The Pyramid Texts
Translation by Samuel A. B. Mercer
The Pyramid Texts
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.
Table Of Contents
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Preface |
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Introduction |
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The Pyramid Texts |
| 1 |
Nut and the Deceased King (1-11) |
| 2 |
Ritual of Bodily Restoration of the Deceased, and Offerings (12-203) |
| 3 |
A Group of Prayers And Charms (204-212) |
| 4 |
A Series of Old Heliopolitan Texts Partly Osirianized (213-222) |
| 5 |
The Deceased King Receives Offerings and is Re-Established in His Functions and Possessions (223-225) |
| 6 |
Mostly Serpent Charms (226-243) |
| 7 |
The Deceased King Arrives in Heaven Where He is Established (244-259) |
| 8 |
The Deceased King Triumphs Over His Enemies and is Recognized by the Gods (260-262) |
| 9 |
Means Whereby the Deceased King Reaches Heaven (263-271) |
| 10 |
The Deceased King in Heaven (272-274) |
| 11 |
Charms (275-299) |
| 12 |
The Ferryman and the Deceased King's Ascension (300-311) |
| 13 |
A Series of Five Charms (312-316) |
| 14 |
Miscellaneous Utterances on the Career of the Deceased King in the Hereafter (317-337) |
| 15 |
Offerings for the Deceased King (338-349) |
| 16 |
Miscellaneous Utterances on the Hereafter (350-374) |
| 17 |
Conjurations and Charms (375-400) |
| 18 |
Utterances Concerning Well-Being, Especially Food and Clothes (401-426) |
| 19 |
In Praise of Nut, Utterances (427-435) |
| 20 |
Miscellaneous Texts--Some Largely Osirian (436-442) |
| 21 |
Second Series in Praise of Nut (443-452) |
| 22 |
A Miscellaneous Group (453-486) |
| 23 |
A Series of Food Texts (487-502) |
| 24 |
A Series of Reed-Floats and Ferryman Texts (503-522) |
| 25 |
Miscellaneous Texts Chiefly About the Deceased King's Reception and Life in Heaven (523-533) |
| 26 |
For The Protection of the Pyramid Enclosure Against Osiris and His Cycle (534) |
| 27 |
Texts of Miscellaneous Contents (535-538) |
| 28 |
A Litany of Ascension (539) |
| 29 |
Texts of Miscellaneous Contents (540-552) |
| 30 |
Resurrection, Meal, and Ascension of the Deceased King (553) |
| 31 |
Texts of Miscellaneous Contents (554-562) |
| 32 |
A Purification Litany (563) |
| 33 |
Texts of Miscellaneous Contents (564-569) |
| 34 |
New-Birth of the Deceased King as a God in Heaven (570) |
| 35 |
Texts of Miscellaneous Contents (571-575) |
| 36 |
The Resurrection and Ascension of the Deceased King (576) |
| 37 |
The Resurrection of Osiris with whom the Gods are Satisfied (577) |
| 38 |
Texts of Miscellaneous Contents (578-586) |
| 39 |
An Early Hymn to the Sun (587) |
| 40 |
Texts of Miscellaneous Contents (588-600) |
| 41 |
A Litany-Like Incantation for the Endurance of a Pyramid and Temple (601) |
| 42 |
Texts of Miscellaneous Contents (602-605) |
| 43 |
The Resurrection, Ascension, and Reception of the Deceased King in Heaven (606) |
| 44 |
Texts of Miscellaneous Contents (607-609) |
| 45 |
The Deceased King on Earth and in Heaven (610) |
| 46 |
Texts of Miscellaneous Contents (611-626) |
| 47 |
The Ascended King, His Works, and Identifications (627) |
| 48 |
Texts of Miscellaneous Contents (628-658) |
| 49 |
The Death of the King and His Arrival in Heaven (659) |
| 50 |
Texts of Miscellaneous Contents (660-669) |
| 51 |
The Death, Resurrection, and Spiritualization of the King (670) |
| |
Utterance (670) |
| 52 |
Texts of Miscellaneous Contents (671-675) |
| 53 |
Resurrection, Transfiguration, and Life of the King in Heaven (676) |
| 54 |
Texts of Miscellaneous Contents (677-683) |
| 55 |
The Deceased King Ascends to Heaven (684) |
| 56 |
Texts of Miscellaneous Contents (685-689) |
| 57 |
A Series of Addresses to the Deceased King as a God (690) |
| 58 |
Texts of Miscellaneous Contents (691-704) |
| 59 |
A Series of Unclassifiable Fragments (705-714) |
Utterance 670.
1972. To say: The double doors of heaven are open; the double doors of the bows are open.
1973a. The gods in Buto were filled with compassion, when they came to Osiris N.,
1973b. [at the voice of we]eping of Isis and at the lamentation of Nephthys,
1973c. at the wailing of these two spirits
1973d. [for this Great One who comes forth] from the Dȝ.t.
1974a. The Souls of Buto dance for thee;
1974b. they beat their flesh for thee; they hit their arms for thee;
1974c. they dishevel their hair for thee;
1974d. they smite their legs for thee.
1975a. They say to thee, Osiris N., "thou art gone, thou art come;
1975b. thou art asleep, [thou art awake]; thou art [dead (lit. thou landest)], thou art alive.
1976a. Stand up, see that which thy son has done for thee;
1976b. awake, hear [that which] Horus [has done for] thee.
1977a. He has beaten for thee him who beats thee, li[ke an ox];
1977b. he has killed for thee him who kills thee, like a wild-bull;
1977c. he has bound for thee him who binds thee;
1977d. he has put him under thy great daughter who is in Ḳdm,
1978a. so that mourning ceased in the two ’itr.t-palaces of the gods."
1978b. Osiris speaks to Horus:
1978c. After he had exterminated the evil [which was in N. on] his fourth day,
1978d. after he had annulled that which he did against him on his eighth [day].
1979a. [Thou hast come forth] from the lake of life; [thou art] purified [in the lake of] ḳbḥ.w,
1979b. and art become Wepwawet; and thy son Horus conducts thee,
1979c. when he has given to thee the gods, thine enemies, and Thot has brought them to thee.
1980a. How beautiful indeed is the sight, how agreeable is the view, the sight of Horus,
1980b. in that he gave life to his father, [in that he offered] satisfaction to Osiris,
1980c. before the gods of the west!
1981a. Thy libation is poured by Isis, [Nephthys has purified thee]--
1981b. [thy two sisters] great and powerful, who collected thy flesh,
1981c. who bound together thy limbs, who made thy two eyes to appear in thy face--
11982a. the boat of the evening and the boat of the morning,
1982b. Atum has given to thee, and the Two Enneads have made for thee.
1983a. The children of thy child have raised thee up, perfect--
1983b. Ḥȝpi, ’Imś.ti, Dwȝ-mu.t-f, Ḳbḥ-śn.w.f,
1983c. who made for thee [their] names [into tt.wi],
1983c. who made for thee [their] names [into tt.wi],
1983e. who opened thy mouth with their copper (or, iron) fingers.
1984a. Thou mountest, thou mountest towards the broad-hall of Atum;
1984b. thou marchest towards the Marsh of Reeds;
1984c. thou voyagest over the places of the great god.
1985a. To thee heaven is given, to thee the earth is given, to thee the Marsh of Reeds is given,
1985b. [by] the two great gods who row thee over-
1985c. Shu and Tefnut, the two great gods of Heliopolis.
1986a. The awakening [of the god], [the rising of the god],
1986b. [for this spirit, who ascends from] the Dȝ.t, (even) Osiris N. who ascends from Geb.
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