The Theology of Shu, The Book of Two Ways, and Selected Spells

The Coffin Texts are a corpus of over 1,185 funerary spells inscribed on the interior walls of wooden coffins during Egypt's Middle Kingdom (c. 2100–1650 BCE). They represent the democratisation of the afterlife — the moment when the spells and protections that had belonged exclusively to pharaohs in the Pyramid Texts became available to anyone who could afford a painted coffin. Nobles, officials, and even commoners could now speak with the voice of the gods and navigate the roads of the dead.

The twenty-one spells presented here span the theological range of the corpus. Spells 75–80 form the complete Shu theology — the most important creation sequence in the Coffin Texts, in which Shu, the god of air and breath, declares himself the ba of the creator Atum. The sequence opens with Shu's great self-proclamation (Spell 75), proceeds through his weariness from lifting Nut above the earth (Spell 76), his origin from Atum's sneeze (Spells 77–78), and his ordering of the cosmos (Spell 79), culminating in the Egyptian Genesis (Spell 80) — where Atum mourns his loneliness before creation and is counselled by Nun to kiss his daughter Maat. Spell 261 is the spell for becoming Heka — the god of magic who existed before creation. Spell 335 is the great akh-transformation spell, in which the deceased identifies with Ra and every cosmic power.

Spells 1029–1040 and 1130 form the opening and climax of the Book of Two Ways — the oldest known map of the afterlife, painted on the interior of Middle Kingdom coffins from el-Bersha. The text maps two routes through the realm of the dead: one on water, one on land. The sequence begins with the awakening of Ra (Spell 1029), the boarding of the celestial bark (Spell 1030), the promise that anyone who knows the spells shall be like Ra in the east (Spell 1031), the passage through the circuit of flame (Spells 1032–1033), the commanding of serpent guardians (Spell 1034), the naming of the Two Ways themselves (Spell 1035), spells for passing gates and healing Osiris (Spells 1036–1040), and culminates in Spell 1130 — the cosmogonic masterpiece in which the Lord of All speaks directly, declaring his four good deeds of creation.

This is a Good Works Translation from Egyptian, produced by the New Tianmu Anglican Church with AI assistance. The transliterations are drawn from the MORTEXVAR database (edited by Carlos Gracia Zamacona, Universidad de Alcala, 2022–), which digitises Adriaan de Buck's critical hieroglyphic edition (1935–1961). The French translations in the MORTEXVAR database were consulted as a reference to verify readings. Spell references follow de Buck's standard numbering. The placeholder "N" in the original text, which stands for the name of the deceased, is rendered as "this one" or omitted where context permits.

Spell 75 — The Ba of Shu

The great self-proclamation of Shu — the longest and most complex spell in the Shu theology sequence. Shu declares himself the ba of the god who came into being of himself, describes how he was created not by birth but by the breath and radiance of Atum, proclaims his authority over all the Enneads, and recounts his mastery of the shrine, the crowns, and his enemies. This is the overture to the entire Shu cycle that climaxes in Spell 80.

Spell of the ba of Shu, who came into being as Shu.

I am the ba of Shu, the god who came into being of himself.
I am the ba of Shu, the god hidden of form.

I came into being from the body of the god who came into being of himself.
I am he who is at the side of the god.
I came into being from him.
I am he who silences the sky for him.
I am he who puts the Two Lands in order for him.
I am mightier and more wrathful than any Ennead.
I am he who announces him
when he goes forth from the horizon.
I am he who makes him feared by those who seek his name.
I am he who is among the millions, who hears the words of millions.
I am he who transmits the word of the Self-Created One to the multitude.
I am he who commands the bark and its crew.
I am mighty.
I am more wrathful than all the Enneads.
I have repeated the words of the gods of the Presence who came into being after me.
May they inquire
of my coming into being from Nun.
They see me mighty and wrathful in the bark that the Self-Created One sails.

I stood among them.
I gave my glory according to my coming into being.
I speak, and the Ennead is silent.
The gods are stilled.
I speak to you of my coming into being in my own form.
Do not ask of my coming into being from Nun!

Nun saw me when I had come into being.
I knew his name; I knew the place where I came into being.
He did not see my coming into being before his face.

I came into being. I was raised up
from the body of the god who came into being of himself.
He created me in his heart.
He made me from his radiance.

I am he who was breathed out in form,
whom he stretched out —
this august god
who split open the sky with his beauty,
whose name the gods do not know,
whom the sun-folk follow.

I grew from his feet. I came into being from his arms.
I was emptied from his limbs.
He created me in his heart.
He made me from his radiance.
I was not born by birth.
I was made.

Plants in the fields of the inundation —
I am he who makes the cakes of the gods.
I am he who is within his circuit, lord of the green fields
in the Duat.
O Ra-Atum! O Nun!
I am he who satisfies provisions,
who makes green the offerings of Osiris
through my coming into being in the body

of this august god who came into being of himself,
who split open the sky with his beauty,
who gathers the forms of the gods,
lord of Maat, who seals the robbers.

He gathered my forms.
I am he who was breathed out in form.
He did not beget me from his fist.
He did not conceive me from his fist.
He breathed me out from his nose.
He made me within his beauty.

Those within rejoiced —
the courts —
when I saw his radiance.
I am
he who was breathed out in form, foremost of his fields.

