On Coming Forth By Day

[From the Papyrus of Nebseni (British Museum No. 9,900, sheets 23 and
24).]

THE CHAPTER OF COMING FORTH BY DAY IN THE UNDERWORLD. Nebseni, the lord of
reverence, saith:

“I am Yesterday, To-day, and To-morrow, [and I have] the power to be born
a second time; [I am] the divine hidden Soul who createth the gods, and
who giveth sepulchral meals unto the denizens of the Tuat (underworld),
Amentet, and heaven. [I am] the rudder of the east, the possessor of two
divine faces wherein his beams are seen. I am the lord of the men who are
raised up; [the lord] who cometh forth from out of the darkness, and whose
forms of existence are of the house wherein are the dead. Hail, ye two
hawks who are perched upon your resting-places, who hearken unto the
things which are said by him, who guide the bier to the hidden place, who
lead along Rā, and who follow [him] into the uppermost place of the shrine
which is in the celestial heights! [Hail,] lord of the shrine which
standeth in the middle of the earth. He is I, and I am he, and Ptah hath
covered his sky with crystal. [Hail] Rā, thou who art content, thy heart
is glad by reason of thy beautiful law of the day; thou enterest in by
Khemennu(?) and comest forth at the east, and the divine first-born beings
who are in [thy] presence cry out with gladness [unto thee]. Make thou thy
roads glad for me, and make broad for me thy paths when I shall set out
from earth for the life in the celestial regions. Send forth thy light
upon me, O Soul unknown, for I am [one] of those who are about to enter
in, and the divine speech is in [my] ears in the Tuat (underworld), and
let no defects of my mother be [imputed] unto me; let me be delivered and
let me be safe from him whose divine eyes sleep at eventide, when [he]
gathereth together and finisheth [the day] in night. I flood [the land]
with water, and ‘Qem-ur’ is my name, and the garment wherewith I am
clothed is complete. Hail, thou divine prince Ati-she-f, cry out unto
those divine beings who dwell in their hair at the season when the god is
[lifted upon] the shoulder, saying: ‘Come thou who [dwellest] above thy
divine abyss of water, for verily the thigh [of the sacrifice] is tied to
the neck, and the buttocks are [laid] upon the head of Amentet.’ May the
Ur-urti goddesses (_i.e._, Isis and Nephthys) grant [such] gifts unto me
when my tears start from me as I see myself journeying with the divine
Tena in Abydos, and the wooden fastenings which fasten the four doors
above thee are in thy power within thy garment. Thy face is like that of a
greyhound which scenteth with his nose the place whither I go on my feet.
The god Akau transported me to the chamber(?), and [my] nurse is the
divine double Lion-god himself. I am made strong and I come forth like him
that forceth a way through the gate, and the radiance which my heart hath
made is enduring; ‘I know the abysses’ is thy name. I work for you, O ye
_Khu_s—4,000,000, 600,000, 1,000, and 200 are they—concerning the things
which are there. [I am] over their affairs working for hours and days in
setting straight the shoulders of the twelve Sah gods, and joining the
hands of their company, each to each; the sixth who is at the head of the
abyss is the hour of the defeat of the Fiends. [I] have come there in
triumph, and [I am] he who is in the halls (or courtyards) of the
underworld, and I am he who is laid under tribute to Shu. I rise as the
Lord of Life through the beautiful law of this day, and it is their blood
and the cool water of [their] slaughter which make the union of the earth
to blossom. I make a way among the horns of all those who make themselves
strong against me, and [among] those who in secret make themselves
adversaries unto me, and who are upon their bellies. I have come as the
envoy of my Lord of lords to give counsel [concerning] Osiris; the eye
shall not absorb(39) its tears. I am the divine envoy(?) of the house of
him that dwelleth in his possessions, and I have come from Sekhem to Annu
to make known to the _Bennu_ bird therein concerning the events of the
