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 (677-683)

2018a. To say: A Great One is fallen on his side; he is up like a god;

2018b. his śḫm-sceptre is with him; his white crown is upon him.

2019a. N. is fallen on his side; N. is up like a god;

2019b. his śḫm-sceptre is with him; his white crown is upon him, like the white crown of Rē‘,

2019c. when he ascends in the horizon, and when he is greeted by Horus in the horizon. 2020a. O N., raise thyself up;

2020b. receive thy dignity, which the Two Enneads made for thee (e.g. "conferred upon thee").

2021a. Thou art on the throne of Osiris, in the place of the First of the Westerners.

2021b. Thou hast taken his śḫm-sceptre; thou hast carried off his great white crown.

2022a. O N., how beautiful is this, how great is this which thy father, Osiris, has, done for thee!

2022b. He gave thee his throne,

2023a. that thou mayest rule those of secret places, that thou mayest lead their venerable ones,

2023b. and that all the glorified ones may follow thee in this their name of "Secret places."

2024a. O N., thou art happy; thou art proud;

2024b. thou art an Atum; thou wilt not depart from his destiny.

2025a. Rē‘ calls thee, in thy name of "Him whom all the glorified ones fear."

2025b. Thy dread is in the hearts of the gods, like the dread of Re‘ of the horizon.

2026a. O N., who keeps secret his form, like Anubis on his belly,

2026b. receive thy face of a jackal; raise thyself up; stand up.

2027a. Sit down to thy thousand (loaves) of bread, thy thousand (mugs) of beer, thy thousand of oxen, thy thousand of geese,

2027b. thy thousand of every good thing whereon a god lives.

2028a. O N., pure one, Rē‘ finds thee standing with thy mother Nut;

2028b. she leads thee on the ways of the horizon,

2028c. where thou makest thine abode. How beautiful it is (to be) with thy ka, for ever and ever.

2029a. To say: ’Iḥmti, Śdmti,

2029b. do not hearken to N.; do not listen to N.;

2029c. do not demand the magic of N.;

2029d. do not ask for the magic of N. from N.

2030a. Thou hast thy magic; N. has his magic.

2030b. May N. not break thy pen; may he not crack thy palette! 2030c. May N. have (his) offering!

2031a. To say: Thy water belongs to thee; thine efflux belongs, to thee; thine inundation belongs to thee,

2031b. issuing from Osiris.

2032a. Thou makest them ḫśd like Horus; thou openest them like Wepwawet, 2032b. for thou art the Wr, the Eldest Son.

2033. To say: Osiris N., take to thee the eye of Horus; it is thine.

2034a. To say: Great heaven, give thy hand to N.;

2034b. great Nut, give thy hand to N.;

2034c. it is N. thy divine falcon.

2035a. N. is come; he ascends to heaven; N. opens ḳbḥ.w;

2035b. N. greets his father, Rē‘.

2036a. He crowned him as a Horus, in which (form) N. comes;

2036b. he gives to N. two real crowns;

2036c. (and) he establishes for N. his two divine eyes.

2037a. N. ascends to him, great, as Horus of the sky, at the zenith of heaven;

2037b. he who smites the crowns of the North, who gives commands to the Wtn.w.

2038a. N. is followed by the ‘fti.w.

2038b. Those in heaven and on earth come to him with salutations,

2038c. as well as jackals, as (lit. (in) place of) Setite spirits,

2038d. superiors and inferiors.

2039. He is anointed with perfume, clothed with pȝ-t, living on offerings.

2040a. N. commands; N. confers distinctions;

2040b. N. awards places; 2040c. N. makes offerings; N. conducts the presentations.

2041. It is N.; N., is the one of heaven; he exercises power before Nut.

2042a. To say: Greetings to thee from Seker, N.

2042b. Thy face is washed by Dwȝ-wr.

2042c. N. flies as a cloud (or, high) like a divine falcon;

2042d. N. is cool like the heron; N. flies low (?) like a smn-goose.

2043a. The wings of N. are like (those of) a divine falcon;

2043b. the tips of the wings of N. are like (those of) a divine falcon.

2043c. The bones of N. are fastened together; N. is purified.

2044a. The fillet of N. is at his back; the bodice of N. is upon him;

2044b. his girdle is of šnp. 2045a. N. descends with Rē‘ into his great boat,

2045b. in which he transports him to the horizon to judge the gods with him.

2046a. Horus voyages in it with him to the horizon;

2046b. N. judges the gods with him in the horizon,

2046c. for N. is one of them.

2047a. To say: Behold, this, is what they said to N., what the gods said to N.

2047b. The word of the gods is fallen upon N.:

2047c. "It is Horus, who comes forth from the Nile; it is the bull, which comes forth from the fortress;

2047d. it is the d.t-serpent which comes forth from Rē‘; it is the ’i‘r.t-serpent which comes forth from Set.

2048a. Everything which will happen to N. happens likewise to Mdd.t-’it,

2048b. daughter of Rē‘, who is on his two legs;

2048c. everything which happens to N. happens likewise to Mdȝ,

2048d. daughter of Rē‘, who is on his two legs,

2049. for N. is Wdȝ, son of Wdȝ, who comes forth from Wdȝ-t.

2050a. N. is intact; N. is intact; (as true as) the eye of Horus is intact in Heliopolis;

2050b. N. lives; N. lives; (as true as) the eye of Horus lives in Heliopolis."