Words spoken concerning the hidden thing in the Sixth House:

I have created my ba behind me.
It shall not burn upon my corpse.
My ba shall not be restrained
by those who guard the limbs of Osiris.
I am swift. My ba is swift.
My ba rushes among
the people on the Island of Flame.
I myself hasten among the goddesses.

My nemes is seen by him who is in his cavern.
He who is in his cavern bears for me
my nemes.
He who is in his form ennobles me, raises my dignities.
I rescue
the dignified ones who are in their caverns.
I have not obeyed sorcerers.
I came into being before him.

I went forth before the god who came into being of himself —
I who came into being alone, eldest of the gods.
I am he for whom he joined the heights of the sky.
I am he who brings for him — I, the radiant one.
I am he who purifies for him his million ka-spirits in his command.

I have extinguished the fire.
I have quenched the ba of the Burning One.
I have silenced her within whose reddening —
I am the flame-tongue of fire.
The fire has not reached me.
I am
he who makes tremble the ba of the Burning One,
who makes a channel of flame for her within whose reddening —
the wild one, who judges, the consumer of the gods.

I have spoken
to your hearts, O gods — nothing shall go forth from your mouths,
for I came into being by my own power, and did everything
that came forth from the mouth of this august god,
the Self-Created One,
who has never turned from what he said.
For I am the one who did everything according to what he commanded.

I have reverenced the lions.
The protections of the shrine fear me.
The two halves of the shrine stand for me.
I enter and I go forth from the shrine of the Self-Created One.
I have received the Red Crown upon my head.
The White Crown rejoices to see it.

My Red Crown is upon my head.
The White Crown is upon the head of the Self-Created One.
The Red Crown rejoices when it sees the White Crown.
Their voice — the gods hear its voice.
God fraternises with god, who came into being from his body.
They see him.

The serpents have bowed to me in acclamation.
They make for me a good road.
They see me going forth from the shrine.
I open the two halves at the front of the shrine.
I release, and I am released.
I give life, and I am given life.
I drive away evil, and my evil is not driven toward me.
I release my evil — that is my abomination:
the reddening.

I am with the Lord of Life.
I am he who purifies the millions for him.
I am he who binds the two halves of the shrine for him.
I am he who establishes for him
the protection of his shrine, as he commanded me.

He has created for me authority, my ba behind me,
to make him know
what I know —
while I traverse every sky.
I have trodden all lands.
I have done what he commanded me.

There is no flame for my ba
upon my corpse.
My ba shall not be restrained by those who guard the limbs of Osiris.

"Your ba is yours. Your power is yours" —
so says the Self-Created One to me.

My ba shall not be seized by the falcons.
My ba shall not be swallowed by the pigs.
My ba shall not be clawed by the aker-spirits.
My ba shall not be swallowed by the sorcerers.
My ba passes
in silence over them,
to enter for him.
He has taken charge of my affairs.
I came into being before him.
He grants me power over my enemies.
I have driven them from their tombs.
I have overthrown them in their mansions.
I have driven those within from their seats.
I have stripped their dignities.
I have destroyed their magic.
I have cut down their akhs.
I assign them to destruction,
as commanded by
the Self-Created One — to do this against my enemies
among the dead and among the living who are in sky and earth.
They shall be devastated.

My plants in my fields —
they shall not approach me.
Those who come shall announce to me the road
to the bark of acclamation.
I am he who is hidden of form.

Spell 76 — The Weariness of Shu

Shu addresses the Eight of Chaos — the Ogdoad — whom he created from his own limbs. He commands them to bind the ladder and support him, for he is weary from lifting his daughter Nut above the earth. He was not formed in the womb or fashioned in the egg — Atum sneezed him from his mouth. The spell includes a hymnic passage praising Shu as lord of flame, protector against Apophis, and maker of light in darkness.

O you Eight of Chaos, you who made the limbs of the sky,
whom Shu made from the outpouring of his limbs,
who bind the ladder for Shu —
come! Do not oppose your father in me.
Give me your hands.
Bind for me the ladder.
I created you. I made you
as I was created
by your father Atum.

I am weary upon the supports of Shu
since I lifted my daughter Nut above me
and placed her for my father Atum in his boundary.
I have placed Geb beneath my feet.
This god — he binds the Two Lands for my father Atum.
He gathers for him the Great Flood.

I have placed myself between them.
The Ennead has not seen me.
I am Shu whom Atum created —
Ra, who came into being from him.
I was not formed in the womb. I was not fashioned in the egg.
I was not conceived by conception.
My father Atum sneezed me from the sneeze of his mouth,
together with my sister Tefnut.
She came forth after me,
and I was wreathed with the breath of the throat —
the phoenix Ra, from which Atum came into being
in Chaos, in Nun, in weariness, in darkness.

I am Shu, father of the gods.
Atum once sent his sole eye
in search of me, together with my sister Tefnut.
I made light for her from the darkness.
She found me as a man of millions.
I am he who begot millions and who repeats in millions,
in Nun, in weariness, in darkness.
I am Shu, who begot the gods.

O you Eight of Chaos
whose names Atum created when he created words together with Atum,
on that day when Atum spoke with Nun
in Chaos, in weariness, in darkness —
come! Do not oppose me.
Give me your hands.
Bind for me the ladder, as you did for my father Atum.
I am weary upon the supports of Shu.

