1. Both the _Bennu_ and the _Shenshen_ (which I here translate
‘Hernshaw’) are Herons. They fly to a great height in spiral whirls.
2. The true reading here seems to be ⁂⁂ from ⁂⁂ ‘shear.’
3. _Cut in pieces._ The papyrus of Ani gives the valuable reading ⁂.
4. _Rebellion._ So I understand ⁂⁂, a wrongful and violent
_rising_, ἐπανάστασις.
------------------------------------
CHAPTER LXXXV.
_Chapter whereby one assumeth the form of a Soul,_(1.) _that one may not
come to the dungeon. Imperishable is he who knoweth it._
I am a Soul. I am Rā who proceedeth from Nu, and my soul is divine. I am
he who produceth food, but I execrate what is wrong and look not upon
it.
I am possessor of Maāt and subsist by means of it.
I am the Food which perisheth not; in my name of the Self-originating
Force, together with Nu, in the name of Chepera, from whom I am born
daily.
I am the Lord of Daylight and I execrate Death, let me not enter into
the dungeons of the gods of the Tuat.
It is I who give glory to Osiris and propitiate the hearts of those who
are with him, my own friends.
They inspire the fear of me, and put forward my might to those within
their domains.
And behold me, how I am raised upon my pedestal and upon my throne.
I am Nu. They shall not overthrow me who do wrong.
I am he whose orbits are of old; my soul is divine, it is the Eternal
Force.
It is I who create the Darkness which maketh its seat at the confines of
Heaven.
My Soul hath come, far advanced in age, and I create the Darkness at the
confines of Heaven at my pleasure.
I reach the limits, and I advance upon my feet.
I take the lead and I traverse the steel firmament which maketh a
curtain.(2.) I put a stop to the Darkness and the worms; I whose name is
hidden.
I drive away aggression from before the Lord of the two hands, who is my
own Soul. The Uræus divinities are my body. My image is Eternal, the
Lord of years, the King of Everlasting.
I am exalted as Lord of the land of Rebu: ‘the Youth in Town, the Lad in
the Country’ is my name; and my name is imperishable.
I am the Force which createth Heaven and maketh its abode in the
Netherworld.
Not to be seen is my nest; not to be broken is my Egg.
I am the Lord on High. I have made my nest on the confines of Heaven,
and I descend to the earth of Seb and put a stop to evil. I see my
father, the Lord of the Gloaming, and I breathe.(3.)
NOTES.
1. Soul. The Egyptian word which in our modern languages we translate as
_Soul_ has already been explained as meaning _Force_. It is so
translated in this chapter in several passages where this sense is
emphatically required.
2. _A curtain_, ⁂ _šet_, literally a _skin_. _Cf._ Ps. civ, 2, “Who
stretchest out the heavens like a curtain,” where the LXX render
‘curtain’ by δέῤῥιν and the Vulgate by _pellem_.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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