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) |
| 52 |
Texts of Miscellaneous Contents (671-675) |
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Utterances (671 | 672 | 673| 674 | 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 671.
1987a. To say: O N., thou art the son of a Great One;
1987b. thou art purified in the lake, Dȝ.ti;
1987c. thou takest thy throne in the Marsh of Reeds.
Utterance 672.
1988a. To say: The truth of Horus is the truth of this N., O N.
1988b. Thou art come, N., clothed; thou comest vested.
1989a. N. has inherited him who is not mourned any more, him who comes into being smiling.
1989b. Greetings to thee N.; thou comest in peace.
Utterance 673.
1990a. To say: O father N.,
1990b. thou comest, that is, thou hast come like a god, thou who art come (in boat) like ḳbḥ.w.
1991a. Thy messengers hasten; thy runners run;
1991b. they ascend to heaven; they announce to Rē‘
1992a. that thou standest in the double ’itr.t-palace of the horizon, upon Shu of Nut;
1992b. that thou art seated upon the throne of thy father, Geb, as chief of the ’itr.t-palace,
1992c. upon this throne of copper (or, iron), the wonder of the gods.
1993a. The Two Enneads come to thee with salutations;
1993b. thou commandest men
1993c. like Min, who is in his house, and like Horus of Db‘.wt.
1993d. And Set was not free from bearing thy weight.
Utterance 674.
1994a. To say: I have come to thee, I am thy son; I have come to thee, I am Horus;
1994b. I give to thee thy mdw-staff before the spirits and thy nḥb.t-sceptre before the imperishable stars.
1995a. [I have found thee assembled], [thy (lit. his) face] like (that of) a jackal, thy (lit. his) seat like (that of) ḳbḥ.wt;
1995b. she refreshes thy heart in thy body, in the house of her (lit. thy) father Anubis.
1996a. Be pure and sit at the head of those greater than thou.
1996b. Thou art seated on thy firm throne, on the throne of the First of the Westerners;
1996c. thy śtiš.w, they are young.
1997. Śmnt.t salutes thee, like Isis; Hn.t acclaims thee like Nephthys.
1998a. Thou standest at the head of the śn.wt, of the double palace, like Min;
1998b. thou standest at the head of Egyptians (km.tiw), like Ḥapi;
1998c. thou standest at Pdw-š, like Seker.
1999a. Thou standest before the Rd-wr-lake.
1999b. Thou hast thy 'bȝ-sceptre, thy wire, thy fingernails; which are at hand (lit. "at thy fingers");
1999c. those who are before Thot are slain with the knife, coming from Set.
1999d. Thou givest thine arm to the dead, to the spirits, who will take thine arm to the First of the Westerners.
Utterance 675.
2000a. To say: O N., "come in peace," says Osiris to thee;
2000b. messenger of the Great God, "come in peace," says the Great God to thee.
2001a. The double doors of heaven are open for thee; the (double doors of the) śḥd.w-stars are open for thee,
2001b. after thou art descended (into the grave) as the jackal of Upper Egypt,
2001c. as Anubis on his belly (side), as Hpi.w who resides in Heliopolis.
2002a. The great damsel who lives in Heliopolis has given her arm to thee.
2002b. O N., thou hast [no] father, among men, who conceived thee;
2002c. thou hast no mother, among mankind, who bore thee.
2003a. Thy mother is the great wild-cow who lives in el-Kâb,
2003b. the white crown, the royal head-dress, she with the long feathers (hair?), she with the two hanging breasts,
2003c. she will nurse thee; she will not wean thee.
2004a. Raise thyself up, N., dress thyself in thy fringed-vestment, the first (best) in the house,
2004b. thy ḥd-mace on thine arm, thy Horus-weapon (ȝmś) in thy hand, thine ȝmś-sceptre on thine arm, thy ḥd-mace in thy hand.
2005a. Thou standest as he who is chief of the double ’itr.t-palace, who, judges the words of the gods.
2005b. O N., thou belongest to the nḫḫ.w (-stars), when Rē‘ shines behind the morning star.
2006a. Lo, no god escapes from what he has said;
2006b. he will offer thee thy thousand (loaves) of bread, thy thousand (mugs) of beer, thy thousand of oxen, thy thousand of geese,
2006c. thy thousand of everything on which a god lives.
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