[From the Papyrus of Nu (British Museum No. 10,477, sheet 24).]

[Then shall the heart which is righteous and sinless say:]101

The overseer of the palace, the chancellor-in-chief, Nu, triumphant, saith:

“Homage to you, O ye gods who dwell in the Hall of double Maati, I, even I, know you, and I know your names. Let me not fall under your knives of slaughter, and bring ye not forward my wickedness unto the god in whose train ye are; and let not evil hap come upon me by your means. Oh, declare ye me right and true in the presence of Neb-er-tcher, because I have done that which is right and true in Ta-mera (Egypt). I have not cursed God, and let not evil hap come upon me through the king who dwelleth in my day. Homage to you, O ye gods, who dwell in the Hall of double Maati, who are without evil in your bodies, and who live upon right and truth, and who feed yourselves upon right and truth in the presence of the god Horus, who dwelleth in his divine Disk: deliver ye me from the god Baba who feedeth upon the entrails of the mighty ones upon the day of the great judgment. Oh, grant ye that I may come to you, for I have not committed faults, I have not sinned, I have not done evil, I have not borne false witness; therefore let nothing [evil] be done unto me. I live upon right and truth, and I feed upon right and truth. I have performed the commandments of men [as well as] the things whereat are gratified the gods, I have made the gods to be at peace [with me by doing] that which is his will. I have given bread to the hungry man, and water to the thirsty man, and apparel to the naked man, and a boat to the [shipwrecked] mariner. I have made holy offerings to the gods, and sepulchral meals to the Khus. Be ye then my deliverers, be ye then my protectors, and make ye not accusation against me in the presence of [the great god]. I am clean of [pg 108] mouth and clean of hands; therefore let it be said unto me by those who shall behold me, ‘Come in peace; come in peace,’ for I have heard that mighty word which the spiritual bodies (sahu)102 spake unto the Cat in the House of Hapt-re. I have been made to give evidence before the god Hra-f-ha-f (i.e., he whose face is behind him), and he hath given a decision [concerning me]. I have seen the things over which the persea tree spreadeth [its branches] within Re-stau. I am he who hath offered up prayers to the gods and who knoweth their persons. I have come and I have advanced to make the declaration of right and truth, and to set the balance upon what supporteth it within the region of Aukert. Hail, thou who art exalted upon thy standard, thou lord of the Atefu crown, whose name is proclaimed as ‘Lord of the winds,’ deliver thou me from thy divine messengers who cause dire deeds to happen, and who cause calamities to come into being, and who are without coverings for their faces, for I have done that which is right and true for the Lord of right and truth. I have purified myself and my breast with libations, and my hinder parts with the things which make clean, and my inner parts have been in the Pool of Right and Truth. There is no single member of mine which lacketh right and truth. I have been purified in the Pool of the South, and I have rested in the northern city which is in the Field of the Grasshoppers, wherein the divine sailors of Ra bathe at the second hour of the night and at the third hour of the day. And the hearts of the gods are gratified(?) after they have passed through it, whether it be by night, or whether it be by day, and they say unto me, ‘Let thyself come forward.’ And they say unto me, ‘Who, then, art thou?’ And they say unto me, ‘What is thy name?’ ‘I am he who is equipped under the flowers [and I am] the dweller in his olive-tree,’ is my name. And they say unto me straightway, ‘Pass thou on’; and I passed on by thy city to the north of the olive-tree. What, then, didst thou see there? The leg and the thigh. What, then, didst thou say unto them? Let me see rejoicings in those lands of the Tenkhu.103 And what did they give unto thee? A flame of fire and a tablet (or sceptre) of crystal. [pg 109] What, then, didst thou do therewith? I buried them by the furrow of Manaat as ‘things for the night.’ What, then, didst thou find by the furrow of Manaat? A sceptre of flint, the name of which is ‘Giver of winds.’ What, then, didst thou do to the flame of fire and the tablet (or sceptre) of crystal after thou hadst buried them? I uttered words over them in the furrow, [and I dug them out therefrom];104 I extinguished the fire, and I broke the tablet (or sceptre), and I created a pool of water. ‘Come, then,’ [they say,] ‘and enter in through the door of this Hall of double Maati, for thou knowest us.’ ”

