A Hymn Of Praise To Ra When He Riseth In The Eastern Part Of Heaven

Book of Immortality/ BD Papyrus of Ani, Brit. Mus.

 

Those who are in his following rejoice, and the Osiris, the scribe

Ani, whose word is truth, saith:- Hail, thou Disk, thou lord of

rays, who risest on the horizon day by day. Shine thou with thy

beams of light upon the face of the Osiris Ani, whose word is truth,

for he singeth hymns of praise to thee at dawn, and he maketh thee

to sit at eventide [with words of adoration]. May the soul of the

Osiris Ani, whose word is truth, come forth with thee into heaven!

May he set out with thee in the Matet Boat [in the morning], may he

come into port in the Sektet Boat [in the evening], and may he

cleave his path among the stars of heaven which never rest.

 

The Osiris Ani, whose word is truth, being at peace [with his god],

maketh adoration to his Lord, the Lord of Eternity, and saith:-

Homage to thee, O Heru-khuti, who art the god Khepera, the self-

created. When thou risest on the horizon and sheddest thy beams of

light upon the Lands of the South and of the North, thou art

beautiful, yea beautiful, and all the gods rejoice when they behold

thee, the king of heaven. The goddess, the Lady of the Hour, is

stablished upon thy head, her Uraei of the South and of the North

are upon thy brow, and she taketh up her place before thee. The god

Thoth is stablished in the bows of thy boat to destroy utterly all

thy foes. Those who dwell in the Tuat come forth to meet thee, and

they bow to the earth in homage as they come towards thee, to look

upon thy beautiful Form. And I, Ani, have come into thy presence, so

that I may be with thee, and may behold thy Disk every day. Let me

not be kept captive [by the tomb], and let me not be turned back [on

my way]. Let the members of my body be made new again when I

contemplate thy beauties, even as are the members of all thy

favoured ones, because I am one of those who worshipped thee upon

earth. Let me arrive in the Land of Eternity, let me enter into the

Land of Everlastingness. This, O my Lord, behold thou shalt ordain

for me.

 

AND MOREOVER, THE OSIRIS ANI, WHOSE WORD IS TRUTH, IN PEACE, THE

TRUTH-SPEAKER, SAITH:- Homage to thee, O thou who risest on thy

horizon in the form of Ra, who restest upon Law, [which can neither

be changed nor altered]. Thou passest over the sky, and every face,

watcheth thee and thy course, for thou thyself art hidden from their

gaze. Thou dost show thyself [to them] at dawn and at eventide each

day. The Sektet Boat, wherein Thy Majesty dwelleth, setteth forth on

its journey with vigour. Thy beams [fall] upon all faces, thy light

with its manifold colours is incomprehensible [to man], and thy

brilliant rays cannot be reported. The Lands of the Gods see thee,

they could write [concerning thee]; the Deserts of Punt could count

thee. Thy creation is hidden. It is one by the opening of thy mouth.

Thy form is the head of Nu. May he (Ani) advance, even as thou dost

advance, without cessation, even as Thy Majesty [ceaseth not to

advance] even for a moment. With great strides thou dost in one

little moment pass over limitless distances which would need

millions and hundreds of thousands of years [for a man to pass over;

this] thou doest, and then thou sinkest to rest. Thou bringest to an

end the hours of the night, even as thou stridest over them. Thou

bringest them to an end by thine own ordinance, and dawn cometh on

the earth. Thou settest thyself before thy handiwork in the form of

Ra, and thou rollest up on the horizon....... Thou sendest forth

light when thy form raiseth itself up, thou ordainest the increase

of thy splendours. Thou mouldest thy limbs as thou advancest, thou

bringest them forth, thou who wast never brought forth, in the form

of Ra, who rolleth up into the height of heaven. Grant thou that I

may reach the heaven of eternity, and the region where thy favoured

ones dwell. May I unite with those holy and perfect Spirit-souls of

Khert-Neter. May I come forth with them to behold thy beauties as

thou rollest on at eventide, as thou journeyest to thy mother Nut

(the Night-sky), and dost place thyself at the right hand (in the

West). My two hands are raised to thee in praise and thanksgiving

when thou settest in life. Behold, thou art the Creator of Eternity,

who art adored when thou settest in Nu. I have set thee in my heart,

without wavering, O thou who art more divine than the gods.

 

The Osiris Ani, whose word is truth, saith:- Praise and thanksgiving

be unto thee, O thou who rollest on like unto gold, thou Illuminer

of the Two Lands on the day of thy birth. Thy mother brought thee

forth on her hand, and thou didst light up with splendour the circle

which is travelled over by the Disk. O Great Light who rollest

across Nu, thou dost raise up the generations of men from the deep

source of thy waters, and dost make to keep festivals all districts

and cities, and all habitations. Thou protectest [them] with thy

beauties. Thy KA riseth up with the celestial food hu and tchefau. O

thou mightily victorious one, thou Power of Powers, who makest

strong thy throne against the sinful ones, whose risings on thy

throne in the Sektet Boat are mighty, whose strength is widespread

in the Atett Boat, make thou the Osiris Ani to be glorious by virtue

of his word, which is truth, in Khert-Neter. Grant thou that he may

be in Amentet free from evil, and let [his] offences be [set] behind

thee. Grant thou that he may [live there] a devoted slave of the

Spirit-souls. Let him mingle among the Heart-souls who live in Ta-

tchesert (the Holy Land). Let him travel about in the Sekhet-Aaru

(the Elysian Fields), conformably to [thy] decree with joy of heart-

him the Osiris Ani, whose word is truth.

 

[And the god maketh answer]:--Thou shalt come forth into heaven,

thou shalt sail over the sky, and thou shalt hold loving intercourse

with the Star-gods. Praises shall be made to thee in the Boat. Thy

name shall be proclaimed in the Atett Boat. Thou shalt look upon Ra

within his shrine. Thou shalt make the Disk to set [with prayer]

every day. Thou shalt see the Ant Fish in his transformations in the

depths of the waters of turquoise. Thou shalt see the Abtu Fish in

his time. It shall be that the Evil One shall fall when he deviseth

a plan to destroy thee, and the joints of his neck and back shall be

hacked asunder. Ra saileth with a fair wind, and the Sektet Boat

progresseth and cometh into port. The mariners of Ra rejoice, and

the heart of the Lady of the Hour is glad, for the enemy of her Lord

hath been cast to the ground. Thou shalt behold Horus standing on

the pilot's place in the Boat, and Thoth and Maat shall stand one on

each side of him. All the gods shall rejoice when they behold Ra

coming in peace to make the hearts of the Spirit-souls to live, and

the Osiris Ani, whose word is truth, the assessor of the holy

offerings of the Lords of Thebes, shall be with them!