CHAPTER XXVII

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_Chapter whereby the Heart of a person is not taken from him in the Netherworld._

O ye gods who seize upon Hearts, and who pluck out the Whole Heart; and whose hands fashion anew the Heart of a person according to what he hath done; lo now, let that be forgiven to him by you.(1.)

Hail to you, O ye Lords of Everlasting Time and Eternity!

Let not my Heart be torn from me by your fingers.

Let not my Heart be fashioned anew according to all the evil things said against me.

For this Heart of mine is the Heart of the god of mighty names(2.), of the great god whose words are in his members, and who giveth free course to his Heart which is within him.

And most keen of insight(3.) is his Heart among the gods. Ho to me! Heart of mine; I am in possession of thee, I am thy master, and thou art by me; fall not away from me; I am the dictator to whom thou shalt obey in the Netherworld.

NOTES.

1. There is a great difference here as in so many other places between the MSS. of different periods. I long ago translated the ⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂ of the _Todtenbuch_ by _non ignoretur a vobis_, M. de Rougé, after me, by _non renuatur a vobis._ But M. Naville pointed out the fact that in some of the oldest MSS. the particle ⁂ did not occur. It now appears that the particle is not found in any of the older MSS., and I have also found it omitted in hieratic papyri. The passage therefore must be translated differently, and this is possible through a slight change in the interpretation of ⁂ from _ignorare_ to _ignoscere_; _ignoscatur illi a vobis_. The pronoun ⁂⁂ which in the older texts follows ⁂⁂, ⁂ refers to ‘what he hath done’ of the last clause.

2. _The god of mighty names_ is Thoth, and the later texts read “For this is the Heart of the great god who is in Hermopolis.”

3. ⁂⁂⁂, ⁂⁂. According to another reading ⁂⁂⁂⁂ _new_, _fresh_, _young_, _vigorous_.

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