Egyptian Book of the Dead

CHAPTER CXLVIII.

CHAPTER CXLVIII. Giving sustenance ( 1 ) to the deceased in the Netherworld, and delivering him from all evil things. ( 2 ) Hail to thee who shinest as living soul, and who appearest on the horizon, N. who is in the boat knows thee; he knows thy name, he knows the names of the seven cows and of their bull; they give bread and drink to the glorified soul. You who give sustenance to the inhabitants of the West, give bread and drink to the soul of N. , grant that he may be your follower, and be between your thighs( 3 ). (Then follow the names of the seven cows.) The house of the ka, of the inviolate god, The storm of the sky, which raises the gods, The hidden one in her dwelling, Chebt the mummified form of the god, The greatly beloved, with red hair, The abundant in life, the veiled one, She who is powerful in her works, or on her pedestal, The bull ... of the Netherworld. (Then the deceased calls on the four rudders of the sky, the four cardinal points.) Hail! divine form, the good one, the good rudder of the Northern sky. Hail! thou who goest round and pilotest the double earth, the good rudder of the Western sky. Hail! the shining one, who dwellest in the house of the devouring monsters, the good rudder of the Eastern sky. Hail! the inner one who dwelleth in the house of the red ones, the good rudder of the Southern sky. Give bread and drink, oxen, geese, all things good and pure to N. Give him sustenance, give him joy, may he rest on the earth, and may he be victorious on the horizon of Annu, in the Tuat, in the sky, and on the earth, eternally. Ye fathers and mothers, gods of the sky, and of the Netherworld, 301 deliver N. from all things pernicious and evil, from all harm and evil, from the cruel huntsman and his swords, and from all evil things; and order what is to be done to him by the men, the glorious ones, and the dead, in this day, in this night, in this month, and in this year. Said( 4 ) by a man, when Rā is put before these gods, painted in green, and standing on a wooden board, and when they give him the offerings, and the sustenance which is before them, bread and drink, geese, and frankincense, and when they present mortuary gifts to the deceased before Rā. (The book called) giving sustenance to a deceased in the Netherworld, delivers a man from all evil things. Thou shalt not read to any other man than thyself the book of Unnefer. He to whom this has been read, Rā is his steersman and his protecting power, he will not be attacked by his enemies in the Netherworld, in the sky, on the earth, and in every place he goes, for (the book) giving sustenance to the deceased has its effect regularly. Notes. This chapter in the Turin text begins with a long title which is found by itself in the papyrus of Nu . Dr. Budge considers it as a special chapter, to which he has given No. 190. But the proof that it is not a chapter, is that the whole of it is written in red, which means that it is a title; besides this title is that of one of the hymns which constitute chapter 15, the hymn to the setting sun (15 B , 3). The chapter itself begins with the last word in line 7 of the Turin text. We have a nearly complete version of it in the tomb of Senmut, the architect of queen Hatshepsu. The text from which I translate is compiled from several Theban papyri. 1. Renouf translates the word in various ways: “sustenance, nutriment, dainties, delicacies.” 2. Note the connection between these two ideas which occurs throughout the chapter: the giving nourishment to the deceased delivers him from all evil. 3. To be suckled by the divine cows, like Hatshepsu at Der el Bahari, by Hathor. 4. Several papyri have here the rubric of 30 B , with the name of Mycerinus. The rubric which is here translated is taken from the 302 papyrus of Nu . Lepsius calls 148 C the vignettes belonging to this chapter. In a columned hall stands Osiris, and behind him the cows, the rudders, and the four gods of the cardinal points. Osiris is sometimes left out. In the papyrus of Ani the god has his hair painted green, and he stands on a green basement. PLATE LII . PLATE LIII .