Egyptian Book of the Dead
Chapter LXIV
I am Yesterday, To-day, and To-morrow, for I am born again and again; mine is the unseen Force, which createth the gods and giveth food to those in the Tuat at the West of Heaven; I am the Eastern Rudder, the Lord of Two Faces, who seeth by his own light; the Lord of Resurrections, who cometh forth from the dusk and whose birth is from the House of Death
Ye two divine Hawks upon your gables, who are giving attentive heed to the matter; ye who accompany the bier to the tomb, and who conduct the ship of Râ, advancing onwards from the highest place of the Ark in heaven—the Lord of the Shrine which standeth in the centre of the Earth
Oh Râ, who smileth cheerfully, and whose heart is delighted with the perfect order of this day as thou enterest into Heaven and comest forth in the East: the Ancients and those who are gone before acclaim thee
Let thy paths be made pleasant for me; let thy ways be made wide for me to traverse the earth and the expanse of Heaven
Shine thou upon me, oh gracious Power; as I draw nigh to the divine words which my ears shall hear in the Tuat; let no pollution of my mother be upon me; deliver me, protect me from him who closeth his eyes at twilight and bringeth to an end in darkness
I am the Overflower, and Kam-ura is my name: I bring to its fulness the Force which is hidden within me
Oh thou Great One, who art Shoreless, and callest upon the Powers of the South, at the moment when the god is carried forth, saying:—
“Behold the Lord of his Flood; see, the Shoulder is fastened upon his neck and the Haunch upon the head of the West” offerings which the two goddesses of the West present to me when the weeping bursteth forth from me at what I witness, as I am borne round on the Tenait in Abydos, and the bolts made fast on the gateways above your images are in the reach of thine hand and from within thee
I am He who cometh forth as one who breaketh through the door; and everlasting is the Daylight which his will hath created
I satisfy the desires of the Glorified, who are by millions and hundreds of thousands.... [73] I am the guardian of their interests, actively working at the hours of the day and adjusting the arms of Sahu; twelve in circling round, uniting hands, each of them with another. But the sixth of them in the Tuat is the ‘Hour of the overthrow of the Sebau,’ which cometh here in triumph; the same which maketh way into the Tuat; the same which is yoked with Shu
I shine forth as the Lord of Life and the glorious order of this day: the blood which purifieth and the vigorous sword-strokes by which the Earth is made one
I sever the horns from those who unite in resistance to me; the hidden ones who rise up in opposition against me; those who go upon their bellies
I come as the ambassador of the Lord of lords to avenge the cause of Osiris in this place. Let not [74] the Eye consume its tears
Oh goddess Aucherit, who concealest that is within thee, but raisest up forms, like Chepera, grant that I may come forth and see the orb of the sun, and walk forth in the presence of the great god, who is Shu and abideth for eternity
I travel on high, I tread upon the firmament, I raise a flame with the daylight which mine eye hath made, and I fly forward towards the splendours of the Glorified in presence of Râ daily, giving life to every man who treadeth on the lands which are upon the earth
Oh thou who leapest forth, conductor of the Shades and Glorified ones from the Earth, let the fair path to the Tuat be granted to me, which is made in behalf of those who are in faint condition and for the restoration of those who are in pain
I am He who presideth in Restau. “He who entereth in his own name, and cometh forth in quest; the Lord of the Eternity of the Earth” is my name
She who hath conceived hath set down her burden; which turneth round before descending; the door is shut at the wall which is reversed .... [75
Blessed are they who see the Bourne: beautiful is the god of the motionless heart who causeth the stay of the Overflowing
I part the two deities of morning that I may come to hold the Eye, and cause it to rest in its place
I am come to see Râ at his setting, and I unite with the breeze at his coming forth: my two hands are pure for adoring him
I fly up to heaven and I alight upon the earth; and mine eye turneth back there towards the traces of my footsteps
I am the offspring of Yesterday; the tunnels of the earth have given me birth, and I am revealed at my appointed time
May I be under shelter from the warlike handed god who cometh behind me, may my flesh be sound and may my glories be a protection to the limbs of one who waiteth for the purpose of taking counsel. May the Cycle of the gods listen to what I say
To be said on coming forth by day; that one may not be kept back on the path of the Tuat, whether on entering or on coming forth; for taking all the forms which one desireth; and that the soul of the person die not a second time
If then this chapter be known the person is made triumphant upon earth [and in the Netherworld] and he performeth all things which are done by the living
This chapter was discovered on a plinth of the god of the Hennu Bark by a master builder of the wall in the time of King Septa, the Victorious
Recite the chapter when sanctified and pure; not approaching women, not eating goat’s flesh or fish
Some years before his untimely death M. de Rougé read his translation of this chapter before the Académie des Sciences. It is much to be lamented that this has never been published. I have, in addition to the versions of other scholars, a copy of one by Mr. Goodwin, with whom I read this and other chapters nearly thirty years ago. But this kind of literature is not one of those in which his marvellous sagacity showed to advantage
In reading this and almost every other chapter of the Book of the Dead , it is absolutely necessary to bear in mind that different divine names do not necessarily imply different personalities. A name expresses but one attribute of a person or thing, and one person having several attributes may have several names. It is not implied in this chapter that the Sun is the Nile or the Inundation, but that the same invisible force which is manifested in the solar phenomena is that which produces the inundation; He is the Inundator. But he has many other names and titles. In this chapter, as in others before it, the speaker at one time talks in terms identifying him with some divinity, and at another as a simple mortal petitioning some favour