E. A.

Wallis Budge

ne of the best-known sections of the

Book of the Coming Forth by Day
(The Book of the Dead) in the
Papyrus of Ani is the Negative Confession. The
forty-two Gods and Goddesses of the Nomes of
Egypt conduct this initiatory test of the soul
before the scale of Maat. In this translation by
pioneering Egyptologist E. A. Wallis Budge, we
hear the initiates assertion of blamelessness before
the Court of Osiris. For clarity, divine names
and city names in parentheses have been added
to the 1895 text of Chapter 125 from Budges
1913 edition.

Rosicrucian
Digest
No. 1
2007

1. Ani saith: Hail, thou whose strides

are long (Usekh-nemmt), who comest
forth from Annu (Heliopolis), I have
not done iniquity.
2. Hail, thou who art embraced by
flame (Hept-khet), who comest forth
from Kheraba, I have not robbed
with violence.
3. Hail, Fentiu, who comest forth
from Khemennu (Hermopolis), I have
not stolen.
4. Hail, Devourer of the Shade (Amkhaibit), who comest forth from
Qernet, I have done no murder; I have
done no harm.
5. Hail, Nehau, who comest forth from
Re-stau, I have not defrauded offerings.
6. Hail, god in the form of two lions
(Ruruti), who comest forth from heaven,
I have not minished oblations.
7. Hail, thou whose eyes are of fire (Arfiem-khet), who comest forth from Saut
(Asyut), I have not plundered the god.
8. Hail, thou Flame (Neba), which
comest and goest, I have spoken no lies.
9. Hail, Crusher of bones (Set-qesu),
who comest forth from Suten-henen
Page 12

(Herakleopolis), I have not snatched

away food.
10. Hail, thou who shootest forth the
Flame (Utu-nesert), who comest forth
from Het-Ptah-ka (Memphis), I have not
caused pain.
11. Hail, Qerer, who comest forth
from Amentet, I have not committed
fornication.
12. Hail, thou whose face is turned back (Herf-ha-f), who comest forth from thy hiding
place, I have not caused shedding of tears.
13. Hail, Bast, who comest forth from
the secret place (Bubastis), I have not
dealt deceitfully.
14. Hail, thou whose legs are of fire
(Ta-retiu), who comest forth out of the
darkness, I have not transgressed.
15. Hail, Devourer of Blood (Unemsnef), who comest forth from the block
of slaughter, I have not acted guilefully.
16. Hail, Devourer of the inward parts
(Unem-besek), who comest forth from
Mabet, I have not laid waste the
ploughed land.
17. Hail, Lord of Right and Truth (NebMaat), who comest forth from the city of
Right and Truth (Maati), I have not been
an eavesdropper.
18. Hail, thou who dost stride backwards
(Tenemiu), who comest forth from the
city of Bast, I have not set my lips in
motion against any one.
19. Hail, Sertiu, who comest forth from
Annu (Heliopolis), I have not been angry
and wrathful except for a just cause.
20. Hail, thou being of two-fold
wickedness (Tutu), who comest forth
from Ati (the Busirite Nome), I have not
defiled the wife of any man.

http://oi-archive.uchicago.edu/research/library/ane/digest/2000/v2000.n117

From: owner-ane@ (ANE Digest)

To: ane-digest
Subject: ANE Digest V2000 #117
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ANE Digest

Thursday, April 27 2000

Volume 2000 : Number 117

RE:ane a book of the dead question

ane re: book of the dead
---------------------------------------------------------------------Date: Wed, 26 Apr 2000 07:27:41 -0500
From: Katherine Griffis <grifcon@mindspring.com>
Subject: RE:ane a book of the dead question
On Tue, 25 Apr 2000,

Jim West <jwest@Highland.Net> wrote:

