The Book of the Dead
excerpt:
The Judgment of Osiris.
The oldest religious texts suggest that the Egyptians always associated the Last Judgment with the weighing of the heart in a pair of scales, and in the illustrated papyri of the Book of the Dead great prominence is always given to the vignettes in which this weighing is being carried out. The heart; ab, was taken as the symbol of all the emotions, desires, and passions, both good and evil, and out of it proceeded the issues of life. It was intimately connected with the ka; i.e. the double or personality of a man, and several short spells were composed to ensure its preservation. The great Chapter of the Judgment of Osiris, is divided into three parts, which are sometimes (as in the Papyrus of Ani) prefaced by a Hymn to Osiris. The first part contains the following, which was said by the deceased when he entered the Hall of Maāti, in which Osiris sat in judgment:
"Homage to thee, O Great God, Lord of Maāti, I have come to thee, O my Lord, that I may behold thy beneficence. I know thee, and I know thy name, and the names of the Forty-Two who live with thee in the Hall of Maāti, who keep ward over sinners, and feed upon their blood on the day of judgement before Osiris ... Behold, I have come to thee, and I have brought maāt (i.e., truth, integrity) to thee. I have destroyed sin for thee. I have not sinned against men. I have not oppressed [my] kinsfolk. I have done no wrong in the place of truth. I have not known worthless folk. I have not wrought evil. I have not defrauded the oppressed one of his goods. I have not done the things that the gods abominate. I have not vilified a servant to his master. I have not caused pain. I have not let any man hunger. I have made no one to weep. I have not committed murder. I have not commanded any to commit murder for me. I have inflicted pain on no man. I have not defrauded the temples of their oblations. I have not purloined the cakes of the gods. I have not stolen the offerings to the spirits (i.e., the dead). I have not committed fornication. I have not polluted myself in the holy places of the god of my city. I have not diminished from the bushel. I did not take from or add to the acre-measure. I did not encroach on the fields [of others]. I have not added to the weights of the scales. I have not misread the pointer of the scales. I have not taken milk from the mouths of children. I have not driven cattle from their pastures. I have not snared the birds of the gods. I have not caught fish with fish of their kind. I have not stopped water [when it should flow]. I have not cut the dam of a canal. I have not extinguished a fire when it should burn. I have not altered the times of the chosen meat offerings. I have not turned away the cattle [intended for] offerings. I have not repulsed the god at his appearances. I am pure. I am pure. I am pure. I am pure...."
In the second part Osiris is seen seated at one end of the Hall of Maāti accompanied by the two goddesses of Law and Truth, and the Forty-Two gods who are there to assist him. Each of the Forty-Two gods represents one of the nomes of Egypt and has a symbolic name. When the deceased had repeated the magical names of the doors of the Hall, he entered it and saw these gods arranged in two rows, twenty-one on each side of the Hall. At the end, near Osiris, were the Great Scales, under the charge of Anpu (Anubis), and the monster Āmemit, the Eater of the Dead, i.e., of the hearts of the wicked who were condemned in the Judgment of Osiris. The deceased advanced along the Hall and, addressing each of the Forty-Two gods by his name, declared that he had not committed a certain sin, thus:
"O Usekh-nemmit, comer forth from Anu, I have not committed sin.
"O Fenti, comer forth from Khemenu, I have not robbed.
"O Neha-hāu, comer forth from Re-stau, I have not killed men.
"O Neba, comer forth in retreating, I have not plundered the property of God.
"O Set-qesu, comer forth from Hensu, I have not lied.
"O Uammti, comer forth from Khebt, I have not defiled any man's wife.
"O Maa-anuf, comer forth from Per-Menu, I have not defiled myself.
"O Tem-Sep, comer forth from Tetu, I have not cursed the king.
"O Nefer-Tem, comer forth from Het-ka-Ptah, I have not acted deceitfully; I have not committed wickedness.
"O Nekhen, comer forth from Heqāt, I have not turned a deaf ear to the words of the Law (or Truth)."
Het aangehaalde fragment wordt beschouwd als een voorafspiegeling van de latere tien geboden in de Wet Mozes.
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