Sailing In The Great Boat

[From the Papyrus of Nu (British Museum No. 10,477, sheet 28).]

THE CHAPTER OF SAILING IN THE GREAT BOAT OF RĀ TO PASS OVER THE CIRCLE OF
BRIGHT FLAME. The Osiris Nu, the overseer of the palace, the
chancellor-in-chief, triumphant, saith:

“[Hail], ye bright and shining flames that keep your place behind Rā, and
which slay behind him, the boat of Rā is in fear of the whirlwind and the
storm; shine ye forth, then, and make [ye yourselves] visible. I have come
[daily] along with the god Sek-hra from the bight of his holy lake, and I
have seen the Maāt [goddesses] pass along, and the lion-gods who belong
unto them. Hail, thou that dwellest in the coffer who hast multitudes of
plants(?), I have seen [what is] there. We rejoice, and their princes
rejoice greatly, and their lesser gods(?) are glad. I have made a way in
front of the boat of Rā, I have lifted myself up into his divine Disk, I
shine brightly through his splendors; he hath furnished himself with the
things which are his, taking possession thereof as the lord of right and
truth. And behold, O ye company of the gods, and thou ancestor of the
goddess Isis,(124) grant ye that he may bear testimony to his father, the
lord of those who are therein. I have weighed the ... in him [as] chief,
and I have brought to him the goddess Tefnut and he liveth. Behold, come,
come, and declare before him the testimony of right and truth of the lord
Tem. I cry out at eventide and at his hour, saying, Grant ye unto me that
I may come. I have brought unto him the jaws of the passages of the tomb;
I have brought unto him the bones which are in Annu (Heliopolis); I have
gathered together for him his manifold parts; I have driven back for him
the serpent fiend Apep; I have spit upon his gashes for him; I have made
my road and I have passed in among you. I am he who dwelleth among the
gods, come, let [me] pass onward in the boat, the boat of the lord Sa.
Behold, O Heru-ur, there is a flame, but the fire hath been extinguished.
I have made [my] road, O ye divine fathers and your divine apes! I have
entered upon the horizon, and I have passed on to the side of the divine
princes, and I have borne testimony unto him that dwelleth in his divine
boat. I have gone forward over the circle of bright flame which is behind
the lord of the lock of hair which moveth round about. Behold, ye who cry
out over yourselves, ye worms in [your] hidden places, grant ye that I may
pass onward, for I am the mighty one, the lord of divine strength, and I
am the spiritual body (_sāh_) of the lord of divine right and truth made
by the goddess Uatchit. His strength which protecteth is my strength which
protecteth, which is the strength which protecteth Rā. [Grant ye that I
may be in the following of Rā], and grant ye that I may go round about
with him in Sekhet-hetep [and in] the two lands. [I am] a great god, and
[I have been] judged by the company of his gods; grant that divine,
sepulchral meals may be given unto me.”