CHAPTER XVII.

_Chapter whereby one cometh forth by day out of the Netherworld. Let the
words be said_:


=I am he who closeth and he who openeth, and I am but One.=(1.)

I am Râ at his first appearance.

I am the great god, self-produced;

His Names together compose the cycle of the gods;

Resistless is he among the gods.(2.)

I, who am Osiris, am Yesterday and the kinsman of the Morrow.(3.)

A scene of strife arose among the gods when I gave the command.(4.)

=Amenta is the scene of strife among the gods.=

I know the name of the great god who is here.

=Herald[20] of Râ is his name.=

I am the great Heron who is in Heliopolis, who presideth over the
account of whatsoever is and of that which cometh into being.(5.)

=Who is that? It is Osiris who presideth over the account of all that is
and all that cometh into being, that is Endless Time and Eternity.
Endless Time is Day and Eternity is Night.=

I am Amsu in his manifestations; there have been given to me the Two
Feathers upon my head.(6.)

=Who is that, and what are his Feathers? It is Horus, the avenger of his
father, and the Two Feathers are the Uræi upon the forehead of his
father Tmu.=(7.)

I have alighted upon my Land, and I come from my own Place.

=What is that? It is the Horizon of my father Tmu.=

All defects are done away, all deficiencies are removed, and all that
was wrong in me is cast forth.

I am purified at the two great and mighty Lakes at Sutenhunen, which
purify the offerings which living men present to the great god who is
there(8.).

=Who is that? It is Râ himself.=

=Which are the two great and mighty Lakes? The Lake of Natron and the
Lake of Māāt=(9.).

=I advance over the roads, which I know, and my face is on the Land of
Māāt.=

=What is that? The road upon which father Tmu advanceth, when he goeth
to the Field of Aarru, approaching to the land of Spirits in Heaven.=

I come forth through the T’eser gate.

=What is that? This gate of the gods is Haukar. It is the gate and the
two doors and openings, through which father Tmu issueth to the Eastern
Horizon of Heaven.=(10.)

O ye who have gone before! Let me grasp your hands, me who become one of
you.

=Who are they? Those who have gone before are Hu and Sau. May I be with
their father Tmu, throughout the course of each day.=(11.)

I make full the Eye when it waxeth dim on the day of battle between the
two Opponents.(12.)

=What is that? The battle of the two Opponents is the day upon which
Horus fighteth with Sut, when he flingeth his filth upon the face of
Horus, and when Horus seizeth upon the genitals of Sut, for it is Horus
who doeth this with his own fingers.=

I lift up the hairy net from the Eye at the period of its distress.(13.)

=What is that? The right Eye of Râ in the period of its distress when he
giveth it free course, and it is Thoth who lifteth up the net from it.=

I see Râ, when he is born from Yesterday, at the dugs of the Mehurit
cows?(14.) His course is my course, and conversely mine is his.

=What is that? Râ and his births from Yesterday at the dugs of the
Mehurit cows? It is the figure of the Eye of Râ, at his daily birth. And
Mehurit is the Eye.=

I am one of those who are in the train of Horus.

=What is that—‘one of those in the train of Horus’? Said with reference
to whom his Lord loveth.=

Hail, ye possessors of Māāt, divine Powers attached to Osiris, who deal
destruction to falsehood, ye who are in the train of Hotepeschaus, grant
me that I may come to you. Do ye away the wrong which is me, as ye have
done to the Seven Glorious ones, who follow after the Coffined one, and
whose places Anubis hath fixed on that day of ‘Come thou hither’!

=Hotepeschaus is the divine Flame which is assigned to Osiris for
burning the souls of his adversaries. I know the names of the Seven
Glorious ones who follow the Coffined one, and whose places Anubis hath
fixed on the day of ‘Come thou hither.’ The leader of this divine
company,=

‘An-ar-ef, the Great’ is his name; 2, Kat-kat; 3, the Burning Bull, who
liveth in his fire; 4, the Red-eyed one in the House of Gauze; 5,
Fieryface which turneth backwards; 6, Dark Face in its hour; 7, Seer in
the Night.(15.)

I am he whose Soul resideth in a pair of gods.

=It is Osiris, as he cometh to Tattu, and there findeth the soul of Râ;
each embraceth the other, and becometh Two Souls.=

=The pair of gods are Horus, the Avenger of his Father, and Horus, the
Prince of the City of Blindness.=

I am the great Cat, who frequenteth the Persea tree in Heliopolis, on
that night of battle wherein is effected the defeat of the Sebau, and
that day upon which the adversaries of the Inviolate god(16.) are
exterminated.

=Who is that great Cat? It is Râ himself. For Sau said, He is the
likeness (Maȧu) of that which he hath created, and his name became that
of Cat (Maȧu).=(17.)

