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 (564-569)

1421a. To say: He is pure who purifies himself in the sea of reeds;

1421b. Re‘ purifies himself in the sea of reeds;

1421c. N. himself purifies himself in the sea of reeds.

1421d. Shu purifies, himself in the sea of reeds;

1421e. N. himself purifies himself in the sea of reeds.

1422a. Shu, Shu, lift N. up to heaven;

1422b. Nut, give thine arms to N.;

1422c. let him fly, let him fly, rejoicing, rejoicing, rejoicing, let him fly, let him fly.

1423a. To say: N. be thou purified, (when) thou comest to heaven.

1423b. N. lasts longer than men; he dawns for the gods.

1423c. N. dawned with Rē‘ at his dawning.

1424a. Their third is he who is with him;

1424b. one is behind N.; the other is before N.;

1424c. one gives, water; the other gives sand.

1425a. N. leans upon thy two arms, Shu, just as Re‘ leans upon thine arm.

1425b. N. found them, sitting, at his approach

1425c. the two spirits, mistresses of this land.

1426a. Let Nut rejoice at the approach of N.;

1426b. Npnp.t has received him;

1426c. she who is in her ‘ḳ, for life and joy, and she who wears her Ntśtn-garment.

1427a. they gave birth, for themselves, to N.

1427b. N. is loosed from the evil which (was) in him.

1427c. Nephthys gave her arms to N.;

1427d. she passed her breast over the mouth of N.

1428a. Dwȝ-wr shaved N.; 1428b. Sothis washed the hands of N.,

1428c. at his birth, on that day, O gods.

1428d. N. knows (remembers?) not his first mother whom he knew;

1428e. it is Nut who has borne N., with Osiris.

1429a. To say: Take N. away with thee, Horus;

1429b. transport him, Thot, on the tip of thy wing,

1429c. like Seker who is in the mȝ‘.t-boat.

1429d. Horus does not pass the night (lit. go to bed) behind the canal; nor is Thot without a boat (lit. boatless);

1429e. and N. is not without a boat, for he has the eye of Horus.

1430a. To say: Rē‘ is purified in the Marsh of Reeds;

1430b. Horus is purified in the Marsh of Reeds;

1430c. N. is purified in the Marsh of Reeds,

1430d. that he may arise with him. Nut give him thine arm. 1430e. Rejoice, rejoice, he flies, he flies!

1431a. To say: He is gone who went to his ka; Mḫnti-’irti is gone to his ka;

1431b. N. is gone to his ka, to heaven.

1431c. A ladder is made for him, upon which he mounts, in its name of "That which mounts to heaven."

1432a. His boat is brought to him by the d‘m-sceptres of the imperishable stars.

1432b. The bull (or, ox) of heaven lowers its horn, so that he may pass thereon to the lakes of Dȝ.t.

1433a. O N., thou dost not fall to the ground.

1433b. N. lays hold of the two sycamores, which are in the middle of yonder side of the sky,

1433c. which ferry him over, and they set him on the eastern side of the sky.

1434a. To say: N. knows thy name; N. forgets not thy name.

1434b. "Limitless" is thy name. The name of thy father is "Thou art great."

1434c. Thy mother is "Satisfaction," who bears thee morning by morning.

1435a. The birth of "Limitless" in the horizon shall be prevented,

1435b. if thou preventest N. from coming to the place where thou art.

1435c. The birth of Śerḳet shall be prevented,

1435d. if thou preventest N. from coming to the place where thou art.

1436a. The two regions shall be forbidden to Horus,

1436b. if thou preventest N. from coming to the place where thou art.

1436c. The birth of Śȝḥ shall be prevented,

1436d. if thou preventest N. from coming to the place where thou art.

1437a. The birth of Sothis shall be prevented,

1437b. if thou preventest N. from coming to the place where thou art.

1437c. The (coming of) the two apes (bnt.wi) to Rē‘, his two beloved sons, shall be prevented,

1437d. if thou preventest N. from coming to the place where thou art.

1438a. The birth of Wepwawet in the pr-nw-palace shall be prevented,

1438b. if thou preventest N. from coming to the place where thou art.

1438c. The (coming of) men to the king, son of a god, shall be prevented,

1438d. if thou prevents N. from coming to the place where thou art.

1439a. The (coming of) thy crew of the imperishable stars to row thee over shall be prevented,

1439b. if thou preventest them from letting N. descend into thy boat.

1439c. The (coming of) men to death shall be prevented,

1439d. if thou preventest N. from descending into thy boat.

1440a. Men's eating of bread shall be prevented,

1440b. if thou preventest N. from descending into thy boat.

1440c. N. is Śkśn, the messenger of Rē‘;

1440d. N. shall not be prevented from (entering) heaven.

1440e. The mȝt.t-tree, which is at the door of heaven, has stretched out its arms to N.

1441a. His-face-behind-him, the ferryman of the Winding Watercourse, is united to him.

1441b. N. is not prevented; an obstacle is not opposed to N.,

1441c. for N. is one of you, O gods.

1442a. N. is come to thee, O Rē‘;

1442b. N. is come to thee, "Limitless,"

1442c. that he may row thee over, that he may do service of a courtier to thee.

1442d. N. loves thee in his body; N. loves thee in his heart.