The Pyramid Texts were funerary inscriptions that were written on the walls of the early Ancient Egyptian pyramids at Sakkara. These date back to the fifth and sixth dynasties, approximately the years 2350-2175 B.C.E. However, because of extensive internal evidence, it is believed that they were composed much earlier, circa 3000 B.C.E. The Pyramid Texts are, therefore, essentially the oldest sacred texts known.

Samuel Mercer was the first to produce a complete English translation of this mysterious text, in 1952. This was also the first complete translation in any language. The Mercer translation was followed by the R.O. Faulkner translation in 1969, which is considered the standard today.

Utterances (535-538)

1280a. To say by Isis and Nephthys:

1280b. The ḥȝ.t-bird comes, the kite comes; they are Isis and Nephthys.

1280c. They are come in search of their brother Osiris;

1280d. (They are come) in search of their brother N.

1281a. Thou who art (here), thou who art (there), weep for thy brother; Isis, weep for thy brother; Nephthys, weep for thy brother.

1281b. Isis sits, her hands upon her head;

1282a. Nephthys has indeed seized the tip of (her) two breasts because of her brother, N.;

1282b. Anubis being on his belly; Osiris being wounded; Anubis being before the fist (?). 1283a. Thy putrefaction, N., is not; thy sweat, N., is not;

1283b. thy outflowing, N., is not; thy dust, N., is not.

1284a. Ḥȝ.ti son of Ḥȝ.ti (is) at Mnii, coming as Mn.ti,

1284b. to divide in three these your four days and your eight nights.

1285a. The stars follow thy beloved Ḳbḥ.wt,

1285b. who is chief of thy nmḥ (attendants); thou art chief of those who are chief of the nmḥ.w (attendants); thou hast made nmḥ the nmḥ.w.

1285c. Loose Horus from his bonds, that he may punish the Followers of Set;

1286a. that he may seize them; that he may remove their heads; that he may take off their legs.

1286b. Cut thou them up, take thou out their hearts;

1286c. drink thou of their blood;

1287a. count their hearts, in this thy name of "Anubis counter of hearts."

1287b. Thy two eyes have been given to thee as thy two uraeus-serpents,

1287c. for thou art like Wepwawet on his standard, Anubis who presides in sḥ-ntr.

1288a. O N., the houses of the great who are in Heliopolis make thee "first";

1288b. the spirits and even the imperishable stars fear thee.

1288c. The dead fall on their face before thee; the blessed dead(?) care for thee.

1289a. "Eldest (son), ’Imȝḫ is for N.," say the Souls of Heliopolis,

1289b. who furnish thee with life and satisfaction.

1289c. He lives with the living as Seker lives with the living;

1289d. he lives with the living as N. lives with the living.

1290a. O N., come, live thy life there, in thy name, in thy time,

1290b. in these years, which are to be peaceful, according to (?) thy wish.

1291a. To say: Thy water belongs to thee, thine abundance belongs to thee, thine efflux comes out of Osiris to thee.

1291b. The double doors of heaven are open for thee; the double doors of Nut are open for thee;

1291c. the double doors of heaven are open for thee; the double doors of ḳbḥ.w are open for thee.

1292a. "Welcome," says Isis; "(come) in peace," says Nephthys, when they see their brother.

1292b. Raise thyself up;

1292c. untie thy bandages; shake off thy dust.

1293a. Sit thou upon this thy firm throne.

1293b. Thou art pure with thy four nmś.t-jars and thy four ’ȝb.t-jars,

1293c. which come for thee out of thy chapel of natron, which were filled for thee in the natron lake,

1293d. and which Horus of Nekhen has given thee.

1294a. He has given to thee his spirits, the jackals,

1294b. like (to) Horus who is in his house, like (to) Ḫnti (Osiris) chief of the mighty.

1294c. A durable offering is made for thee.

1295a. Anubis, chief of the sḥ-ntr, has commanded that thou come in as a star, as god of the morning (or, as god of the morning star),

1295b. that thou pass through the region of Horus of the South and that thou pass through the region of Horus of the North.

1296a. (And) men will construct with their arms a stairway to thy throne.

1296b. He comes to thee his father; he comes to thee Geb.

1297a. Do for him that which thou hast done for his brother, Osiris,

1297b. on this day of thy feast, the water being full (i. e. at inundation),

1297c. when (his) bones are counted, when (his) sandals are repaired,

1297d. when his nails, upper and lower, are cleaned for him,

1297e. There will come to him (people of) the Upper Egyptian ’itr.t-palace and of the northern ’itr.t-palace, bowing --.

1298a. To say: O N., arise, sit thou on the throne of Osiris;

1298b. thy flesh is complete like (that of) Atum; thy face like (that of) a jackal.

1299a. Give thou thy mouth to Rē‘.

1299b. He congratulates thee on what thou hast said; he praises thy words.

1299c. Arise; thou ceasest not to be; thou perishest not.

1300a. Live, N., thy mother Nut lays hold of thee, she unites her. self with thee;

1300b. Geb seizes thine arm. "Thou comest in peace," say thy fathers.

1300c. Thou art possessed of thy body; thou art clothed in thy body.

1301a. Thou ascendest like Horus of the Dȝ.t, chief of the imperishable stars;

1301b. thou sittest upon thy firm throne at the head of thy canal of ḳbḥ.w;

1301c. thou livest as the coleoptera (lives); thou endurest as the dd, eternally.

1302a. To say: Back, thou lowing ox.

1302b. Thy head is in the hand of Horus; thy tail is in the hand of Isis;

1302c. the fingers of Atum are at thy horns.