[From the Papyrus of Nebseni (British Museum No. 9,900, sheets 23 and 24).]

The Chapter of coming forth by day in the underworld. Nebseni, the lord of reverence, saith:

“I am Yesterday, To-day, and To-morrow, [and I have] the power to be born a second time; [I am] the divine hidden Soul who createth the gods, and who giveth sepulchral meals unto the denizens of the Tuat (underworld), Amentet, and heaven. [I am] the rudder of the east, the possessor of two divine faces wherein his beams are seen. I am the lord of the men who are raised up; [the lord] who cometh forth from out of the darkness, and whose forms of existence are of the house wherein are the dead. Hail, ye two hawks who are perched upon your resting-places, who hearken unto the things which are said by him, who guide the bier to the hidden place, who lead along Ra, and who follow [him] into the uppermost place of the shrine which is in the celestial heights! [Hail,] lord of the shrine which standeth in the middle of the earth. He is I, and I am he, and Ptah hath covered his sky with crystal. [Hail] Ra, thou who art content, thy heart is glad by reason of thy beautiful law of the day; thou enterest in by Khemennu(?) and comest forth at the east, and the [pg 043] divine first-born beings who are in [thy] presence cry out with gladness [unto thee]. Make thou thy roads glad for me, and make broad for me thy paths when I shall set out from earth for the life in the celestial regions. Send forth thy light upon me, O Soul unknown, for I am [one] of those who are about to enter in, and the divine speech is in [my] ears in the Tuat (underworld), and let no defects of my mother be [imputed] unto me; let me be delivered and let me be safe from him whose divine eyes sleep at eventide, when [he] gathereth together and finisheth [the day] in night. I flood [the land] with water, and ‘Qem-ur’ is my name, and the garment wherewith I am clothed is complete. Hail, thou divine prince Ati-she-f, cry out unto those divine beings who dwell in their hair at the season when the god is [lifted upon] the shoulder, saying: ‘Come thou who [dwellest] above thy divine abyss of water, for verily the thigh [of the sacrifice] is tied to the neck, and the buttocks are [laid] upon the head of Amentet.’ May the Ur-urti goddesses (i.e., Isis and Nephthys) grant [such] gifts unto me when my tears start from me as I see myself journeying with the divine Tena in Abydos, and the wooden fastenings which fasten the four doors above thee are in thy power within thy garment. Thy face is like that of a greyhound which scenteth with his nose the place whither I go on my feet. The god Akau transported me to the chamber(?), and [my] nurse is the divine double Lion-god himself. I am made strong and I come forth like him that forceth a way through the gate, and the radiance which my heart hath made is enduring; ‘I know the abysses’ is thy name. I work for you, O ye Khus—4,000,000, 600,000, 1,000, and 200 are they—concerning the things which are there. [I am] over their affairs working for hours and days in setting straight the shoulders of the twelve Sah gods, and joining the hands of their company, each to each; the sixth who is at the head of the abyss is the hour of the defeat of the Fiends. [I] have come there in triumph, and [I am] he who is in the halls (or courtyards) of the underworld, and I am he who is laid under tribute to Shu. I rise as the Lord of Life through the beautiful law of this day, and it is their blood and the cool water of [their] slaughter which make the union of the earth to blossom. [pg 044] I make a way among the horns of all those who make themselves strong against me, and [among] those who in secret make themselves adversaries unto me, and who are upon their bellies. I have come as the envoy of my Lord of lords to give counsel [concerning] Osiris; the eye shall not absorb39 its tears. I am the divine envoy(?) of the house of him that dwelleth in his possessions, and I have come from Sekhem to Annu to make known to the Bennu bird therein concerning the events of the Tuat (underworld). Hail, thou Aukert (i.e., underworld) which hidest thy companion who is in thee, thou creator of forms of existence like the god Khepera, grant thou that Nebseni, the scribe and designer to the temples of the South and of the North, may come forth to see the Disk, and that his journeyings forth(?) may be in the presence of the great god, that is to say, Shu, who dwelleth in everlastingness. Let me journey on in peace; let me pass over the sky; let me adore the radiance of the splendor [which is in] my sight; let me soar like a bird to see the companies(?) of the Khus in the presence of Ra day by day, who vivifieth every human being that walketh upon the regions which are upon the earth. Hail, Hemti (i.e., Runner); Hail, Hemti; who carriest away the shades of the dead and the Khus from earth, grant thou unto me a prosperous way to the Tuat (underworld), such as is made for the favored ones [of the god], because [I am] helpless to gather together the emanations which come from me. Who art thou, then, who consumest in its hidden place? I am the Chief in Re-stau, and ‘He that goeth in in his own name and cometh forth in that of Hehi(?), the lord of millions of years, and of the earth,’ is my name. The pregnant goddess hath deposited [upon the earth] her load, and hath given birth to Hit straightway; the closed door which is by the wall is overthrown, it is turned upside down and I rejoice thereat. To the Mighty One hath his eye been given, and it sendeth forth light from his face when the earth becometh light (or at daybreak). I shall not become corrupt, but I shall come into being in the form of the Lion-god and like the blossoms of Shu; I am the being who is never overwhelmed in the waters. Happy, yea happy is he that looked [pg 045] upon the funeral couch which hath come to its place of rest, upon the happy day of the god whose heart resteth, who maketh his place of alighting [thereon]. I am he who cometh forth by day; the lord of the bier which giveth life in the presence of Osiris. In very truth the things which are thine are stable each day, O scribe, artist, child of the Seshet chamber, Nebseni, lord of veneration. I clasp the sycamore tree, I myself am joined unto the sycamore tree, and its arm[s] are opened unto me graciously. I have come and I have clasped the Utchat, and I have caused it to be seated in peace upon its throne. I have come to see Ra when he setteth, and I absorb into myself the winds [which arise] when he cometh forth, and both my hands are clean to adore him. I have gathered together [all my members], I have gathered together [all my members]. I soar like a bird and I descend upon the earth, and mine eye maketh me to walk thereon in my footsteps. I am the child of yesterday, and the Akeru gods of the earth have made me to come into being, and they have made me strong for my moment [of coming forth]. I hide with the god Aba-aaiu who will walk behind me, and my members shall germinate, and my khu shall be as an amulet for my body and as one who watcheth [to protect] my soul and to defend it and to converse therewith; and the company of the gods shall hearken unto my words.”

if this chapter be known [by the deceased] he shall be victorious both upon earth and in the underworld. he shall do whatsoever a man doeth who is upon the earth, and he shall perform all the deeds which those do who are [alive]. now it is a great protection [given] by the god. this chapter was found in the city of khe-mennu inscribed upon the block of iron in letters of lapis-lazuli which was under the feet of this god.

In the rubric to this chapter as found in the Papyrus of Mes-em-neter, the chapter is said to have been “discovered in the foundations of the shrine of the divine Hennu boat by the chief mason in the time of the King of the North and of the South, Hesepti,40 triumphant,” and it is there directed that it shall be recited by one who is ceremonially pure and clean, [pg 046] and who hath not touched women, and who hath not eaten flesh of animals or fish.