Egyptian Book of the Dead
Chapter XVIII
I come to you, ye Great Circles of gods in Heaven, upon Earth and in the World below! I bring to you N void of offence towards any of the gods, grant that he may be with you daily
Glory to Osiris, Lord of Restau, and to the great gods who are in the World below. Here is N who saith:—Hail to thee, Prince of Amenta, Unneferu who presidest in Abydos, I come to thee with Righteousness; without sin upon me. I am not knowingly a speaker of wrong; I am not given to duplicity; grant me Bread, the right of appearance at the tables of the Lords of Maāt, entering in and going out of the Netherworld, and that my soul may not suffer repulse in its devotion to the orb of the Sun and the vision of the Moon-god for ever
I come to you, O Circle of gods in Restau, and I bring to you N . Grant to him Bread, Water, Air and an allotment in the Sechit-hotepu like Horus
Glory to Osiris, the Lord of Eternity and to the Circle of gods in Restau. Here is N and he saith:—I come to thee, I know thy will, and I am furnished with thine attributes of the Tuat. Grant me an abiding place in the Netherworld by the Lords of Maāt, my permanent allotment in the Sechit-hotepu, and the receiving of cakes before thee
1. Oh Thoth, who makest Osiris triumphant over his adversaries, let N be made triumphant over his adversaries, even as thou makest Osiris triumphant over his adversaries, before the Circle of gods about Rā and about Osiris and the Great Circle of gods in Heliopolis, on that Night of the Eve’s Provender and the Night of Battle when there befel the Defeat of the Sebau, and the Day of the extinction of the adversaries of the Inviolate god
The Great Circle of gods in Heliopolis is of Tmu, Shu and Tefnut, and the Sebau who were defeated and extinguished were the associates of Sut on the renewal of his assault
2. Oh Thoth who makest Osiris triumphant over his adversaries, let N be made triumphant over his adversaries, even as thou makest Osiris triumphant over his adversaries before the Great Circle of gods in Tattu, on the Night wherein the Tat is set up in Tattu
The Great Circle of gods in Tattu is of Osiris, Isis, Nephthys and Horus the Avenger of his Father; and they who set up the Tat are the two arms of Horus, Prince of Sechem. They are behind Osiris as bindings of his raiment
3. Oh Thoth who makest Osiris triumphant over his adversaries, let N be made triumphant over his adversaries, even as thou makest Osiris triumphant over his adversaries, before the Great Circle of gods in Sechem on that Night of the Eve’s Provender in Sechem
The Great Circle of gods in Sechem is of Horus in the Dark, and Thoth, who is of the Great Circle of An-arer-ef
4. Oh Thoth, who makest Osiris triumphant over his adversaries, let N be made triumphant over his adversaries, even as thou makest Osiris triumphant over his adversaries, before the Great Circle of gods in Pu and Tepu, on that Night of erecting the flag-staffs of Horus, and of establishing him as heir of his Father’s property
The Great Circle of gods in Pu and Tepu is of Horus, Isis, Emsta, Hapi; and the pillars of Horus are erected when Horus saith to those who follow him “let the flag-staffs be erected there.”
5. Oh Thoth, who makest Osiris triumphant over his adversaries, let N be made triumphant over his adversaries, even as thou makest Osiris triumphant over his adversaries, before the Great Circle of gods of the Two Regions [30] of Rechit, on that Night when Isis lay watching in tears over her brother Osiris
6. Oh Thoth, who makest Osiris triumphant over his adversaries, let N be made triumphant over his adversaries, even as thou makest Osiris triumphant over his adversaries, before the Great Circle of gods in Abydos on the night of Hakra, when the evil dead are parted off, when the glorious ones are rightly judged, and joy goeth its round in Thinis
7. Oh Thoth, who makest Osiris triumphant over his adversaries, let N be made triumphant over his adversaries, even as thou makest Osiris triumphant over his adversaries, before the Great Circle of gods on the Highway of the Damned, upon the Night when judgment is passed upon those who are no more
The Great Circle of gods on the Highway of the Damned are Thoth, Osiris, Anubis and Astes. And judgment is passed on the Highway of the Damned when the suit is closed [31] against the souls of the Children of Failure
8. Oh Thoth, who makest Osiris triumphant over his adversaries, let N be made triumphant over his adversaries, even as thou makest Osiris triumphant over his adversaries, before the Great Circle of gods at the Great Hoeing in Tattu, on the Night of Hoeing in their blood and effecting the triumph of Osiris over his adversaries
The Great Circle of gods at the Great Hoeing in Tattu when the associates of Sut arrive, and take the forms of goats, slay them before the gods there, while their blood runneth down; and this is done according to the judgment of those gods who are in Tattu
9. Oh Thoth, who makest Osiris triumphant over his adversaries, let N be made triumphant over his adversaries, even as thou makest Osiris triumphant over his adversaries, before the Great Circle of gods in An-arer-ef on the Night of Hiding him who is Supreme in Attributes. [32
The Great Circle of gods in An-arer-ef is of Shu, Babai, Rā and Osiris, and the Night of Hiding him who is Supreme of Attributes is when there are at the Coffin, the Thigh, the Head, the Heel and the Leg of Unneferu
10. Oh Thoth, who makest Osiris triumphant over his adversaries, let N be made triumphant over his adversaries, even as thou makest Osiris triumphant over his adversaries before the Great Circle of gods in Restau on the Night when Anubis lieth with his hands upon the objects behind Osiris, when Osiris is made to triumph over his adversaries
The Great Circle of gods in Restau is of Osiris, Horus, and Isis. The heart of Horus rejoiceth, the heart of Osiris is glad and the two Parts [33] of Heaven are satisfied when Thoth effecteth the triumph of N before these ten Great Circles about Rā and about Osiris and the Circles of gods attached to every god and every goddess before the Inviolate god. All his adversaries are destroyed and all that was wrong in him is also destroyed
Let the person say this chapter, he will be purified and come forth by day, after his death, and take all forms for the satisfaction of his will, and if this chapter be recited over him, he will be prosperous upon earth, he will come forth safe from every fire, and no evil thing will approach him: with undeviating regularity for times infinite
The eighteenth chapter is one of those found in the earliest copies of the Book of the Dead, on the wooden coffins of the ‘Old’ and ‘Middle’ Empires; the most complete ancient copy being on the coffin of Queen Mentuhotep of the eleventh dynasty
It consists of a Litany addressed to Thoth, who is invoked for securing the triumph of the departed against his adversaries in presence of the gods of certain localities. Each petition has reference to some mythological event, and is supplemented by the enumeration of the gods constituting the divine company presiding at the locality named, and sometimes by a short comment on the myth referred to
The order of petitions is somewhat different in the later recensions, and the text has suffered other alterations