“ ‘We will not let thee enter in through us,’ say the bolts of the door, ‘unless thou tellest [us] our names;’ ‘Tongue [of the Balance] of the place of right and truth’ is your name. ‘I will not let thee enter in by me,’ saith the [right] lintel of the door, ‘unless thou tellest [me] my name;’ ‘Balance of the support of right and truth’ is thy name. ‘I will not let thee enter in by me,’ saith the [left] lintel of the door, ‘unless thou tellest [me] my name;’ [‘Balance of] wine’ is thy name. ‘I will not let thee pass over me,’ saith the threshold of this door, ‘unless thou tellest [me] my name;’ ‘Ox of the god Seb’ is thy name. ‘I will not open unto thee,’ saith the fastening of this door, ‘unless thou tellest [me] my name;’ ‘Flesh of his mother’ is thy name. ‘I will not open unto thee,’ saith the socket of the fastening of the door, ‘unless thou tellest me my name;’ ‘Living eye of the god Sebek, the lord of Bakhau,’ is thy name. ‘I will not open unto thee [and I will not let thee enter in by me,’ saith the guardian of the leaf of] this door, ‘unless thou tellest [me] my name;’ ‘Elbow of the god Shu when he placeth himself to protect Osiris’ is thy name. ‘We will not let thee enter in by us,’ say the posts of this door, ‘unless thou tellest us our names;’ ‘Children of the urÆi-goddesses’ is your name.105 ‘Thou knowest us,’ [they say,] ‘pass on, therefore, by us.’

“ ‘I will not let thee tread upon me,’ saith the floor of the Hall of double Maati, ‘because I am silent and I am holy, and because I do not know the name[s] of thy two feet wherewith thou wouldst walk upon me; therefore tell them to me.’ [pg 110] ‘Traveller(?) of the god Khas’ is the name of my right foot, and ‘Staff of the goddess Hathor’ is the name of my left foot. ‘Thou knowest me,’ [it saith,] ‘pass on therefore over me.’ ”

“ ‘I will not make mention of thee,’ saith the guardian of the door of this Hall of double Maati, ‘unless thou tellest [me] my name;’ ‘Discerner of hearts and searcher of the reins’ is thy name. ‘Now will I make mention of thee [to the god]. But who is the god that dwelleth in his hour? Speak thou it’ (i.e., his name). Maau-Taui (i.e., he who keepeth the record of the two lands) [is his name]. ‘Who then is Maau-Taui?’ He is Thoth. ‘Come,’ saith Thoth. ‘But why hast thou come?’ I have come, and I press forward that I may be mentioned. What now is thy condition? I, even I, am purified from evil things, and I am protected from the baleful deeds of those who live in their days; and I am not among them. ‘Now will I make mention of thee [to the god].’106 ‘[Tell me now,] who is he107 whose heaven is of fire, whose walls [are surmounted by] living urÆi, and the floor of whose house is a stream of water? Who is he? I say.’ It is Osiris. ‘Come forward, then: verily thou shalt be mentioned [to him]. Thy cakes [shall come] from the Eye of Ra, and thine ale [shall come] from the Eye of Ra, and the sepulchral meals [which shall be brought to thee] upon earth [shall come] from the Eye of Ra. This hath been decreed for the Osiris the overseer of the palace, the chancellor-in-chief, Nu, triumphant.’ ”

(the making of the representation of what shall happen in this hall of double maati.) this chapter shall be said [by the deceased] after he hath been cleansed and purified, and when he is arrayed in apparel, and is shod with white leather sandals, and his eyes have been painted with antimony, and [his body] hath been anointed with unguent of anti, and when he offereth oxen, and feathered fowl, and incense, and cakes, and ale, and garden herbs. and, behold, thou shalt draw a representation of this in color upon a new tile moulded from earth upon which neither a pig nor other animals have trodden. and if [thou] doest this book upon it [in writing, the deceased] shall flourish, and his children shall flourish, and [his name] shall never fall into oblivion, and he shall be as one who filleth (i.e., satisfieth) the heart of the king and of [pg 111] his princes, and bread, and cakes, and sweetmeats, and wine, and pieces of flesh shall be given unto him upon the altar of the great god; and he shall not be turned back at any door in amentet, and he shall be brought in along with the kings of upper and lower egypt, and he shall be in the train of osiris108 continually and regularly forever.