Egyptian Literature/The Book of the Dead/Of Preserving the Heart (1)

Layout 2

THE CHAPTER OF PRESERVING THE HEART

[From the Papyrus of Ani (British Museum No. 10,470, sheets 15 and 16).]

The Chapter of not letting the heart (hati) of a man be taken from him in the underworld.^[1] Saith Osiris Ani:

“Hail, ye who carry away hearts! [Hail,] ye who steal [hearts, and who make the heart of a man to go through its transformations according to his deeds, let not what he hath done harm him before you].^[2] Homage to you, O ye lords of eternity, ye possessors of everlastingness, take ye not this heart of Osiris Ani into your grasp, this heart of Osiris, and cause ye not words of evil to spring up against it; because this is the heart of Osiris Ani, triumphant, and it belongeth unto him of many names (i.e., Thoth), the mighty one whose words are his limbs, and who sendeth forth his heart to dwell in his body. The heart of Osiris Ani is triumphant, it is made new before the gods, he hath gained power over it, he hath not been spoken to [according to] what he hath done. He hath gotten power over his own members. His heart obeyeth him, he is the lord thereof, it is in his body, and it shall never fall away therefrom. I, Osiris, the scribe Ani, victorious in peace, and triumphant in the beautiful Amenta and on the mountain of eternity, bid thee to be obedient unto me in the underworld.”

1. The Papyrus of Mes-em-neter (Naville, “Todtenbuch,” Bd. II. p. 92) adds: “His heart goeth forth to take up its abode in his body, his heart is renewed before the gods, and he hath gained the mastery over it.”
2. The words within brackets are from the Papyrus of Mes-em-neter.