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The Egyptian Book of the Dead

By E. A. Wallis Budge

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Plate XX

Vignette: Osiris and Isis in a sepulchral shrine.

Text [CHAPTER XV.]: (I) A HYMN OF PRAISE To RA WHEN HE RISETH IN THE EASTERN PART OF THE HEAVEN. They who are in (2) his train rejoice, and lo! Osiris Ani in triumph saith "Hail, thou Disk, thou lord of rays, who risest (3) in the horizon day by day. Shine thou with thy beams of light upon the face of Osiris Ani, who is victorious: for he singeth hymns of praise unto thee at (4) dawn, and he maketh thee to set at eventide with words of adoration. May the soul of Osiris Ani, the triumphant one, come forth with (5) thee from heaven, may he go forth in the matet boat, may he come into port in the sektet boat, may he cleave his path among the (6) never resting stars in the heavens."

Osiris Ani, being at peace and in triumph, adoreth his lord, the lord of (7) eternity, saying: "Homage to thee, O Horus of the two horizons, who art

Khepera the self-created; when thou risest on the horizon and (8) sheddest thy beams of light upon the lands of the North and the South thou art beautiful, yea beautiful, and all the gods rejoice when they behold thee, (9) the King of heaven. The goddess Nebt-Unnet is stablished upon thy head; her portions of the south and of the north are upon thy brow (10); she taketh her place before thee. The god Thoth is stablished in the bows of thy boat to destroy utterly all thy foes. (11) Those who dwell in the underworld come forth to meet thee, bowing in homage as they come towards thee, and to behold [thy] beautiful (12) Image. And I have come before thee that I may be with thee to behold thy Disk every day. May I not be shut in the tomb, may I not be turned back (13), may the limbs of my body be made new again when I view thy beauties, even as do all thy favoured ones, {14) because I am one of those who worshipped thee whilst they lived upon earth. May I come in unto the land of eternity, may I come even (15) unto the everlasting land, for behold, O my lord, this hast thou ordained for me."

And lo, Osiris Ani, triumphant in peace, the triumphant one, saith (16) Homage to thee, O thou who risest in thy horizon as Ra, thou art stablished by a law which changeth not nor can it be altered. Thou passest over the sky, and every face watcheth thee (17) and thy course, for thou hast been hidden from their gaze. Thou dost show thyself at dawn and at eventide day by day. (18) The Sektet boat, wherein is thy majesty, goeth forth with might; thy beams shine upon [all] faces; [the number] of thy yellow rays cannot be known, nor can thy bright beams (19) be told. The lands of the gods, and the colours of the eastern lands of Punt, must be seen, ere that which is hidden (20) [in thee] may be measured [by man]. Alone and by thyself thou dost manifest thyself [when] thou comest into being above Nu. May Ani (21) advance, even as thou dost advance; may he never cease [to go forward], even as thy majesty ceaseth not [to go forward], even though it be for a moment; for with strides dost thou (22) in one little moment pass over the spaces which would need hundreds of thousands and millions of years [for man to pass over; this] thou doest, and then dost thou sink down. Thou (23) puttest an end to the hours of the night, and thou dost number them, even thou; thou endest them in thine own appointed season, and the earth becometh light. (24) Thou settest thyself before thy handiwork[1] in the likeness of Ra;[1] thou risest in the horizon."

[1. There is a play on the words ### and ###.]

Osiris, the scribe Ani, triumphant, declareth his (25) praise of thee when thou shinest, and when thou risest at dawn he crieth in his joy at thy birth: (26) "Thou art crowned with the majesty of thy beauties; thou mouldest thy limbs as thou dost advance, and thou bringest them forth without birth-pangs in the form of Ra (27), as thou dost climb up into the upper air. Grant thou that I may come unto the heaven which is everlasting, and unto the mountain [where dwell] thy favoured ones. (28) May I be joined unto those shining beings, holy and perfect, who are in the underworld; and may I come forth with them to behold thy beauties when thou shinest (29) at eventide and goest to thy mother Nut.