Subject: ane a book of the dead question

>In the Book of the Dead there is supposed to be a line which reads "I have
>not had sexual relations with a boy"- and the citation is supposed to be
>found in 125 A 20, B 27, in Wilson's translation.
>
>My problem-- I dont have Wilson's translation (I have Budge (sorry about
>that!!). And I have no idea what the numbers above might refer to. I read
>the whole of Chapter 125 and couldnt find the citation mentioned.
>
>My question>
>Where in Budge do I find the phrase quoted above and cited in Wilson's
>translation?
Hi Jim -It's not quite worded as this in Ani, for one, and in Budge, it is rather
quaintly expressed, which is why you can't find it there as the above
phrase. As I haven't used Budge in years, let me quote you only the
corollary in Ani from Raymond Faulkner's translation of the same text:
"O You whose face is behind him who came forth from the Cavern of Wrong, I
have neither misconducted myself nor copulated with a boy."
The German definition of /nkk/ here implies it is a boy [Cf. Hannig: 438a,
"Buhlknabe"). Other translators impute the word "homosexual" (person) to
the term instead.
_The Ancient Egyptian Book of the Dead_, Carol Andrews (Editor), Raymond
Oliver Faulkner (transl.), (Univ of Texas Press:Austin, 1990). This book
does not have plates of the text.
NB: This is NOT the edition of the Book of the Dead in which Dr. Ogden
Goelet was also editor. That version of this same phrase, in Phrase 11,
reads:
"O He of the Cavern who came forth from the West, I have not fornicated with
the fornicator."

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_The Egyptian Book of the Dead (Papyrus of Ani): The Book of Going Forth By
Day_,Ogden Goelet, Eva Von Dassow (Ed.), R.O. Faulkner (transl) (Chronicle
Books: San Francisco, 1994), Plate 31.
Based upon this translation, the closest you will get with Budge is
Phrase 11, which reads:
(not using Budge's translation, but transliteration as the glyphs read in
Plate XXXI, p. 199 of the 1967 Dover version of Budge's _The Egyptian Book
of the Dead: The Papyrus of Ani_):
i Qrrti pr m imntt
O He of the Cavern who came forth from the West
nn nk=i n nk=i
not have I committed fornication.
One might question Budge's translation/transliteration of this phrase, as a
more recent translation of Ani by Jonathan Paul Elias reads this as
i Hr=f HA=f pr m tpHt DAt
O Backward-facer who went forth from the tomb-pit,
nn nk=i n nk=i (Ani)
I have not copulated (just) that I might copulate (?)
Elias, Jonathan Paul. 1993. Coffin Inscription in Egypt after the New
Kingdom: A Study of Text Production and Use in Elite Mortuary
Preparation. Doctoral dissertation; Chicago: University of Chicago,
Department of Anthropology. UMI Microform T-32511.
I mention these translations only because in _other_ books of the dead (Book
of Going Forth by Day), the phrase is usually found in position 27 of the 42
confessions. Only in Ani does the position and wording of the phrase
appear different. Phrase 27 reads (this being from the Papyrus Burton
(Nebseny), BM 9900):
i Hr=f HA=f pr m tpHt DAt
O Backward-facer who went forth from the tomb-pit,
nn nwH=i nk=i nkk
I have not copulated /nwH/, I (have not)* copulated /nk/ a
homosexual /nkk/
*continuing with the negative /nn/ in the 1st phrase
There is a

person determinative on the end of /nkk/.

This version is shown in hieroglyphic text of Utterance 125 in Aa of Edouard

Naville's _Das Aegyptishche Totenbuch der XVIII. bis XX Dynastie: Band 1
Text und Vignetten_, (Akademische Druck: Graz, 1971, rept. of 1886 edition),
Plate CXXXV
Thomas George Allen's 1974 translation of this Aa version of Utterance 125
says: "I have not practiced homosexuality." One could argue that Allen's
treatment is (literally) "I have not copulated in a homosexual manner" as
correct also. His translations can be found in _The Book of the Dead, or
Going Forth By Day: Ideas of the Egyptians Concerning the Hereafter as
Expressed in Their Own Terms_, SAOC 37 (OI/University of Chicago: Chicago,
1974), Utterance 125, part (b), p. 98.

