The Egyptian Book of the Dead (Papyrus of Ani) · 220 of 357 · tr. E.A. Wallis Budge
Chapter 37 (part 2)
In the Nebseni Papyrus a dog-headed ape and a balance are represented on each side of the seated deity, and at each end of the roof; and each uræus wears a disk and horns.] (11) "Hall, Qerer, who comest forth from Amentet, I have not committed fornication." (12) "Hail, thou whose face is turned back, who comest forth from thy hiding place, I have not caused shedding of tears." (13) "Hail, Bast, who comest forth from the secret place, I have not dealt deceitfully." (14) "Hail, thou whose legs are of fire, who comest forth out of the darkness, I have not transgressed." (15) "Hail, Devourer of Blood, who comest forth from the block of slaughter, I have not acted guilefully." (16) "Hail, Devourer of the inward parts, who comest forth from Mabet, I have not laid waste the ploughed land." (17) "Hail, Lord of Right and Truth, who comest forth from the city of Right and Truth, I have not been an eavesdropper." (18) "Hail, thou who dost stride backwards, who comest forth from the city of Bast, I have not set my lips in motion [against any man]." (19) "Hail, Sertiu, who comest forth from Annu, I have not been angry and wrathful except for a just cause." (20) "Hail, thou.
being of two-fold wickedness, who comest forth from Ati (?) I have not defiled the wife of any man." (21) "Hail, thou two-headed serpent, 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, who comest forth from Pa-Amsu, I have not polluted myself." (23) "Hail, thou Chief of the mighty, who comest forth from Amentet, I have not caused terror." (24) "Hail, thou Destroyer, who comest forth from Kesiu, I have not transgressed." (25) "Hail, thou who orderest speech, who comest forth from Urit, I have not burned with rage." (26) "Hail, thou Babe, who comest forth from Uab, 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, I have not acted with insolence." (29) "Hail, thou who orderest speech, who comest forth from Unaset, I have not stirred up strife." (30) "Hail, Lord of faces, 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, who comest forth from Saïs, I have not multiplied words exceedingly." (33) "Hail, Nefer-Tmu, who comest forth from Het-Ptah-ka, I have done neither harm nor ill."
The Zoroastrian triad of right thought, right speech, and right action as the foundation of ethical life; truth-in-living.
The confessions systematically cover right thought (not being angry, not judging hastily), right speech (not setting lips in motion against any man, not multiplying words, not being an eavesdropper), and right action (not committing fornication, not causing terror, not stirring up strife), forming a triad of ethical domains.
The Egyptian principle of truth, balance, and right order underlying both the cosmos and human conduct; the parallel to Zoroastrian asha and Greek dike.
The passage explicitly and repeatedly invokes 'Right and Truth' (Ma'at) as the organizing principle — 'Lord of Right and Truth, who comest forth from the city of Right and Truth' and 'I have not stopped my ears against the words of Right and Truth' — and the entire negative confession structure is an affirmation of adherence to Ma'at.
Direct address to the divine, whether petitionary, contemplative, or liturgical; speech and silence offered upward.
Each line is a direct liturgical address to a deity ('Hail, Qerer…', 'Hail, Bast…'), constituting a form of ritual prayer or invocation directed upward to the divine.
The doctrine and practice that spoken or sung word carries causal-magical force — that uttering names, formulas, songs, or incantations alters reality directly rather than merely communicating about it. Vainamoinen's runo-songs that move mountains and command iron, Norse galdr, Vedic mantra, Shinto kotodama, the magician's barbarous names in the Greek Magical Papyri, Iamblichean arcane signatures and inexplicable symbols, biblical creation-by-word. Distinct from sacred_names (the ontological power of names themselves) and prayer (address to the divine); word_power_incantation is the magical-causal efficacy of the spoken word as such.
The spoken declarations of innocence are not merely descriptive but ritually efficacious utterances whose performance in the proper formulaic structure is the mechanism by which the deceased secures passage through the judgment.