—

Who cuts off the darkness!
O lord of flame who guards the two supports of Nut —
you have bound for me the ladder of Shu. You have made for me the road.

Who lights the millions, who makes radiance for the sky —
the serpents, the seed of Shu,
the blood of Shu, bull of the cobras,
who swallows the winds from the mouth of Shu,
bull of millions, who protects against Apophis.

Shu has grown weary upon his face, at the head of his shrine —
who makes the road for Atum, that he may go forth from the breast of Nut.

Bind for me the ladder. Make for me the road.
I am weary — in Chaos, in Nun, in weariness, in darkness.

You shall open the two supports of Nut.
You shall light your millions. You shall make the sky radiant.
The serpents, the seed of Shu,
the blood of Shu, bull of the cobras,
who swallows the winds from the mouth of Shu,
bull of millions, who protects against Apophis.

You raise Shu, weary from those who are in the darkness.
You make the road for Atum, that he may go forth from the breast of Nut.
You bind for me the ladder — Shu is weary.
You make for me the road, in darkness, in Chaos, in Nun,
in this road of yours.

Spell 77 — The Ba of Shu

A brief spell identifying the deceased with the ba of Shu, born from Atum's sneeze. Shu was the first called to flame, placed by Atum's own hand.

I am this ba of Shu, the first called to flame,
whom Atum placed with his hand.
He made pleasure; choice things fell from his mouth.
He sneezed me as Shu, together with Tefnut who came forth after me,
as the Great Ennead, the daughter of Atum, the Ennead of the gods.
I was placed in it as the son of the daughter of Nut,
Hensaket, who bore the gods.

That is I.

Spell 78 — Shu Between Sky and Earth

Shu declares himself the one who placed Nut above and Geb below, standing between them. He addresses the Ogdoad, whom he conceived and begot from his own flesh, commanding them to support the sky and bind the ladder.

I am the ba of Shu who placed Nut above him and Geb beneath his feet.
I am between them.

O you Eight of Chaos whom Shu conceived,
whom Shu begot from the outpouring of his flesh, as the jackals of Shu —
you who raise Shu,
who raise Nut beneath Atum,
who guard the road of Nut for Atum,
whose passing is like the passing of the sky —

come!
Rejoice in your dignities.
Be exalted in your crowns — do not oppose Shu in me.
Give me your hands.
Bind for me the ladder.

I am his ba, Shu — who goes forth upon his wings — Shu, father of the gods.
O you bowmen of Shu, see me!
I am Eternity, father of millions.
My great sister is the daughter of Atum, who bore the Ennead.
Gods, bow your heads.
Stretch out your arms to Shu, for my going forth upon the ladder of Shu.
I see my father in his great gates.

I am Eternity, who bore millions.
Everlastingness is Tefnut.

Spell 79 — The Ordering of the Cosmos

Shu addresses the Ogdoad a final time, declaring that he created them, named them, and established the cosmic order before the world was set in its places. He reckons the millions in darkness, descends to the bark, and moors the shrine of Ra in Maat. This spell leads directly into Spell 80, the climax of the sequence.

O you Eight of Chaos who came forth from Shu,
whose names were created from the flesh of Atum,
when Nun spoke, in Chaos, in weariness, in darkness —

you know me.
I it is who created you,
who begot you, who raised you,
who made your names when Nun created words together with Atum.

Ra — it is he from whom Atum was exalted,
within his boundary,
before he had seen Geb beneath his feet and Shu in his boundary,
before the Great Flood of Atum had come into being, upon which he rested.

I am the great one of Shu, who leaps upon the ladder.
I reckon the number of millions in the darkness of the radiant ones.
I set portions upon the reckoning of the great ones in the shining-place —
the shrine of Atum.
I set the serpent upon the supports.

I descend to the bark.
I moor the shrine of Ra in Maat that he loves.

Spell 80 — The Being of Shu

The theology of Shu and Tefnut — the most important creation text in the Coffin Texts. Shu, the god of air and breath, declares himself the ba of the creator Atum, who was born from the creator's mouth and separated heaven from earth. The text shifts between voices: Shu proclaiming his cosmic identity, Atum mourning his solitude before creation and speaking tenderly of his children, and Nun counselling the weary creator. It is the Egyptian Genesis — creation as breathing, as loneliness, as love between father and children.

O you Eight of Chaos, you million of millions,
who encircle the sky with your hands,
who gather the sky and the Aker for Geb —

Shu begot you in the chaos, in Nun, in darkness, in the gloom,
and he assigned you to Geb and Nut,
while Shu is eternity and Tefnut is everlastingness.

I am the ba of Shu,
whom Atum begot.
My garments are the breath of life.
It is from the mouth of Atum that I came forth.
It is upon my roads that I pierced the winds.

I am he who made the light of the sky after the darkness.
My skin is what clings to the wind that comes out behind me from the mouth of Atum.
My sweat is the rain of the sky.
My exhalation is the storm and the darkness.

The length of this sky belongs to my stride.
The breadth of this land belongs to my foundation.
I am the one whom Atum fashioned.
I go to the place of eternity.

I am eternity itself, who begets millions —
he who repeats the sneeze of Atum,
who came forth from his mouth when he stretched out his hand,
and his desire was to cast it down upon the earth.