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Later versions of the same phrase in other Books of the Dead read in
somewhat the same manner.
Hope this assists.
Regards

--

Katherine Griffis-Greenberg
University of Alabama at Birmingham
UAB Options/Special Studies
http://www.griffis-consulting.com
-----------------------------Date: Wed, 26 Apr 2000 09:46:16 -0400
From: Jim West <jwest@Highland.Net>
Subject: ane re: book of the dead
Listers,
Thanks so much for the help already provided. I am getting closer to what I
need. It appears that Budge and Wilson used different versions of the BOTD.
With that in mind, I suspect what I need, if someone has it, is the
hieroglyphic text underlying Wilson's rendering of ch 125, a20 and b27.
Could someone either scan these two short lines and send them to me in jpg
or bmp format or mail them to me?
I would be grateful and you would be assured a place in the world to come
for your act of kindness....
(ok thats rather a lot to claim, but I really do need to take a look at the
hieroglyphic text of these two lines...)
Thanks very much.
Jim
21 Nisan 5760

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Jim West, ThD
jwest@highland.net
http://web.infoave.net/~jwest
-----------------------------End of ANE Digest V2000 #117
****************************
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21. Hail, thou two-headed serpent

(Uamemti), who comest forth from the
torture-chamber, I have not defiled the
wife of any man.
22. Hail, thou who dost regard what is
brought unto thee (Maa-antuf), who
comest forth from Pa-Amsu (Panopolis),
I have not defiled myself.
23. Hail, thou Chief of the mighty (Heruru) who comest forth from Amentet
(Nehatu), I have not caused terror.
24. Hail, thou Destroyer (Khemiu),
who comest forth from Kesiu, I have not
transgressed (the law).
25. Hail, thou who orderest speech
(Shet-kheru), who comest forth from
Urit, I have not burned with rage.
26. Hail, thou Babe (Nekhenu), who
comest forth from Uab (Heqat), I have
not stopped my ears against the words of
Right and Truth.
27. Hail, Kenemti, who comest forth
from Kenemet, I have not worked grief.
28. Hail, thou who bringest thy
offering (An-hetep-f), I have not acted
with insolence.
29. Hail, thou who orderest speech
(Sera-kheru), who comest forth from
Unaset, I have not stirred up strife.
30. Hail, Lord of faces (Neb-heru), who
comest forth from Netchfet, I have not
judged hastily.
31. Hail, Sekheriu, who comest forth from
Utten, I have not been an eavesdropper.
32. Hail, Lord of the two horns
(Neb-abui), who comest forth
from Sas, I have not multiplied
words exceedingly.
33. Hail, Nefer-Tmu, who comest forth
from Het-Ptah-ka (Memphis), I have
done neither harm nor ill.
34. Hail, Tmu in thine hour, who
comest forth from Tattu (Busiris), I have
never cursed the king.

35. Hail, thou who workest with

thy will (Ari-em-ab-f ), who comest
forth from Tebu, I have never fouled
the water.
36. Hail, thou bearer of the sistrum
(Ahi), who comest forth from Nu, I have
not spoken scornfully.
37. Hail, thou who makest humanity to
flourish (Uatch-rekhit), who comest forth
from Sas, I have never cursed God.
38. Hail, Neheb-ka, who comest forth
from thy hiding place, I have not stolen.
39. Hail, Neheb-nefert, who comest
forth from thy hiding place, I have not
defrauded the offerings of the gods.
40. Hail, thou who dost set in order the
head (Tcheser-tep), who comest forth
from thy shrine, I have not plundered the
offerings to the blessed dead.
41. Hail, thou who bringest thy arm
(An-af), who comest forth from the city
of Maati, I have not filched the food of
the infant, neither have I sinned against
the god of my native town.
42. Hail, thou whose teeth are white
(Hetch-abhu), who comest forth from
Ta-she (the Fayyum), I have not
slaughtered with evil intent the cattle of
the god.
. . . I have tried thee. . . Advance thou,
in very truth thou hast been tested.

Detail of a Coffin. The god Thoth, or Djehuti in ancient Egyptian, was

the Scribe of Judgment. When the deceased made the Negative
Declaration asserting a life well-lived, Djehuti took notes. From the
collection of the Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum.

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