Thursday, November 27, 2008

Ancient Egyptian Funerary Text: Utterance 553

Resurrection, Meal, and Ascension of the Deceased King,
Utterance 553.

1353a. To say: Geb has raised thee up; this thy spirit has been guarded for thee.

1353b. Thy mns-jar remains; thy mns-jar is caused to remain.

1353c. Thou art more exalted than Shu and Tefnut in the house of Ḥtmw.t (the destroyer), N.,

1354a. for thou art verily a spirit who wast nursed by Nephthys with her left breast.

1354b. Osiris has given to thee the spirits; take the eye of Horus to thee.

1355a. These thy four ways which are before the grave of Horus

1355b. are those whereon one goes (lit. goes a going) to the god

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as soon as the sun sets (or, as far as the setting of the sun).

1356a. He takes hold of thine arm, after Seker, chief of Pdw-š purified thee,

1356b. (and he conducted thee) to thy throne which is in ḳbḥ.w.

1357a. Raise thyself up, spirit of N.; sit, eat thou;

1357b. let thy ka be seated, that he may eat bread and beer with thee without ceasing for ever and ever.

1358a. Thy going is as a representative of Osiris;

1358b. thy feet hit thine arms;

1358c. they bring thee to thy feasts,

1358d. to thy white teeth, (to) thy fingernails, (to) the Dw.f-nome.

1359a. Thou ferriest over as the great bull to the green fields,

1359b. to the pure places of Rē‘.

1360a. Raise thyself up, spirit of N.; thy water belongs to thee, thine abundance belongs to thee;

1360b. thine efflux belongs to thee, which issued from the secretion of Osiris.

1361a. The double doors of heaven are open for thee; the double doors of ḳbḥ.w are undone for thee;

1361b. the double doors of the tomb are open for thee; the double doors of Nut are unfastened for thee.

1362a. "Greeting," says Isis; "ferry on in peace," says Nephthys,

1362b. after she had seen thy father, Osiris, on the day of the mm.t-feast (or, of feasting him who is in need ?).

1362c. Elevated is the ddb.t-chapel of the double ’itr.t-palace of the North, thy Grg.w-bȝ.

1363a. Raise thyself up; shake off thy dust;

1363b. remove the dirt which is on thy face; loose thy bandages.

1363c. They are indeed not bandages; they are the locks of Nephthys.

13 64a. Travel over the southern regions; travel over the northern regions;

1364b. be seated on thy firm throne.

1364c. Anubis, who is chief of the sḥ-ntr, commands that thy spirit be behind thee, that thy might be in thy body,

1364d. that thou remain Chief of the mighty ones (or, spirits).

1365a. Thou purifiest thyself with these thy four nmś.t-jars,

1365b. (with) the špn.t and ‘ȝt-jar, which come from the sḥ-ntr for thee, that thou mayest become divine.

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1365c. The sky weeps for thee; the earth trembles for thee;

1366a. the śmnt.t-woman laments for thee; the great min.t mourns for thee;

1366b. the feet agitate for thee; the hands wave for thee,

1366c. when thou ascendest to heaven as a star, as the morning star.

1367a. N. is come to thee, his father; he is come to thee, Geb;

1367b. he is united with your dead, O gods.

1367c. Let him sit on the great throne, on the lap of his father Mḫnti-'irti;

1368a. let him purify his mouth with incense and natron; let him purify his nails upper and lower.

1368b. Let one do for him what was done for his father, Osiris, on the day of assembling the bones,

1368c. of making firm (or, adjusting) the sandals, of crossing the feet (i.e. when ferrying over).

1369a. To thee come the wise and the understanding;

1369b. to thee comes the southern ’itr.t-palace,

1369c. to thee comes the northern ’itr.t-palace, with a salutation,

1369d. (thou) who endurest eternally at the head of the mighty ones.

Excerpted from:
The Pyramid Texts
Translation by Samuel A. B. Mercer
[1952, copyright not renewed]
http://www.sacred-texts.com/egy/pyt/pyt33.htm