Then Atum said:
"My living daughter is Tefnut.
She shall be with her brother Shu.
‘Living’ is his name.
‘Maat’ is her name.

I live with my two children. I live with my two young ones,
for I am between them —
one at my back, one behind my body.
The Living One sleeps with my daughter Maat,
one within me,
one around me.

I stood upon them, their arms around me.
It is Geb — it is my son — he shall live, he whom I begot in my name.
He knows how to nourish the one in the egg within the body better than I,
as the people who issued from my eye,
whom I sent forth
when I was alone
with Nun in inertness.

I could find no place to stand.
I could find no place to sit.
Heliopolis was not yet founded that I might be in it.
The papyrus thicket was not yet formed that I might sit upon it.
I had not yet made Nut that she might be over my head.
The first generation was not yet born.
The Primeval Ennead had not yet come into being.
But they were with me."

Then Atum said to Nun:
"I am afloat. I am weary beyond measure.
The Primeval Ones are inert.
It is my son, the Living One, who shall lift my heart.
He shall enliven my body. He shall gather these limbs of mine that are weary beyond measure."

Then Nun said to Atum:
"Kiss your daughter Maat. Put her to your nose.
Your heart shall live.
She shall not be far from you.
Your daughter is Maat, together with your son Shu — ‘Living’ is his name.
You shall eat of your daughter Maat.
It is your son Shu who shall raise you up."

I am the Living One, the son of Atum.
He begot me from his nose.
I came forth from his nostrils.
I set myself at his neck, and he embraced me together with my sister Maat,
when he rises each day
and when he comes forth from his egg —
born of a god, issued from radiance.
He is greeted with praise by his progenitors who are in the horizon.

I nourish his father, whose crew are the Unwearying Ones,
the crew of the bark — the life of the living limbs.

I am the Living One who ties the heads, who establishes the necks, who nourishes the throats.
I tie Atum together.
I establish the head of Isis upon her neck.
I have tied the spine of Khepri for him.

I am the radiance that extends
the pathways,
that carries the sky for Atum to the nose of Ra each day.

May I come!
May I go!
May I open the way for Ra,
that he may sail to the western horizon!

I am at his nose.
My arms are about him.
I rescue him from Apophis.

He passes to the western horizon.
I make green the neck in the evening bark
and in the morning bark with my breath.
He comes forth daily from west and east, from the body of Nut.
She gives birth to me each day.
He sets me at his nose, my father Atum.

I tie his heads. I establish his necks.
I establish the head of Isis upon her neck.
I gather the limbs of Osiris. I bind his flesh.
I strengthen his sinews. I make his limbs flourish.

I give him offerings.
I establish him — the Bull of the West.

I am the Living One, lord of years, living in eternity, lord of everlastingness.

When Atum grew old in his powers,
when he created Shu and Tefnut in Heliopolis,
when he was alone in his existence, in isolation,
when he separated Geb from Nut,
before the first generation was born,
before the Primeval Ennead had come into being —
they were with me, in his nose.

He conceived me from his nose.
I came forth from his nostrils.
He set me at his neck.
He would not let me be far from him.
"Living" is my name — the son of the god of the Primeval Ones.
I live on the incense of my father Atum.

I am the Living One who is at his neck, who makes the throat flourish,
whom Atum made as Nepri
when he sent me down to this land, to the Island of Flame,
when I became Osiris, son of Geb.

I am the Living One.
I make for him the length of heaven and the breadth of the earth.
Offerings and provisions upon me come into being for the god.
My father Atum embraces me
when he comes forth from the eastern horizon, his heart glad at seeing me,
when he passes in peace to the western horizon
and finds me in his road.

I tie his head.
I nourish his uraeus.
I establish the head of Isis upon her neck.
I gather the bones of Osiris. I strengthen his flesh each day.
I make his limbs flourish each day.

The falcons live on geese. The jackals live on their rounds. The pigs live in the desert.
The hippopotami live in the marshes. Humankind lives on grain, on cattle, and on fish. And the fish live in the water that is in the inundation —
as Atum has commanded.

I guide them. I nourish them with this mouth of mine: the Living One who is in their nostrils.
I guide my breath into their throats.
I tie their heads with this authority that is in my mouth,
which my father Atum has given me
when he came forth from the eastern horizon.

I nourish the crawling things and the serpents that are upon the back of Geb.

I am the Living One who is beneath Nut.

Spell 261 — Becoming Heka

A spell for transformation into Heka, the god of magic — the creative utterance that existed before the world. The deceased claims to predate all other gods, to have been made by the Sole Lord in the time before duality.

Becoming Heka.

O nobles, you who stand in the presence of the Lord of All —
behold, I have come before you.
Fear me, for you know what I am.

I am he whom the Sole Lord created
before two things had come to be in this land,
when he sent forth his Sole Eye,
when he existed alone,
going forth from his own mouth,
when his million of ka stood guard over his command,
when he spoke with Khepri who was with him,
being mightier than he,
when he seized Authority by his word.

I am that son of her who bore Atum.
I am the guardian of what the Sole Lord commanded.
I am he who gives life to the Ennead.

I am He-who-does-what-he-wills, Father of the Gods,
high of standard,
who perfected the god by the command of her who bore Atum —
noble god
who eats with his mouth,
who speaks with his mouth.

I fell silent.
I bent down.

