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 (611-626)

1724a. To say: Thou who livest art living, father, in this thy name of "With the gods";

1724b. thou shalt dawn as Wepwawet, a soul at the head of the living,

1724c. that mighty one at the head of the spirits.

1725a. The king N. is a ḥd-wr, who is at your head, spirits;

1725b. the king N. is the great mighty-one, who is at your head, spirits;

1725c. the king N. is a Thot among you, gods.

1726a. The bolt is drawn for thee,

1726b. (the bolt) to the two ram-portals, which hold people back.

1726c. Thou countest enemies; thou takest the hand of the imperishable stars.

1727a. Thine eyes are open; thine ears are open;

1727b. enter into the house of the guardian; let thy father Geb guard thee.

1728a. The water-holes are united for thee; the lakes are brought together for thee,

1728b. for Horus who will avenge his father, for king N. who will avenge his body.

1729a. A vulture greater than thou (does) triple homage to thee.

1729b. It is agreeable to thy nose on account of the smell of the ’iḫ.t-wt.t-crown.

1730a. Further, to say: Let this thy going, king N., be like the going of Horus to his father, Osiris,

1730b. that he may be a spiritualized one thereby, that he may be a soul thereby, that he may be an honoured one thereby, that he may be a mighty one thereby.

1731a. Thy spirit is behind thee --------------------------

1731b. ---------------- king N.

1732a. Collect thy bones; take to thee thy limbs;

1732b. shake off this earth (dust of the earth) from thy flesh;

1733a. take to thee these thy four nmś.t-jars [filled at the divine-lake in Ntr.w],

1733b. (and) [the wind of the great Isis, together with (which) the great Isis dried (him)] like Horus.

1734a. Raise thyself towards the eye of Rē‘; and according to this thy name so will the gods do

1734b. to Horus of the Dȝ.t, even to Horus-Śkśn,

1734c. to Horus ------------------------------------

1734d. ------------------------------------

1735a. Raise thyself up, be seated on thy firm throne;

1735b. thy finger-nails scratch the castle (-door?).

1735c. Thou travellest over the regions of Horus; thou travellest over the regions of Set.

1735d. -------------------------------------

1736a. -------------------------------------

1736b. -------------------------------------

1736c. ------------ N., father ----------

1736d. Hdhd ----------------------------

1736e - --------------------------------------

1736f - ------------ to the Marsh of Offerings.

1737a. Hdhd, the ferryman of the Winding Watercourse, comes

1737b. ------------------------------------------

1738a. -------------

1738b. [Osiris] N. [comes] on the right side of the Marsh of Offerings, behind the two Great Gods,

1738c. that N. may hear what they say -------------------

1739a. ----- coming forth (?) like Osiris to wash thy hands -----

1739a + 1 (N. Jéquier, XXIV 1350 + 74-75). ear -----------Tefnut.

1739b. If Tefnut seizes thee; if Shu grasps thee,

1739c. then the majesty of Rē‘ will shine no more (?) in the horizon, that every god may see him.

1740a. To say: ------------------------

1740b. Thou [goest] to the portal of the house of Bȝ;

1740c. thou givest thy hand to them, when they come to thee with salutations;

1741a. but thou smitest them with -----------------------

1741b. -------------- in accordance with thy dignity which appertains to the lords of the ’imȝḫ.

1742a. To say: The eye of Horus is mounted (or, is placed upon) the wing of his brother Set.

1742b. The ropes are tied, the boats are assembled,

1742c. so that the son of Atum be not without a boat.

1742 d. N. is with the son of Atum who is not without a boat.

1743a. To say: O thou who art in the fist of the ferryman of the Marsh of Reeds,

1743b. bring this (boat) to N.; ferry N. over.

1744a. To say: Hasten, hasten --------------------------

1744b. --------------------------------------------

1744c. ----------- unite thyself with the gods in Heliopolis.

1745a. May the king make an offering: "in all thy places"; may the king make an offering: "in all thy dignities."

1745b (N. Jéquier, XX 1315). Thou goest in thy sandals; [thou slaughterest an ox]

1745c. --------------------------------------------

1746a. To say: Now be still, men, hear --------------------

1746b. --------------------------------------------

1746c. --------------------------------------------

1746d. --------- with the First of the Westerners.

