The Coffin Texts of Ancient Egypt - Spell 8

Selected sources: B1P; B2Bo; B3Bo; B4Bo; B4C; B6C; S10C; T1L; T9C

Hail to you, Tribunal of the God

who shall judge this NN there⁽¹⁾

          concerning what he has said or done being ignorant, polite(?)⁽²⁾ or embarrassing⁽³⁾.

Surround him!
Stand at his back!
May this NN be vindicated in the presence of Geb⁽⁴⁾, sovereign of the gods,⁽⁵⁾

for yonder god⁽⁶⁾ judged him

          according to what he knows.

This NN has arisen⁽⁷⁾

(with) his feather⁽⁸⁾ on his head,

(with) his Maat⁽⁹⁾ on his brow,

(with) his foes in sorrow.

He has taken possession of all his property in vindication.⁽¹⁰⁾

Fig. 1 Scarab with the winged goddess Maat
called "daughter of Re" (from Deir el-Bahri,
Temple of Hatshepsut, Foundation Deposit 7,
New York, Metropolitan Museum
Acc.-Nr. 27.3.295)

Notes

1. jm=s - "at the tribunal". B4C and T9C add "on this day".
2. The word used here is nDm - "being sweet/pleasant" (Wb 2, 380.1-18). B1P; B4C; B6C and T9C have nxn - "being young" (Wb 2, 311.15-18) instead.
3. qsn.t - "to be painful; irksome; difficult" (Wb 5, 69.7-70.9; FCD 281). The passage seems to be a plea by the deceased to the tribunal to protect him even if he said or did something wrong without realising it.
4. The god of Earth, father and predecessor of Osiris on the Egyptian throne. He is also one of the gods presiding over the Tribunal in Heliopolis and judges Horus and Seth over the succession.
5. T1L changes the whole passage to "This NN stood up vindicated against his foes, male and female, and against those who would have judgement with you^(sic) on this day.".
6. B3Bo has rnp again as substitut for nTr - "god".
7. Var. B4c "He was vindicated".
8. For another occurrence of the feather, see spell 6.
9. The goddess of righteousness, truth, justice and order (Wb 2, 20.10-13; LGG III, 222 ff.), daughter of the sungod Re, who is also identified by a feather on her head (Fig. 1).
10. B4C; S10 and T9C omit this last sentence.

Bibliography
A. de Buck, The Egyptian Coffin Texts I-VIII, OIP 34, 49, 64, 67, 73, 81, 87, 132 (1935-1961).
L. H. Lesko, Index of Spells on Egyptian Middle Kingdom Coffins and Related Documents (Berkeley 1979).
H. Willems (ed.), The World of the Coffin Texts. Proceedings of the Symposium held on the Occasion of the 100th Birthday of Adriaan de Buck, Leiden december 17–19, 1992, EU 9 (Leiden 1996)
R. van der Molen, A Hieroglyphic Dictionary of Egyptian Coffin Texts, PÄ 15 (Leiden / Boston / Köln 2000).
J. Assmann, Totenliturgien in den Sargtexten des Mittleren Reichs. Altägyptische Totenliturgien 1, Supplemente zu den Schriften der Heidelberger Akademie der Wissenschaften, Philosophisch-Historische Klasse 14 (Heidelberg 2002).
L. Gestermann, Die Überlieferung ausgewählter Texte altägyptischer Totenliteratur („Sargtexte“) in spätzeitlichen Grabanlagen, ÄA 68 (Wiesbaden 2005).
R. O. Faulkner, The Ancient Egyptian Coffin Texts. Spells 1-1185 (Oxford 2007).