I came,
treading upon the kas of heaven.
The kas of Nut sat down for me
in this great dignity of mine
as Lord of Kas, heir of Ra-Atum.

I have come
to seize my throne,
to receive my dignity —
for I belong to Atum,
before you gods came into being.
You have come down,
arriving afterward.

I am Heka.

Spell 335 — Becoming an Akh

The great transformation spell. The deceased becomes Ra at the dawn of creation, identifies with every cosmic power, passes through the tribunal of the dead, and calls upon Ra for deliverance. One of the most famous and widely copied spells in the entire Coffin Text corpus, it later passed into the Book of the Dead as Chapter 17.

I am Ra in his first risings.
I am the Great One who came into being of himself,
who created all his names, lord of the Ennead,
whom none among the gods can turn away.

Yesterday is mine.
I know tomorrow.

The battle-ship of the gods was made at my command.
I know the name of that great god who is in it.

I am that great phoenix who is in Heliopolis,
the reckoner of all that exists.

I am Min in his processions.
I have set my two plumes upon my head.

I am in my land.
I have come to my city.

My suffering has been driven back.
My misfortune has been repelled.
The falsehood that concerned me has been expelled,
and I have purified myself in those two great and mighty lakes
which are in Heracleopolis,
in which the offerings of the common people are cleansed
for that great god who is in them.

I have gone forth
upon the road I know, toward the Island of the Justified.
I have reached the land of the horizon-dwellers of heaven.
I have come forth through the sacred gate.

O you who stand in the Presence —
give me your hands!
I am the soul who came into being among you.

I have filled the Eye
after it was wounded
on that day of the battle of the Two Companions.

I have lifted the hair from the Sound Eye in its hour of storm.

I have seen Ra, born yesterday
from the hindquarters of the Great Flood-Cow.
When he is sound, I am sound —
and so it is reversed —
for I am one of those in the following of Horus.

Hail to you,
Lords of Maat, tribunal around Osiris,
who deal slaughter among the sinners,
who are in the following of She-is-satisfied-She-protects!

Behold, I have come before you
that you may drive away the evil that concerns me,
as you did for those seven akhs
who are in the following of the Lord of the Nome,
whose places Anubis appointed
on that day of "Come hither."

Who are they?

Dehedeh.
Aodod.
Bull-who-was-not-set-at-the-front-of-his-ardour.
Black-of-face-who-is-in-his-hour.
Red-one-at-the-front-of-the-house-of-red-linen.
Radiant-of-face-who-came-forth-in-retreating.
He-who-sees-by-night-who-is-brought-by-day.

I am his two souls in the midst of his two young ones.

I am that great cat
who split the ished tree beside him in Heliopolis
on that night of battle
and of reckoning of the rebels,
on that day of destroying all the enemies of the Lord of All.

O Ra who are in your egg,
who shine in your disk,
who rise from your horizon,
who swim through your firmament,
who sail
upon the pillars of Shu,
who give the winds with the breath of your mouth,
who illumine the Two Lands with your radiance —

deliver this one from that secret god who is there.

Spell 1029 — The Awakening of Ra

The opening of the Book of Two Ways — the oldest known map of the afterlife, painted on the interior of Middle Kingdom coffins from el-Bersha. Nut cries out and trembling falls upon the eastern horizon as she clears the ways for Ra's daily circuit. The bark is called to sail, the great ones are summoned to tremble, and the horizon rejoices.

Trembling has fallen upon the eastern horizon of the sky
at the cry of Nut,
as she clears the ways for Ra
before the Great One makes his circuit.

Rise, Ra!
Rise, you who are in your chapel,
that you may breathe the air,
that you may swallow the backbone,
that you may spit out the day,
that you may breathe Maat,
that the retinue may circle,
that the bark may sail to the sky,
that the great ones may tremble at your voice,
that you may count your bones,
that you may gather your limbs,
that you may set your face toward the Beautiful West.

You return renewed each day,
for you are that image of gold
beneath the branches of the tree.

Heaven and earth tremble for you,
for you make your circuit renewed each day.

The horizon rejoices, jubilant in your rope.

Spell 1030 — Boarding the Bark

The deceased boards the celestial bark with Ra, sailing to the terrace of Nut and the stairs of lapis lazuli.

Behold, you have made the starry firmament at Heliopolis,
and the sun-folk at Kher-aha,
for a thousand were born for the god —
his ribbon folded and his poles seized.

I descend with them
to the boat,
to the quay of the gods.
I carve the bark,
two lotuses upon its prows.

I sail in it with Ra.
I sail in it with the Weary-Hearted.
I steer it
to that terrace of Nut,
to those stairs of lapis lazuli.

Spell 1031 — The Promise of the Book

A rubric paralleling the ending of Spell 1130 — the promise that anyone who knows this spell shall be like Ra in the east and Osiris in the Duat, and no flame shall touch him.

What is at the end of the book:

They could not speak for fear of He-whose-name-is-hidden,
who is within the body of this one.

I know him.
I do not ignore him.
I am equipped and an akh at the opening of the portals.

As for anyone who knows this spell,
he shall be like Ra in the east of the sky,
like Osiris within the Duat.
When he descends to the circuit of flame,
there shall be no flame against him, ever.

It comes to an end in peace — twice.

