Hymn to the Sun (1250 B.C.)
Worship of Re when he rises in the eastern horizon
of the sky, when those who are in his following are joyful.
O Sun-disk, Lord of the sunbeams, who shines forth from the horizon every day:
may you shine in the face of Ani, for he worships you in the morning,
he propitiates you in the evening. May the soul of Ani go up with you to the
sky, may he travel in the Day-bark, may he moor in the Night-bark, may he mix
with the Unwearying Stars in the sky. The Osiris Ani says when he honors
his lord, the Lord of Eternity.
Hail to you, Horakhty, Khepri the self-created! How beautiful
is your shining forth from the horizon when you illumine the Two Lands with your rays!
All the gods are in joy when they see you as king of the sky, the royal serpent being
firm on your head and the crowns of Upper and Lower Egypt on your vertex; she (the serpent)
has made her seat on your brow. Thoth is established in the bow of your Sacred Bark,
destroying all your foes, while those who are in the Duat have come out to meet you
and to see this beautiful image.
I have come to you and I am with you in order to see your disk
every day; I will not be restrained or repulsed, but my flesh will be renewed at
seeing your beauty, like all those whom you favor, for I was one of those who were
well esteemed by you on earth. I have arrived at the land of eternity, I have joined
myself to the land of everlasting, and it is you who commanded it for me, O my lord.
Hail to you when you rise in your horizon as Re who is pleased
with justice; when you cross the sky, all men see you, after your movements have been
hidden from their sight. You display yourself from morning till evening on the day when
celestial navigation with Your Majesty is successful; your rays are in men's faces, and
fine gold does not know them, pigment does not report them when you illumine the lands
of the gods, and it has not been seen in writing; the mountains of Punt disclose Him
who was hidden. You did it alone when Ani's mouth was opened, and your shape was upon
the primeval waters. He will travel just as you travel, and there will be no ceasing
for him as for Your Majesty, not even for a little day, for you have passed through
seasons of millions and hundreds of thousands of moments; when you have spent them you
have gone to rest, you have also completed the hours of the night, and you have regulated
and completed them according to your regular custom. The land becomes bright when you
reveal yourself in your place as Re when he arises in the horizon.
The Osiris Ani says when he worships you at your shining, and speaks
to you when you rise early to set your shape on high: You appear in glory in magnifying
your beauty, creating yourself; you mold your own flesh. One who fashions but is not
fashioned, as Re who shines in the sky. May you permit me to reach the eternal sky,
the country of the favored; may I join with the august and noble spirits of the God's
Domain; may I ascend with them to see your beauty when you shine in the evening.
Your mother traverses for you the Lower Sky when you are placed in the West,
and my arms are upraised in adoration at your setting, for you are he who made eternity.
I worship you when you set in the Primordial Water, and I set you in my heart which is
not inert, O you who are more divine than the gods. Praise to you who rise in gold and
who illumine the Two Lands by day at your birth! Your mother Nut has borne you on her hand,
and what the sun-disk encircles is bright because of you. Great Illuminator who shines
forth from the Primordial Water, who knits his family together in the waters, who makes
festal all estates, towns, and households, who protects with his goodness, may your
spirit be sustained with food and provisions. Greatly feared, Power of Powers, whose
throne is far from the evildoers; greatly majestic in the Night-bark, mightily long-lasting
in the Day-bark, may you glorify Ani in the God's Domain, may you cause him to endure in
the West, he being devoid of evil. May you ignore my wrongdoing and may you set me as one
honored with the spirits; may you protect my soul in the Sacred Land, may it navigate in
the Field of Reeds, because I have passed on in joy.
THE GOD REPLIES: You shall ascend to the sky, you shall traverse the firmament,
you shall associate with the stars, who shall make acclamation to you in the Sacred Bark.
You shall be summoned into the Day-bark, you shall see Re within his shrine, you shall
propitiate his disk daily, you shall see the Inet-fish in its shape in the stream of
turquoise, you shall see the Abdju-fish in being, the serpent of evil having fallen
according as was foretold for him, the sharp knives having cut his spine apart for me.
Re shall sail with a fair wind, and the Night-bark shall be wiped clean for me. The crew
of Re shall reach him with joy, and the Lady of Life will be happy when the hostile serpent
has fallen to her lord. You shall see Horus whose face is kindly, with the standards of
Thoth and Maat on his hands; all the gods will be in joy when they see Re coming in peace
to vivify the hearts of the spirits, and the vindicated Osiris Ani shall be with them.
— Egyptian Book of the Dead: Book of Going Forth by Day
Complete Papyrus of Ani, Chapter 15 (circa 1250 B.C.)
(translated by Raymond Faulkner),
Chronicle Books, San Francisco, 1994, Plate 20
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(2-21-2009)