Egyptian Literature/The Book of the Dead/Of Making Perfect the Khu (2)
OF MAKING PERFECT THE KHU
[From the Papyrus of Nu (British Museum No. 10,477, sheet 17).]
Another Chapter of making perfect the Khu.[1] The Osiris Nu, the overseer of the palace, the chancellor-in-chief, triumphant, saith:
“Homage to thee, O thou who art within thy divine shrine, who shinest with rays of light and sendest forth radiance from thyself, who decreest joy for millions of years unto those who love him, who givest their hearts’ desire unto mankind, thou god Khepera within thy boat who hast overthrown Apep. O ye children of the god Seb, overthrow ye the enemies of Osiris Nu, the overseer of the palace, the chancellor-in-chief, triumphant, and destroy ye them from the boat of Rā; and the god Horus shall cut off their heads in heaven [where they are] in the form of feathered fowl, and their hind parts shall be on the earth in the form of animals and in the Lake in the form of fishes. Every male fiend and every female fiend shall the Osiris Nu, the overseer of the palace, the chancellor-in-chief, destroy, whether he descendeth from the heaven, or whether he cometh forth from the earth, or whether they come upon the waters, or whether they advance toward the stars, the god Thoth, the son of Aner, coming forth from the Anerti, shall hack them in pieces. The Osiris Nu is silent and dumb(?); cause ye this god, the mighty one of slaughter, the being greatly to be feared, to make himself clean in your blood and to bathe himself in your gore, and ye shall certainly be destroyed by him from the boat of his father Rā. The Osiris Nu is the god Horus to whom his mother the goddess Isis hath given birth, and whom the goddess Nephthys hath nursed and dandled, even like Horus when [he] repulsed the fiends of the god Suti; and when they see the ureret crown stablished upon his head they fall down upon their faces and they glorify [him]. Behold, when men, and gods, and Khus, and the dead see the Osiris Nu in the form of Horus with the ureret crown stablished upon his head, they fall down upon their faces. And the Osiris Nu, the overseer of the palace, the chancellor-inchief, triumphant, is victorious over his enemies in the heights of heaven, and in the depths thereof, and before the divine sovereign chiefs of every god and of every goddess.
[this chapter] shall be recited over a hawk standing and having the white crown upon his head, [and over figures of] tem, shu, tefnut, seb, nut, osiris, isis, suti, and nephthys painted in yellow color upon a new plaque, which shall be placed in [a model of] the boat [of the sun], along with a figure of the deceased whom thou wouldst make perfect. these shalt thou anoint with cedar oil, and incense shall be offered up to them on the fire, and feathered fowl shall be roasted. it is an act of praise to ra as he journeyeth, and it shall cause a man to have his being along with ra day by day, whithersoever the god voyageth; and it shall destroy the enemies of ra in very truth regularly and continually.
- ↑ In the Papyrus of Nebseni the title of this chapter reads: “The Chapter of embarking in the boat of Rā and of being with those who are in his following.”