The Book of the Dead | Page 9

from Re-stau, I have not killed men.
"O Neba, comer forth in retreating, I have not plundered the property of
God.
"O Set-qesu, comer forth from Hensu, I have not lied.
"O Uammti, comer forth from Khebt, I have not defiled any man's wife.
"O Maa-anuf, comer forth from Per-Menu, I have not defiled myself.
"O Tem-Sep, comer forth from Tetu, I have not cursed the king.
"O Nefer-Tem, comer forth from Het-ka-Ptah, I have not acted

deceitfully; I have not committed wickedness.
"O Nekhen, comer forth from Heqat, I have not turned a deaf ear to the
words of the Law (or Truth)."
The names of most of the Forty-Two gods are not ancient, but were
invented by the priests probably about the same time as the names in
the Book of Him that is in the Tuat and the Book of Gates, i.e., between
the XIIth and the XVIIIth dynasties. Their artificial character is shown
by their meanings. Thus Usekh-nemmit means "He of the long strides";
Fenti means "He of the Nose"; Neha-hau means "Stinking-members";
Set-qesu means "Breaker of bones," etc. The early Egyptologists called
the second part of the CXXVth Chapter the "Negative Confession," and
it is generally known by this somewhat inexact title to this day.
In the third part of the CXXVth Chapter comes the address which the
deceased made to the gods after he had declared his innocence of the
sins enumerated before the Forty-Two gods. He says: "Homage to you,
O ye gods who dwell in your Hall of Maati. I know you and I know
your names. Let me not fall under your slaughtering knives. Bring not
my wickedness to the notice of the god whose followers ye are. Let not
the affair [of my judgment] come under your jurisdiction. Speak ye the
Law (or truth) concerning me before Neb-er-tcher, [8] for I performed
the Law (or, truth) in Ta-mera (i.e., Egypt). I have not blasphemed the
God. No affair of mine came under the notice of the king in his day.
Homage to you, O ye who are in your Hall of Maati, who have no lies
in your bodies, who live on truth, who eat truth before Horus, the
dweller in his disk, deliver ye me from Babai [9] who liveth upon the
entrails of the mighty ones on the day of the Great Reckoning (APT
AAT). Behold me! I have come to you without sin, without deceit (?),
without evil, without false testimony (?) I have not done an [evil] thing.
I live upon truth and I feed upon truth. I have performed the behests of
men, and the things that satisfy the gods. [10] I have propitiated the
God [by doing] His will. I have given bread to the hungry, water to the
thirsty, raiment to the naked, and a boat to him that needed one. I have
made holy offerings to the gods, and sepulchral offerings to the
beautified dead. Be ye then my saviours, be ye my protectors, and make

no accusation against me before the Great God. I am pure of mouth,
and clean of hands; therefore it hath been said by those who saw me,
'Come in peace, come in peace.'"
The deceased then addresses Osiris, and says, "Hail, thou who art
exalted upon thy standard, thou Lord of the Atefu Crown, whose name
is 'Lord of Winds,' save me from thy Messengers (or Assessors) with
uncovered faces, who bring charges of evil and make shortcomings
plain, because I have performed the Law (or Truth) for the Lord of the
Law (or Truth). I have purified myself with washings in water, my back
hath been cleansed with salt, and my inner parts are in the Pool of
Truth. There is not a member of mine that lacketh truth." From the lines
that follow the above in the Papyrus of Nu it seems as though the
judgment of the deceased by the Forty-Two gods was preliminary to
the final judgment of Osiris. At all events, after questioning him about
the performance of certain ceremonies, they invited him to enter the
Hall of Maati, but when he was about to do so the porter, and the
door-bolts, and the various parts of the door and its frame, and the floor,
refused to permit him to enter until he had repeated their magical
names. When he had pronounced these correctly the porter took him in
and presented him to Maau (?)-Taui, who was Thoth himself. When
asked by him why he had come the deceased answered, "I have come
that report may be made of me." Then Thoth said, "What is thy
condition?" And the deceased replied, "I am purified from evil things, I
am free from the wickedness of those who lived in my days; I am not