Book
of the Dead Chapter 23
The composition is not attested
in the Middle Kingdom; it first occurs among other Book of the Dead chapters
on the coffin of the king's wife Mentuhotep of the Seventeenth Dynasty.
Compare the ritual for
the Opening of the Mouth as illustrated
in New Kingdom tomb-chapels and later hieroglyphic and cursive inscriptions
and manuscripts.
The
version of Chapter 23 below follows the version in two 18th Dynasty Book of
the Dead (Egyptian Museum, Cairo, papyrus of Amenhotep Cd and papyrus 2512:
Munro 1994, pl.101 and 55).
Transliteration
r n wn r
wHa r.i in ptH
di ntwt iry r.i in nTr
niwt.i
ii r.f DHwty mH apr m
HkAw.f
wHa.n.f n.i xt r stS
irw r.i
xsf drty.i itm wd.f sn
m sAwt r.i
wn r.i wp r.i in ptH
m mDAt.f twy nt biA
wp.n.f r n nTrw im.s
ink sxmt wADyt
Hms.i Hr gs imy-wrt aAt
m pt
ink sAHyt Hrt-ib bAw
iwnw
ir HkAw nb mdt nbt Dd
r.i
aHa nTrw r.s psDt dmd.ti
psDwt.s
Translation
Formula for opening the
mouth
My mouth is released
by Ptah,
the bonds of my mouth
are caused to be unfettered by the god of my city.
Thoth comes fully equipped
with his words of power,
and has released for
me the items belonging to Seth, the bonds of my mouth,
My hands are moved by
Atum, he puts them forward as the guard of my mouth.
My mouth is opened, my
mouth is parted by Ptah with that tool of iron,
with which he has opened
the mouth of the gods.
I am Sekhmet Wadjyt,
I sit beside the great
starboard in the sky,
I am Sahyt amids the
powers of Iunu.
As for any words of power,
any speech uttered against me,
May the gods stand against them, the
assembled Ennead and its Enneads.
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