Chapter for removing displeasure from the heart of the god against the deceased person.
Hail to thee, oh god who sendest forth(1) the Moment, who
presidest over all the Secret things(2), and protectest the utterance
of my words.
Here(3) is a god displeased against me; let wrong be overwhelmed
and let it fall upon the hands of the Lord of Law.
Remove(4) the impediments which are in me and the evil and the
darkness(5), oh Lord of Law, and let that god be reconciled to me,
removing that which detaineth me from thee.
Oh, lord of offerings in Kenu(6), let me offer to thee the
propitiary offering by which thou livest, and let me live by it and
be reconciled.
Let all the displeasure which is in thy heart against me be
removed.
Notes.
There is a very great difference between the earlier and the later
texts of this chapter. Former translators, having chiefly the Turin
22text before them, have understood the title of the chapter as intended
“to remove the impurities from the heart of the deceased
person.” The Turin text of the chapter is really unintelligible, and
even in the earlier texts certain passages are so corrupt as to defy
translation.
1.
like the Latin ‘mittere’ has the sense of “let
go, give free course, set at liberty.”
2.
, the secrets, here as elsewhere in the funereal
texts, are those of the tomb and of the world beyond the grave.
3.
The older texts have , the later, .
4.
The Lord of Law is in the singular, but the imperative
‘remove’ is in the plural.
5.
The word was a puzzle to the oldest transcribers. It
is susceptible of different meanings. The Turin text
‘the god is joined with Law,’ which is supported by some
of the older papyri, is intelligible in itself, but not in this context.
I have understood , coming as it does after ,
in the sense of ‘deep darkness.’
6.
The MSS. differ hopelessly on this proper name.
