Oh ye four Harbingers(1.) who sit at the prow of the Bark of Rā, and
convey the fixed ordinances(2.) of the Inviolate One, ye who are judges
of my distress(3.) and of my good fortune, and propitiate the gods with
the flames from your mouths: ye who present to the gods their oblations
and the sacrificial meals to the Glorified: ye who live through Maāt and
are sated with Maāt: who have nothing wrong in you and execrate that
which is disordered,(4.) do ye put an end to my ills and remove that
which is disorderly in me through my being smitten to the earth.(5.)
Grant that I may penetrate into the Ammehit and enter into Restau; and
that I may pass through the mysterious portals of Amenta.
Be there given to me the Shensu cakes and the Persen cakes [and all
things] even as to the Glorified, who make their appearance on entering
into Restau or on coming forth.(6.)
Enter thou, Osiris _N_: We put an end to thine ills, and we remove that
which is disorderly in thee through thy being smitten to the earth. We
put away from thee all the ills which thou hast. Enter thou into Restau
and pass through the mysterious portals of Amenta. Enter thou in and
come forth at thy pleasure, like the Glorified ones; and be thou invoked
each day in the Mount of Glory.(7.)
NOTES.
In the older papyri the vignette of this chapter is unaccompanied by any
text. The only exception as yet known is that of the papyrus _Ab_, of
the XVIIIth dynasty. The text is also found in the tomb of Rameses VI,
with the important addition of the answer made by the four _Harbingers_
to the prayer of the deceased. This addition is retained in all the
later recensions. Other discrepancies between the two texts lead to the
conclusion that even the older one has suffered from interpolation.