The Coffin Texts of Ancient Egypt - Spell 15

Selected sources: B1P; B2Bo; B3Bo; B4Bo; B4C; B6C; B15C; MC105; S10C; T2C; T9C

O true⁽¹⁾ seed⁽²⁾ of the Bull⁽³⁾,
pull of the Bull's⁽³⁾ bonds.

Version 1⁽⁴⁾
Appear
    so that he may give orders
        against those foes of his, male or female,
            who revile this NN or
            (who) do anything evil against NN.

Version 2⁽⁵⁾
Neith⁽⁶⁾ appaers
    against that evil word.
Neith appaers
    against that evil power.
Neith appaers
    to remove⁽⁷⁾ them for this NN.
Neith appears
    to repel⁽⁸⁾ them for this NN.

Horus has crossed over from Heliopolis⁽⁹⁾
    telling(?) his father(?),
        who is the foremost of the Tjenenet⁽¹⁰⁾,

Fig. 1 Statue of the goddess Neith,
from the Late Period
(New York, Metropolitan Museum,
Acc.-Nr. 26.7.846)

Notes

1. Most sources have the abbreviation zp-2 "two times" (Wb 3, 437.1-8).
2. The root of the word used here is bn(n) - beget (Wb 1, 460.6; FCD 82 f.).
3. "The Bull" is written with the God-sign. Osiris is probably meant here, with Horus being his "seed".
4. Sources: B1P; B2Bo; B3Bo; B4Bo; B6C; B15C.
5. Sources: S10C. B4C, MC105, T2C, and T9C mix up both versions. Translation follows S10C.
6. Neith is one of the earliest attested goddesses of Egypt. She is depicted as a woman wearing the red crown of Lower Egypt, with two arrows crossed over a shield as her symbol. She was worshipped throughout Egyptian history as a goddess of war, creator goddess, mother goddess, goddess of Lower Egypt and goddess of the dead. Her cult centre was the town of Sais in Lower Egypt, for archaological work done there, see this website.
   As the goddess of weaving Neith is also responsible for producing the mummy bandages. For Neith as protectress of the dead, see J. Assmann, Neith spricht als Mutter und Sarg, in: MDAIK 28.2, 1973, 115-139.
7. Unclear, maybe srwj (Wb 4, 193.9-12; FCD 235), but written with the Gardiner sign A19.
8. Faulkner assumes the verb dr - "to repel, remove" (Wb 5, 473.1-474.12) for the written rDj - "to give" or "to hand (them) over"? (Wb 2, 464.1-468.11).
9. The city of the Sun(god), for archaeological work done there, see this website and the post from July 2017 on this blog.
10. A sanctuary at Memphis and also a region of the Netherworld.

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).