How efficacious are thy plans, O lord of eternity. There is a Nile in the sky for the foreign peoples, But the (true) Nile comes from the nether-world for the land of Egypt. And for the animals of every country, that walk upon their feet; Thy rays nourish every garden; When thou shinest forth they live and they grow for thee. Thou makest the seasons in order to prosper all thou hast made: The winter to cool them, and the summer heat that they may taste thee. Thou hast made the distant sky to shine in it, And to see all that thou hast made. Whilst thou wert alone, Shining in thy form as the living Aton, Appearing gloriously, and gleaming, being both distant and near. Thou makest millions of forms through thyself alone, Towns, villages, fields, roads, and rivers. All eyes behold thee before them, For thou art the Aton of the day over the earth. Thou art in my heart, And there is no other that knows thee, Save thy son Nefer-Kheperu Re, Wa-en-Re.[26] For thou hast made him wise in thy ways and in thy power.[27] Aton’s Providence The earth came into being by thy hand, even as thou hast made them. When thou dost shine, they live, When thou settest, they die. Thou, thyself, art length of life; For men live only by thee. Eyes are fixed on beauty until thou settest; All work is laid aside when thou settest in the west, But when thou risest again, everything is made to flourish for the king.... Every leg is in motion, since thou didst establish the earth. Thou raisest them up for thy son, who came forth from thy body. The King of Upper and Lower Egypt, Lord of the Two Lands, Nefer-kheperu-Re, Wa-en-Re, son of Re, living in truth, lord of Diadems, Akhenaton, whose life is long; and for the Chief Royal Wife, Nefer-neferu-Aton, Nofertiti whom he loves, may she live and flourish for ever and ever. Although the Hymn to the Aton clearly grants a favored position to Egypt, Aton is pictured as holding sway over all peoples, for the sun brings light and heat to men of every nation. This universalism finds a modern counterpart in the hymn of Joseph Addison (1712): The spacious firmament on high, With all the blue ethereal sky, And spangled heavens, a shining frame, Their great Original proclaim: Th’ unwearied sun, from day to day, Does his creator’s power display, And publishes to every land The work of an almighty hand.