Spell 1032 — Circuit of Flame

A map label — the caption inscribed on the coffin beside the painted flame barrier that encircles Ra's path.

Circuit of flame.
Circuit of flame.
Circuit of flame.

Spell 1033 — Passing the Flame

The longest spell in the opening sequence of the Book of Two Ways. The deceased approaches through the sacred fire that protects Ra's bark, confronts the guardians, brings Maat to the sun-god, spits upon the wounds of Apophis, and is commanded by Horakhty to pass through and steer the boat his father made. Lacunae mark the gaps in the coffin text.

This burning flame around you is that which surrounds Ra,
assembled behind him.
Even the lord of the storm fears the bark of Ra
when you kindle the flame.

I have come today
with He-who-strikes-the-face.
I have seen the passage to truth.

Fall, you sacred forms
who are in the curve of the Sacred Lake,
you who join the reed-dwellers of the Lake of Reeds!

I have seen them there.
"We shall place them."
Their great ones are in joy,
their small ones in gladness.

Make way for me in the prow of his bark,
the light in his disk,
the akh in his ba.
I rise before his uraei
to join the offering as Lord of Maat.

[...]

I have drawn the fault from him.

[...]

I have brought him Maat,
that he may live by her.

Pass! Pass!
Come! Come!
Speak the affair of his father in the waters,
that you may dispatch his voice in the evening.

See, I have come.

[...]

I have brought him Apophis.
I have spat upon his wounds.

Make way for me!
Let me pass!
I am the great one among the gods.

Come! Pass, then,
and let your bark be rowed, O Lord Sia.
You are the heir of the Great One.

Quench the flame! Extinguish the fire!
Make way for me!
It is He-who-mingles-them
who raises the horizon for me.

I have passed the great ones.
I have testified for He-of-the-Right-Side who is in his bark.
I have traversed the circuit of flame
around the Lord of Those-of-the-Braids.

"Pass, then," says Horakhty,
"that you may steer the boat your father made."

[...]

Spell 1034 — The Noble of Ra

The deceased commands the serpent guardians to lie flat, declares himself Ra and the lord of the mighty, and is named guide of the ways of Rosetau.

On your bellies, serpents of the chest!
Let me pass!

I am the Mighty One, lord of the mighty.
I am the noble of Ra,
lord of Maat who made Wadjet,
the protection of Ra.

See how the two Fields of Offerings that are mine circle for him.
I am Ra, a god greater than you.
He counts the gods of his Enneads in giving offerings.

Guide of the ways of Rosetau.

Spell 1035 — Drawing the Two Ways

The title spell of the Book of Two Ways — naming the two routes through the afterlife: one on water, one on land. These are the ways of Osiris at the limit of the sky. The spell promises that anyone who knows it shall join the retinue of Thoth; anyone who does not shall be seized at the slaughter-block of the dead.

Drawing the ways in Rosetau:
those on water and those on land.

These are the ways of Osiris.
They are at the limit of the sky.

As for anyone who knows this spell for descending to them,
he shall be a sacred god in the retinue of Thoth,
and he shall descend to any sky he wishes.

But as for anyone who does not know this spell
for passing these ways,
he shall be seized at the slaughter-block of the dead,
destined as one who does not exist,
whose truth shall never be.

Spell 1036 — The Dignity of Shu

The deceased comes bearing the authority of Shu, having restored Osiris. A spell for passing.

See, I have come with the dignity of Shu.
I have restored Osiris.
Make way for me!

Beat your arms!
The finest of Ra's maces is what is in my hand.
Begone!

This is the spell for passing by him.

Spell 1037 — Healing Osiris

A brief healing spell — the deceased has healed Osiris and repels the destroyers.

May I see what I have healed in Osiris.
May the fever not be in his flesh.

He who repels the destroyers.

Spell 1038 — The Gate Guardian

A map label naming the guardian of a gate on the way.

Sorrowful-of-Voice is its guardian.

Spell 1039 — Those Who Are in the Gate

A list of the beings who inhabit the gate — fire-demons and serpent guardians named on the coffin map.

Those who are in it:
the Leaper,
the Scorcher,
the Great One,
the Hot One,
the Curser,
and Aatim.

Spell 1040 — Born in Rosetau

The deceased, born at Rosetau, has received the akh from Ra-Horakhty and guides the gods upon their mounds.

I was born in Rosetau of Pe.
The akh was given to me by the Lord Ra-Horakhty.
My dignity is at Pe
when I purify Osiris.

I have received acclamation at Rosetau
through guiding the gods upon their mounds.
I am one of those who guide them.

Spell 1130 — The Words of the Lord of All

The cosmogonic declaration — the creator god speaks in his own voice about the four good deeds he performed at creation. He made the winds so all might breathe, the flood so the humble might share in abundance, every person equal to his fellow, and the memory of the afterlife so they would honour the gods. Then he declares that humankind's evil is their own doing, not his command. One of the most profound theological texts in all of ancient Egypt.

Words spoken by He-whose-names-are-hidden,
the Lord of All, who speaks to the silent raging ones during the voyage
of the entourage:

"Sail on in peace!

I shall repeat to you two good deeds
which my own heart created for me
within the coils of the serpent,
in order to silence falsehood.

I made four good deeds within the portal of the horizon:

I made the four winds
that every person might breathe in his time.
That is one deed.

