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 (690)

2092a. To say: Wake up, Osiris; let the weary god awake.

2092b. The god stands up; the god is powerful over his body.

2093a. Wake up, N.; let the weary god awake.

2093b. The god stands up; the god is powerful over his body.

2094a. Horus stands up; he clothes N. with linen--him who came forth from him.

2094b. N. is equipped as a god, standing in the pr.wr-palace, sitting with the Two Enneads.

2095a. "O N., stand up, come in peace," says Rē‘ to thee; "messenger of the great god,

2095b. thou goest to heaven; thou goest forth through the doors of the horizon;

2096a. Geb sends thee; thou art a soul like a [god, respected like a god];

2096b. [thou art powerful] over thy body, like a god,

2096c. like Ba, chief of the living, 2096d. like Śḫm, chief of spirits."

2097a. N. comes; he is equipped like a god; his bones are assembled like [Osiris];

2097b. [he comes behind his uraeus].

2097c. Thou hast come, O N., out of Heliopolis; thou art avenged; thy heart is placed in thy body;

2098a. Thy face is like that of a jackal; thy flesh is like that of Atum;

2098b. thy bȝ is in thy body; thy śḫm is behind thee; Isis is before thee; Nephthys is behind thee.

2099a. Thou journeyest through the regions of Horus; thou travelest through the regions of Set.

2099b. It is Shu and Tefnut who lead thee, when thou ascendest from Heliopolis.

2100a. O N., Horus has woven his tent over thy head;

2100b. Set has stretched out thy canopy;

2100c. be enclosed, O father, by the divine tent; thou art brought there in thy beloved places.

2101a. O N., Horus comes to thee provided with his souls,

2101b. Ḥȝpi, Dwȝ-mw.t.f, ’Imś.ti, Ḳbḥ-śn.w.f.

2102 a. They bring to thee thy name of "Imperishable";

2102b. thou perishest not; thou diest not.

2103a. O N., thy sister Ḳbḥ.wt has purified [thee]

2103b. in Rd-wr chief of the lakes.

2103c. Thou appearest to them like a jackal, like Horus chief of the living,

2103d. like Geb chief of the Ennead, like Osiris chief of spirits.

2104. Thou commandest spirits; thou leadest the [imperishable stars].

2105a. The evil of Osiris--the evil of N.--the evil of the bull of the Two Enneads--

2105b. the god is loosed (from it), N. has power over his body.

2105c. N. is loosed (from it); N. has power over his body.

2106a. O N., Horus, is standing, he glorifies thee;

2106b. he conducts thee, when thou ascendest to heaven.

2107a. Thy mother Nut receives thee; she lays hold of thine arm,

2107b. that thou mayest not be in need, that thou mayest not moan (like a cedar),

2107c. (but) that thou mayest live like the coleoptera (lives) and endure in [Mendes].

2108a. O N., thou art adorned like a god; thy face is like (that of) a jackal, as Osiris,

2108b. that soul in Ndi.t, that mighty one in the great city.

2109. The sky trembles, the earth quakes before the god, before N.

2110a. N. [is not enveloped] by the earth;

2110b. ’Iḫ.t-wt.t, thou art not enveloped by the earth.

2110c. Thy fame is by day; thy fear is by night, as a god, lord of f ear.

2110d. Thou commandest the gods like the mighty one, chief of the mighty.

2111. [O] Osiris, the overflow comes, the inundation hastens, Geb groans.

2112a. I have pitied thee with pity; I have smitten him who acted with evil (intent) against thee;

2112b. that thou mayest live, that thou mayest raise thyself up because of thy strength.

2113. O N., [the inundation comes 1, [the overflow hastens], Geb [groans].

2114a. Exult in the divine efflux which is in thee; let thy heart live;

2114b. thy divine limbs are in good condition; loosen thy bindings.

2115a. Horus comes to thee, N.; he does for thee that which he did for his father Osiris,

2115b. that thou mayest live like unto the life of those in heaven, and [that thou mayest come into being] more (truly) than those who are on earth.

2116a. Raise thyself up because of thy strength; ascend thou to heaven.

2116b. The sky bears thee like Ś3ḥ; thou hast power over thy body;

2116c. thou defendest thyself against thine enemy.

2117. [O N.] [I have wept for thee], I have mourned for thee;

2118a. I shall not forget thee; my heart will not weary to give thee offerings every day,

2118b. at the (feast of the) month, at the (feast of the) half month, at the (feast of) covering the fire-pan, at the (feast of) Thot, at the wȝg-feast,

2118c. at the (feast of) slaughtering, (at) the (feast of) thy years, (at) (the feast of) thy birth, at the beginnings of thy months, during which thou livest as a god.

2119. O N., may thy body be clothed, that thou mayest come to me.