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Hymn to Ra when he riseth (From the Papyrns of Nekht)

Text : A HYMN OF PRAISE TO RA by Nekht, the royal scribe,
the captain of soldiers, who saith :-

Homage to thee, O thou glorious Being, thou who art dowered [with all sovereignty] . O Tem-Heru-khuti (Tem-Harmachis), when thou risest in the horizon of heaven, a cry of joy cometh forth to thee from the mouth of all peoples . O thou beautiful Being, thou dost renew thyself in thy season in the form of the Disk within thy mother Hathor ; therefore in every place every heart swelleth with joy at thy rising, for ever . The regions of the North and South come to thee with homage, and send forth acclamations at thy rising in the horizon of heaven ; thou illuminest the two lands with rays of turquoise light . O Ra, thou who art Heru-khuti (Harmachis), the divine man-child, the heir of eternity, self-begotten and self-born, king of earth, prince of the Tuat,r governor of the regions of Aukert ; 2 thou comest forth from the water, thou hast sprung from the god Nu, who cherisheth thee and ordereth thy members . O thou god of life, thou lord of love, all men live when thou shinest ; thou art crowned king of the gods . The goddess Nut doeth homage unto thee, and the goddess Maat embraceth thee at all times . Those who are in thy following sing unto thee with joy and bow down their foreheads to the earth when they meet thee, thou lord of heaven, thou lord of earth, thou king of Right and Truth, thou lord of eternity, thou prince of everlastingness, thou sovereign of all the gods, thou god of life, thou creator of eternity, thou maker of heaven wherein thou art firmly established ! The company of the gods rejoice at thy rising, the earth is glad when it beholdeth thy rays ; the peoples that have been long dead O come forth with cries of joy to see thy beauties every day. Thou goest forth each day over heaven and earth and art made strong each day by thy mother Nut. Thou passest through the heights of heaven, thy heart swelleth with joy ; and the Lake of Testes O is content thereat . The Serpent-fiend bath fallen, his arms are hewn off, the knife hath cut asunder his joints . Rd liveth in Maat I the beautiful . The Sektet boat draweth on and cometh into port ; the South and the North, the West and the East turn to praise thee, O thou primeval substance of the earth who didst come into being of thine own accord . Isis and Nephthvs salute thee, they sing unto thee songs of joy at thy rising in the boat, they protect thee with their hands . The souls of the East follow thee, the souls of the West praise thee, Thou art the ruler of all the gods and thou hast joy of heart within thy shrine ; for the serpent-fiend NA bath been condemned to the fire, and thy heart shall be joyful for ever . Thy mother Nut is adjudged to thy father Nu."


The SourceThe Book of the Dead, the Chapters of Coming Forth by Day
Translated into English by E. A. Wallis Budge, Litt.D., D.Lit
London, 1898.

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