I made the great flood
that the humble might have power like the great.
That is one deed.

I made every person like his fellow.
I did not command them to do evil —
it is their hearts that violated what I said.
That is one deed.

I made their hearts not forget the West,
in order that divine offerings be made for the gods of the nomes.
That is one deed.

I brought the gods into being from my sweat,
and humankind from the tears of my eye.

I shine and am seen each day
as the radiance of the Lord of All.
I made the night for the Weary-hearted one.

I shall sail aright in my bark.
I am the Lord of Millions in traversing the sky.
No part of me has been turned back.

Hu and Heka overthrow for me that Evil-of-character,
that I may see the horizon,
that I may sit in its prow,
that I may judge the wretched from the powerful.
I do the same to the sinners.

Life is mine.
I am its lord.
The scepter shall not be taken from my hand.

I have placed a million years
between myself and that Weary-hearted one, son of Nut,
and I shall sit in the sole seat.

I have made mounds into cities
and cities into mounds.
Is a mansion to destroy a mansion?

I am the Lord of Flame who lives on Maat, Lord of Eternity,
maker of joy.
The rebel serpent has no dominion over me.

I am he who is in his shrine,
lord of wounds who silences the storm,
who drives away the serpents from the Many-named one
who comes forth from his shrine,
Lord of Winds,
Many-named in the mouth of the Ennead,
Lord of the Horizon
who created radiance by his own transformations.

That is I.

I have seen Nun and Amun.
I am an akh, equipped.
I have passed
by the birthplaces,
and they did not speak, for fear of me —
for my secret, whose name is within my body.
I know it.
I am not ignorant of it.

I am an akh, equipped and skilled at opening the portal."

As for every person who knows this spell:
he shall be as Ra in the eastern sky,
as Osiris within the Duat.
He shall descend
to the entourage of flame,
and no fire shall touch him, forever and ever.

It comes in peace.
It comes in peace.

Colophon

The Coffin Texts are the central corpus of Egyptian funerary literature from the Middle Kingdom (c. 2100–1650 BCE), preserved on the interior surfaces of over two hundred wooden coffins. They occupy the middle position in the great arc of Egyptian afterlife literature: after the Pyramid Texts (c. 2400–2300 BCE, restricted to royal pyramids) and before the Book of the Dead (New Kingdom onward, available on papyrus). The critical edition is Adriaan de Buck's seven-volume publication (1935–1961), which remains the standard scholarly reference.

This selection presents twenty-one spells from the corpus. Spells 75–80 form the complete Shu theology — a six-spell sequence constituting the most important creation cycle in the Coffin Texts. Shu, the god of air, declares himself the ba of the creator Atum, recounts how he was breathed out from Atum's nose rather than born, describes his weariness from lifting the sky-goddess Nut above the earth, commands the Ogdoad to support him, and culminates in the Egyptian Genesis of Spell 80, where Atum mourns his loneliness before creation and Nun counsels him to kiss his daughter Maat. Spell 261 presents the spell for becoming Heka, the god of magic who predates creation. Spell 335 is the great akh-transformation (later Book of the Dead Chapter 17).

Spells 1029–1040 and 1130 are drawn from the Book of Two Ways — the oldest known map of the afterlife, found on the interior of coffins from el-Bersha. The text describes two routes through the realm of the dead, one by water and one by land, past flame barriers, serpent guardians, and gates, toward the domain of Osiris and the Fields of Offerings. The sequence opens with a hymn awakening Ra to his daily circuit (Spell 1029), proceeds through the boarding of the celestial bark (Spell 1030), the passage through fire (Spells 1031–1033), commands to guardians and serpents (Spells 1034, 1036–1040), and the naming of the Two Ways themselves (Spell 1035). Spell 1130 is the cosmogonic climax — the Lord of All declares his four good deeds of creation and pronounces that human evil was not divinely commanded, one of the earliest theodicies in world literature.

Good Works Translation from Egyptian by the New Tianmu Anglican Church, 2026. Translated from the Egyptian transliterations in the MORTEXVAR database (ISSN 2990-2088, edited by C. Gracia Zamacona, Universidad de Alcalá, 2022–), which digitises de Buck's critical edition. The French translations in the MORTEXVAR database were consulted as reference for verification of readings. Compiled and formatted for the Good Work Library by the New Tianmu Anglican Church, 2026.

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Source Text: Egyptian Transliteration

Transliterations from the MORTEXVAR database (database.mortexvar.com), based on A. de Buck, The Egyptian Coffin Texts, 7 vols. (Chicago, 1935–1961). References follow de Buck's format: Volume, Page, Line. Presented here for reference, study, and verification alongside the English translation above.