1747a. To say: Raise thyself up, N.; raise thyself up, great nwȝ;

1747b. raise thyself up from (lit. on) thy left side, place thyself on thy right side.

1748a. Wash thy hands with this fresh water which I have given thee, my (lit. thy) father Osiris.

1748b. I have tilled the barley; I have reaped the spelt,

1748c. with which I made (an offering) for thy feasts, which the First of the Westerners offered for thee.

1749a. Thy face is like that of a jackal; thy heart is like that of, Ḳbḥ.t, thy seat is like that of a broad-hall.

1749b. A stairway to heaven is built (for thee), that thou mayest ascend.

1750a. Thou judgest between the two great gods,

1750b. who support the Two Enneads.

1750c. Isis weeps for thee; Nephthys calls thee;

1751a. as for ’Imt.t she sits at the feet of thy throne.

1751b. Thou seizest thy two oars

1751c. of which one is of pine, the other of id;

1752a. thou ferriest over the lake of thy house, the sea;

1752b. and thou avengest thyself against him who did this against thee.

1752c. O, Ho, may the great lake protect thee!

1753a. To say: I am Horus, Osiris N., I will not let thee sicken.

1753b. Come forth, awake, I will avenge thee.

1754. To say: Osiris N., take to thyself the odour of the eye of Horus, like the eye of Horus, which he traced by its odour.

1755a. To say: Osiris N., I have adorned thee with the eye of Horus,

1755b. (which is) that Rnn-wt.t of whom the gods have fear.

1755c. The gods fear thee, as they have fear of the eye of Horus.

1756. Osiris N., take to thyself the eye of Horus, which made its śtnf.

1757 (Nt. Jéquier, VIII 1). To say: N. has gone forth on the sea of ’Iw (the ferryman); N. has ascended with the help of the wing of Khepri.

1758a. It is Nut who takes the hand of N.; it is Nut who prepares the way for N.

1758b. (Nt. VIII 1). The falcon defends thee against these,

1759a. who are in this boat of Rē‘, who transport the boat of Rē‘ to the east.

1759b. Carry N.; lift him up.

1760a. Set this N. among these gods, the imperishable stars; fallen among them. 1760b. He does not perish; he is not destroyed.

1761a. N. is --- among the great gods; he is judge among the gods.

1761b. He who supplies (or, fills) N., supplies N., for his brother

1761c (Nt. VIII 4). ------ this N., ’Iri.f ascends like Rē‘.

1761d. N. is Osiris, who is come forth out of the night.

1762a. To say: N. is the d‘m-sceptre which is in Grg.w-bȝ (.f).

1762b. N. has descended upon the perch; N. has ascended among the great ones.

1763a (Nt. XXXI 806). I have descended into the field of royal women;

1763b. N. has ascended upon the ladder,

1763c. his foot on Śȝḥ the arm of N. in its.

1764a. I took hold of the reins of him who is chief of his department, (and)

1764b. he takes the arm of N. to the great place,

1764c. (where) N. has seized his throne in the divine boat.

1765a. ---------------------------

1765b. N. as prince of heaven;

1765c. the house of N. is there among the lords of names.

1766a. -------------------

1766b. ----- the men and his two boats.

1766c. The name of N. is in the horizon; the ‘hm.w fear him

1767a. ------------------------

1767b. ----- the great game-board, at the side of him who is with Nhdf.

1768a. Every god who gives to N. his power to carry off -------

1768b. ----------------- N. truth.

1768c. He causes those to live who ceased in the fight at the side of Dbḥś.

1769a. N ----------------------------

1769b. [Ho!] He-who-sees-behind-him, bring to N. the ḳd-ḥtp, made by Khmun,

1769c. that N. may ascend to heaven upon it; that N. may do service of a courtier to Rē‘ in heaven.

1770a. To say: N. has ascended like a swallow; N. has alighted like a falcon.

1770b. The face of N ---------------

1770c. That fortress of his, every one, all of them [have been given to him]; the two nomes of the god have been given to him.