Tuat (underworld). Hail, thou Aukert (_i.e._, underworld) which hidest thy
companion who is in thee, thou creator of forms of existence like the god
Khepera, grant thou that Nebseni, the scribe and designer to the temples
of the South and of the North, may come forth to see the Disk, and that
his journeyings forth(?) may be in the presence of the great god, that is
to say, Shu, who dwelleth in everlastingness. Let me journey on in peace;
let me pass over the sky; let me adore the radiance of the splendor [which
is in] my sight; let me soar like a bird to see the companies(?) of the
_Khu_s in the presence of Rā day by day, who vivifieth every human being
that walketh upon the regions which are upon the earth. Hail, Hemti
(_i.e._, Runner); Hail, Hemti; who carriest away the shades of the dead
and the _Khu_s from earth, grant thou unto me a prosperous way to the Tuat
(underworld), such as is made for the favored ones [of the god], because
[I am] helpless to gather together the emanations which come from me. Who
art thou, then, who consumest in its hidden place? I am the Chief in
Re-stau, and ‘He that goeth in in his own name and cometh forth in that of
Hehi(?), the lord of millions of years, and of the earth,’ is my name. The
pregnant goddess hath deposited [upon the earth] her load, and hath given
birth to Hit straightway; the closed door which is by the wall is
overthrown, it is turned upside down and I rejoice thereat. To the Mighty
One hath his eye been given, and it sendeth forth light from his face when
the earth becometh light (or at daybreak). I shall not become corrupt, but
I shall come into being in the form of the Lion-god and like the blossoms
of Shu; I am the being who is never overwhelmed in the waters. Happy, yea
happy is he that looked upon the funeral couch which hath come to its
place of rest, upon the happy day of the god whose heart resteth, who
maketh his place of alighting [thereon]. I am he who cometh forth by day;
the lord of the bier which giveth life in the presence of Osiris. In very
truth the things which are thine are stable each day, O scribe, artist,
child of the _Seshet_ chamber, Nebseni, lord of veneration. I clasp the
sycamore tree, I myself am joined unto the sycamore tree, and its arm[s]
are opened unto me graciously. I have come and I have clasped the
_Utchat_, and I have caused it to be seated in peace upon its throne. I
have come to see Rā when he setteth, and I absorb into myself the winds
[which arise] when he cometh forth, and both my hands are clean to adore
him. I have gathered together [all my members], I have gathered together
[all my members]. I soar like a bird and I descend upon the earth, and
mine eye maketh me to walk thereon in my footsteps. I am the child of
yesterday, and the Akeru gods of the earth have made me to come into
being, and they have made me strong for my moment [of coming forth]. I
hide with the god Aba-āāiu who will walk behind me, and my members shall
germinate, and my _khu_ shall be as an amulet for my body and as one who
watcheth [to protect] my soul and to defend it and to converse therewith;
and the company of the gods shall hearken unto my words.”

IF THIS CHAPTER BE KNOWN [BY THE DECEASED] HE SHALL BE VICTORIOUS BOTH
UPON EARTH AND IN THE UNDERWORLD. HE SHALL DO WHATSOEVER A MAN DOETH WHO
IS UPON THE EARTH, AND HE SHALL PERFORM ALL THE DEEDS WHICH THOSE DO WHO
ARE [ALIVE]. NOW IT IS A GREAT PROTECTION [GIVEN] BY THE GOD. THIS CHAPTER
WAS FOUND IN THE CITY OF KHE-MENNU INSCRIBED UPON THE BLOCK OF IRON IN
LETTERS OF LAPIS-LAZULI WHICH WAS UNDER THE FEET OF THIS GOD.

In the rubric to this chapter as found in the Papyrus of Mes-em-neter, the
chapter is said to have been “discovered in the foundations of the shrine
of the divine Hennu boat by the chief mason in the time of the King of the
North and of the South, Hesepti,(40) triumphant,” and it is there directed
that it shall be recited by one who is ceremonially pure and clean, and
who hath not touched women, and who hath not eaten flesh of animals or
fish.