shines in the east like Re, he goes in the west like Kheprer. This king Pepi lives on where Horus (son of Osiris) lord of the sky lives, by command of Horus lord of the sky'.

The king ascends to the sky among the gods dwelling in the sky. He stands on the great [dais], he hears (in judicial session) the (legal) affairs of men. Re finds you upon the shores of the sky in this lake that is in Nut (the Sky-goddess). ‘The traveler comes!' say the gods. Re gives you his arm on the stairway to the sky. 'He who knows his place comes,' say the gods. O Pure One, assume your throne on the boat of the Sun-god Re and sail through the sky. . . . Sail with the Forever-bright Stars…. Receive the praise [of the gods]… Live the pleasant life which the lord of the horizon lives…

The Papyrus of Ani – “Egyptian Book of the Dead”, 1240 BC (excerpt)

Translated by E.A. Wallis Budge
http://www.sas.upenn.edu/African_Studies/Books/Papyrus_Ani.html

A HYMN OF PRAISE TO RA WHEN HE RISETH IN THE EASTERN PART OF HEAVEN

Those who are in his following rejoice, and the Osiris, the scribe Ani, whose word is truth, saith:- Hail, thou Disk, thou lord of rays, who risest on the horizon day by day. Shine thou with thy beams of light upon the face of the Osiris Ani, whose word is truth, for he singeth hymns of praise to thee at dawn, and he maketh thee to sit at eventide [with words of adoration]. May the soul of the Osiris Ani, whose word is truth, come forth with thee into heaven! May he set out with thee in the Matet Boat [in the morning], may he come into port in the Sektet Boat [in the evening], and may he cleave his path among the stars of heaven which never rest.

The Osiris Ani, whose word is truth, being at peace [with his god], maketh adoration to his Lord, the Lord of Eternity, and saith:- Homage to thee, O Heru-khuti, who art the god Khepera, the self-created. When thou risest on the horizon and sheddest thy beams of light upon the Lands of the South and of the North, thou art beautiful, yea beautiful, and all the gods rejoice when they behold thee, the king of heaven. The goddess, the Lady of the Hour, is stablished upon thy head, her Uraei of the South and of the North are upon thy brow, and she taketh up her place before thee. The god Thoth is stablished in the bows of thy boat to destroy utterly all thy foes. Those who dwell in the Tuat come forth to meet thee, and they bow to the earth in homage as they come towards thee, to look upon thy beautiful Form. And I, Ani, have come into thy presence, so that I may be with thee, and may behold thy Disk every day. Let me not be kept captive [by the tomb], and let me not be turned back [on my way]. Let the members of my body be made new again when I contemplate thy beauties, even as are the members of all thy favoured ones, because I am one of those who worshipped thee upon earth. Let me arrive in the Land of Eternity, let me enter into the Land of Everlastingness. This, O my Lord, behold thou shalt ordain for me.

Freewalt.com •• Freewalt Family •• Search •• Terms of Use