=The night of conflict is the defeat of the children of Failure at
Elephantine. There was conflict in the entire universe, in heaven and
upon the earth.=

=He who frequenteth the Persea tree is he who regulateth the children of
Failure, and that which they do.=

O Râ, in thine Egg, who risest up in thine orb, and shinest from thine
Horizon, and swimmest over the firmament without a peer, and sailest
over the sky; whose mouth sendeth forth breezes of flame, lightening up
the Two Earths with thy glories, do thou deliver _N_ from that god whose
attributes are hidden, whose eyebrows are as the arms of the Balance
upon that day when outrage is brought to account, and each wrong is tied
up to its separate block of settlement.

=The god whose eyebrows are as the arms of the Balance is “he who
lifteth up his arm.”=[21]

Deliver me from those Wardens of the Passages with hurtful fingers,
attendant upon Osiris.

=The Wardens of Osiris are the Powers who keep off the forces of the
adversaries of Râ.=

May your knives not get hold of me; may I not fall into your shambles,
for I know your names; my course upon earth is with Râ and my fair goal
is with Osiris. Let not your offerings be in my disfavour, oh ye gods
upon your altars! I am one of those who follow the Master, a keeper of
the writ of Chepera.

I fly like a Hawk, I cackle like the _Smen_-Goose, I move eternally like
Nehebkau.(18.)

Oh Tmu who art in the Great Dwelling, Sovereign of all the gods, deliver
me from that god who liveth upon the damned; whose face is that of a
hound, but whose skin is that of a man; at that angle of the pool of
fire; devouring shades, digesting human hearts and voiding ordure. One
seeth him not.

=This god whose face is that of a hound and whose skin[22] is that of a
man: Eternal Devourer is his name.=(19.)

Oh Fearful one, who art over the Two Earths, Red god who orderest the
block of execution; to whom is given the Double Crown and Enjoyment as
Prince of Sutenhunen.

=It is Osiris to whom was ordained the Leadership among the gods, upon
that day when the Two Earths were united before the Inviolate god.=

=The junction of the Two Earths is the head of the coffin of Osiris
whose father is Râ=[23] =the beneficent Soul in Sutenhunen, the giver of
food and the destroyer of wrong, who hath determined the paths of
eternity.=

=It is Râ himself.=

Deliver me from that god who seizeth upon souls, who consumeth all filth
and corruption in the darkness or in the light: all those who fear him
are in powerless condition.

=This god is Sut.=

Oh Chepera, who are in the midst of thy bark and whose body is the cycle
of the gods for ever; deliver me from those inquisitorial Wardens to
whom the Inviolate god, of Glorious Attributes, hath given guard over
his adversaries, and the infliction of slaughter in the place of
annihilation, from whose guard there is no escape. May I not fall under
your knives, may I not sit within your dungeons, may I not come to your
places of extermination, may I not fall into your pits; may there be
done to me none of those things which the gods abominate; for I have
passed through the place of purification in the middle of the Meskat,
for which are given the Mesit and the Tehenit cakes in Tanenit.

=The Meskat is the place of scourging in Sutenhunen, the Tehenit is the
Eye of Horus.... Tanenit is the resting place of Osiris.=(20.)

Tmu buildeth thy dwelling, the Lion-faced god layeth the foundation of
thy house, as he goeth his round. Horus offereth purification and Sut
giveth might, and conversely.

I have come upon this earth and with my two feet taken possession. I am
Tmu and I come from my own Place.

Back, oh Lion with dazzling mouth, and with head bent forwards,
retreating before me and my might.

I am Isis and thou findest me as I drop upon my face the hair which
falleth loosely on my brow.

I was conceived by Isis and begotten by Nephthys. Isis destroyeth what
in me is wrong, and Nephthys loppeth off that which is rebellious.

Dread cometh in my train and Might is in my hands. Numberless are the
hands who cling fast to me. The dead ones and the living come to me. I
defeat the clients of mine adversaries, and spoil those whose hands are
darkened.

I have made an agreeable alliance. I have created the inhabitants of
Cher-âbat and those of Heliopolis.(21.) And every god is in fear before
the Terrible, the Almighty one.

I avenge every god against his oppressor, at whom I shoot my arrows when
he appeareth.

I live according to my will.

I am Uat’it, the Fiery one.(22.)

And woe to them who mount up against me!

What is this? “Of unknown attributes, which Hemen(23.) hath given” is
the name of the Funereal Chest. “The Witness of that which is lifted” is
the name of the Shrine.

The Lion with dazzling mouth and with head bent forwards is the Phallus
of Osiris [_otherwise_ of Râ].

And I who drop the hair which hath loosely fallen upon my brow—I am
Isis, when she concealeth herself; she hath let fall her hair over
herself.

Uat’it the Fiery is the Eye of Râ.

They who mount up against me, woe to them, they are the associates of
Sut as they approach.(24.)

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PLATE VI.

BOOK OF THE DEAD. CHAPTER XVII.

PAPYRUS, TRINITY COLLEGE, DUBLIN, IV.

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PLATE VII.

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BOOK OF THE DEAD.