Spell 75 (de Buck I 314a – I 405b)

I 314 a: r n bA Sw xpr.w m Sw
I 314 b: ink bA Sw nTr xpr Ds.f
I 316 b: ink bA Sw nTr sfg irw
I 318 b: xpr.n.i m Ha.w n nTr xpr Ds.f
I 318 c: ink im.y Dr n nTr
I 320 a: xpr.n.i im.f
I 320 b 1: ink sgr n.f p.t
I 320 b 2: ink sidd n.f tA.wy
I 320 c: wsr.k(w)i Dnd.k(w)i r psD.t nb(.t)
I 320 d: ink sr
I 322 a: sw pr.f m Ax.t
I 322 b: ink rdi nr(w).f n Dar.w rn.f
I 322 c: ink im.y HH.w sDm mdw HH.w
I 324 a: ink zbb mdw xpr-Ds.f n aSA.t
I 324 b: ink srr wiA apr.w.f
I 324 c: wsr.k(w)i
I 326 a: Dnd.k(w)i r psD.wt nb(.t)
I 326 b: iw wHm.n.i mdw nTr.w im.yw-bAH xpr.w r-sA.i
I 326 c 2: nD.sn
I 328 a: xpr.w.i m-a nwn
I 328 b: mAA.sn wi wsr.k(w)i Dnd.k(w)i m dp.t sod.w.t xpr-Ds.f
I 330 a 1: aHa.n.i mm.sn
I 330 b: di.i fA.w<.i> xft xpr.i
I 330 c: iw.i Dd.i gr psD.t
I 332 a: id.y nTr.w
I 332 b: Dd.i n.Tn xpr.i m irw.i Ds.i
I 332 c: m nD xpr.i m-a n.w
I 334 a: mA.n wi n.w xpr.k(w)i
I 334 b: rx.n.i rn.f rx.n.i bw xpr(.w).n.i im
I 334 c: n mA.f xpr.i m Hr.f
I 336 a 1: xpr.n.i
I 336 a 2: Tz.n.i
I 336 a 3: m Ha.w nTr xpr-Ds.f
I 336 c: omA.n.f wi m ib.f
I 338 a: iri.n.f wi m Ax.w.f
I 338 c: ink nfA irw
I 338 d: pD.n
I 340 a: nTr p[n] Sps(.y)
I 340 b: wpS p.t m nfr.f
I 340 d: iwty rx nTr.w {rx} rn.f
I 342 a: Sms.w Hnmm.t
I 342 b 1: rd.n.i m rd.wy.f
I 342 b 2: xpr.n.i m a.wy.f
I 342 c: Sw.n.i m a.wt.f
I 344 a: omA.n.f wi m ib.f
I 344 b: iri.n.f wi m Ax.w.f
I 344 c: n ms.n.t(w).i is ms.yt
I 344 d: iri.n.t(w) n.i
I 346 a: sm.w m sx.wt sT.t
I 346 b: ink iri pAd.w nTr.w
I 346 c: ink Hr.(y)-ib dbn.f nb sxw.t wAD(.wt)
I 348 a: m dwA.t
I 348 b: i ra-tm n.w
I 348 c: ink sHtp DfA.w
I 348 d: swAD Hw n wsir
I 350 c: Hr xpr.i m Ha.w
I 352 a: [nTr] pn Sps(.y) xpr-Ds.f
I 352 b: wpS p.t m nfr.f
I 352 c: dmD.f irw.w nTr.w
I 352 d: nb mAa.t xtm awA.w
I 354 a: dmD.f irw.i
I 354 b: ink nfA irw
I 354 c 1: n ms(.w).f wi m xfa.f
I 354 c 2: n iwr(.w).f wi m xfa.f
I 356 a: nfA.n.f wi m Sr.t
I 356 b: iri.n.f wi m-Hr-ib nfr.f
I 356 c: Ha.n im.yw
I 358 b 2: znS.w
I 358 c: sT mAA.i sSp.f
I 358 d: ink
I 360 a 1: nfA irw xnt(.y) sx.wt.f
I 360 b: Dd-mdw m x.t imn.t im.t Hw.t 6
I 360 c: iw omA.n.i bA.i HA.i
I 362 c: n ns.f Hr XA.t.i
I 362 d: n zA.n.t(w) bA.i
I 364 a: in ir.yw a.wt wsir
I 364 b 1: iw.i sT.i
I 364 b 2: iw bA.i sT.f
I 364 c: sTT bA.i m
I 366 a: rmT im.yw iw nsrsr
I 366 b: sTT.i Ds.i m nTr.wt
I 368 b: mAA.t(w) nms.i n im.y-T

H.t.f
I 368 c: im(.y)-TpH.t.f fAA n.i
I 370 a: nms.i
I 370 b 1: in im.y-irw.f saH wi fAA saH.w.i
I 370 c: nHm.i
I 372 a: saH.w im.yw-TpH.wt.sn
I 372 b: n sDm.n.i n HkA(.w)
I 372 c: xpr.n.i tp-a.wy<.f>
I 374 c: pr.n.i xnt nTr xpr-Ds.f
I 374 d: xpr wa.y sms.w r nTr.w
I 376 a: ink dm.n.f oAA.w p.t
I 376 b: ink inn.w n.f Ax.k(w)i
I 376 c: ink (i)ab.w n.f HH.f n kA d.y m wn(D)w.t.f
I 378 a: axm.n.i sD.t
I 378 b: sobb.n.i bA wps.t
I 378 c: sgr.n.i Hr-ib.t dSrr.s
I 380 b: ink nbi ns n sD.t
I 380 c: .n hh .s r.i
I 380 d: ink
I 382 a: ssd bA wps.t
I 382 b: iri mr ns n Hr-ib.t dSr(.w).s
I 382 c: wAwA.t wDa.t sAm.wt nTr.w
I 382 d: iw Dd.n
I 384 a: n<.i> HAty.w.Tn nTr.w n pr.t.0 m r.Tn
I 384 b: