Hymns to Amun from Papyrus Leiden I 350

The Leiden Hymns are a cycle of devotional poems to Amun-Re preserved on Papyrus Leiden I 350, dated to the fifty-second regnal year of Ramesses II (c. 1227 BCE). The papyrus, now held in the Rijksmuseum van Oudheden in Leiden, contains one of the most theologically sophisticated expressions of Egyptian monotheistic thought — a vision of Amun as the singular, hidden, self-created God who manifests through all other deities and sustains all life.

The hymns represent the culmination of New Kingdom Amun theology at Thebes. Though Amun is named, and though other gods — Re, Ptah, Atum, the Ennead — appear throughout, the poet is not praising one god among many. He is articulating a vision of divine unity: one God who wears many faces, whose hidden essence no deity can fathom, who spoke himself into being before all things. The theological depth here rivals anything in the Psalms or the Upanishads.

This is a Good Works Translation from Egyptian, produced by the New Tianmu Anglican Church with AI assistance. The rendering follows the Egyptological scholarship of A. H. Gardiner (ZÄS 42, 1905), Jan Zandee (De Hymnen aan Amon van Papyrus Leiden I 350, 1947), and subsequent critical studies. Stanza numbers follow the original papyrus numbering system. Not all stanzas of the papyrus are included here — this selection follows the most theologically significant chapters.

IX

The Nine Great Gods have risen from the waters,
assembled to worship the daybreak of Majesty.
Lord of Lords, who brought himself forth from nothing,
Lord of all the gods — he is the Lord.

He shines for those who must sleep and wake,
brightening their faces into visible form.
His eyes glow with kindness, his ears attend,
and every bare creature is robed in his light.

The sky turns gold, the primeval waters gleam turquoise,
the Southland deepens to lapis
as he rises and shines upon them.
The gods of the first age marvel, their temples thrown open,
and even the late sleeper peers out in wonder.

The trees bow and sway before him,
turning to the one source, arms wide with blossoms.
Fish leap bright in the water,
bold from their hidden places for love of him.
Small beasts are glad in his sight,
birds lift and run on outstretched wings.

The creatures know him best
in this hour of his rising splendour —
life itself is to see him each day.
They rest in his hand, sealed with his mark,
and no god but he can break the seal of their love.

There is none who can live without him.
He is the Great God,
the Power that moves all divinity.

X

The fame of Thebes surpasses every city.
In the Beginning
hers were the waters and the dry land.
Then sands came to mark the fields,
to lay her foundations on the primordial hill
when the world first came to be.

Then there were faces of men
to found the cities, each with its purpose.
All cities are named after their natures
by the command of Thebes, the Eye of God over Egypt.

The Majesty of Thebes descended as her salvation,
to draw the world through her to the Spirit of God.
Pleased to dwell by the waters of Asheru
in the likeness of Sakhmet, Mistress of Egypt.
How mighty she is, without rival,
honouring her name as Queen of the Cities.
Sharp-sighted, keen as God's protector,
the Right Eye of Re,
disciple facing her Lord.
Radiant with the splendour of God,
wise upon her high throne,
she is the Most Holy of Places,
a sanctuary the world cannot equal.

Every city stirs at the breath of the invisible God,
burning to be great. Like Thebes —
hers is the light of perfection.

XX

How splendid you ferry the skyways,
Horus of the Twin Horizons.
The needs of each new day
are firm in your timeless pattern.
You who fashion the years,
weaving months into order —
days, nights, and the very hours
move to the gait of your striding.

Refreshed by your diurnal shining, you quicken,
bright above yesterday.
Making the zone of night sparkle
though you belong to the light.
Sole one awake there —
sleep is for mortals,
who go to rest grateful,
your eyes watching over them.
Theirs by the millions, those you open
when your face rises new and beautiful.
Not a bypath escapes your care
during your season on earth.

Stepping swift over stars,
riding the lightning flash,
you circle the earth in an instant,
with a god's ease crossing heaven.
Treading the dark paths of the underworld,
yet sun on each roadway.

You deign to walk daily with men.

All faces are upturned to you,
as mankind and gods
alike lift their morningsong:
Lord of the Daybreak —
Welcome!

XXX

The harpoon is sunk deep in Apophis the Evil —
he falls by the blade,
and those who chose war are gathered for slaughter.
Death cuts the hearts of God's demonic enemies,
who groan as outlaws,
rebels forever.
He has commanded the remnant destroyed
to break the strength of the dark Adversary,
that God's own self may be secure.

Unharmed is he in his shrine amidships —
the holy Light still shines.
He has ridden the waves unscathed
and the rebels are no more.
The sun-ship of infinite journeys
still sails its course across the sky,
her godly crew cheering,
their hearts ringing with victory.

Down is the great Antagonist,
enemy of the Lord of Creation —
no follower of his is found
in heaven or on earth.

Sky, Thebes, Heliopolis, Underworld —
their peoples are proud of their conquering god,
for they see him strong in his sunrise epiphany,
robed in beauty and victory and power.

It is day!
You have won, Amun-Re!
Gone the dark children of Enmity,
fallen by the blade.

XL

God is a master craftsman,
yet none can draw the lines of his Person.
Fair features first came into being
in the hushed dark where he mused alone.
He forged his own figure there,
hammered his likeness out of himself.
All-powerful one — yet kindly,
whose heart would lie open to men.

He mingled his heavenly seed
with the inmost parts of his being,
planting his image there
in the unknown depths of his mystery.
He took care, and the sacred form
took shape and contour, resplendent at birth.
God, skilled in the intricate ways of the craftsman,
first fashioned himself to perfection.

LXX

God loosens the knot of suffering, tempers disease,
physician who heals without remedy.
Clear-sighted, he lifts the darkening vision,
opens his hidden nature to men.
He will save whom he loves though one walk in the underworld,
freed from the debt that fate requires,
as his heart, in wisdom, determines.

To Amun belong eyes and ears as well —
his face guarding every way for those he loves.
He hears the entreaty of all who cry to him,
coming in an instant to whoever summons him,
no matter the distance.
He can lengthen a life or ravage it,
offer wealth beyond what fate has measured
to that man blessed by his love.

He is a water spell — his Name hovers high,
God's wings spanning the waters of Chaos.
No power at all to Death the Crocodile
when one calls upon his Name.

Winds of the deep contend, a destroying storm veers close —
yet eased at a man's end by remembrance of him.
Spell-binding such speech at the moment of truth,
when man meets death face to face.
Breezes soften for the one who calls on God —
he rescues the wind-struck and the wave-weary.

For God is a god of mercy, mild in his dealings, fond.
His children are all who bow to his lordship,
upraised to the everpresence of God.
He alone is enough
when housed in the human heart.
His Name alone
more potent than numberless gods.
He protects what is good in the world,
ready to gather to himself any who falter —
there are none to oppose him.

LXXX

The Eight Great Gods were your first incarnation,
to bring to perfection this cosmos.
You were the alone.
Secret your image from even the oldest divinities —
you had hidden yourself as Amun from the faces of gods.

You entered your form as Ta-tenen, and earth rose from chaos,
bearing the primal deities back in your elder time.
Erect grew your charms as Kamutef,
life-force, lusty son of his mother.
You withdrew to the midst of heaven, and distance was born,
endured in the sun, forming time.
Returned as the father gods, and they begat sons,
beginning the generations, creating
a heritage fit for your progeny.

You began the unfolding of cosmos,
before was no being, no void.
World without end was in you and from you,
yours on that First Day.
All other gods came after.

XC

The Nine Great Gods were drawn from your own body,
and in each you shadowed your face.
But it was you who shone first
when you shaped the world long ago,
O unseen God
who hides himself from all others.

Ancient of ancients,
older even than they,
earth god who made himself into Ptah,
whose very limbs are the first gods —
who rose as the Sun out of chaos
to mark the rhythms of death and return.
He sowed the seed of the cosmos as Atum, the Old One,
from whose godhead came moisture and air,
Shu and Tefnut, the first couple.

He ascended in splendour to his throne
as his heart had determined,
by his power alone overruling all existence.
He united himself and kingship forever,
to remain to the end of days, sole Lord.

But in the Beginning — Light!
Light was his first incarnation,
and the young world lay hushed,
waiting in awe of him.

And he cried the glad cry of the Great Cackler
over the provinces of his new creation,
while he was still alone.

He loosened speech —
words flowed in the chambers of silence.
He opened each eye
that it might behold and be gladdened.
Sounds of the voiceless world began with him —
the victory shout of the unparalleled God
shattered silence and circled the world.

He nurtured all things to birth
that he might offer them life,
and he taught men to know the Way,
the path they each must go.
Hearts come alive when they see him,
for he is our Maker, the Power
who peopled the dark with his children.

C

When Being began back in the days of the genesis,
it was Amun who appeared first of all,
unknown his manner of coming.
There was no god before him,
nor was any other god with him there
when he uttered himself into visible form.
There was no mother to him that she might have given him his name,
there was no father to sire the one
who first spoke the words, "I Am!"

Who fashioned the seed of himself on his own,
sacred first cause whose birth lay in mystery,
who crafted and carved his own beauty —
He is God the Creator, self-created, the Holy.
All other gods came after.
With himself he began the world.

CC

Dark and dazzling are the changes and incarnations
of God, God of wonders, of the two firmaments,
God of the myriad visible forms.
All gods boast they share in his nature —
but only to heighten themselves,
borrowing splendour on splendour
from the terrible power of his godhead.

Re himself joins to shine in God's visible form,
and God is that Craftsman praised in the City of Sun.
What is said of the earth god in truth pictures him,
and when Amun emerged from out the first waters,
it was God's image that strode over them.
He flowed forth again as the Eight of Hermopolis,
brought forth the primal deities, was midwife to Re,
perfected himself in Atum — one flesh together,
and he alone, Lord of all things at creation.

His soul, they say, is that One above,
and he is the one in the halls of the underworld,
foremost of those in the eastern dwelling.
His soul rests in heaven, his earthly form in the West,
and his image in Thebes — for worship,
when he shows himself among men.

But one alone is the hidden God,
being behind these appearances,
veiled even from gods.
His nature cannot be known.

He is more distant far than heaven,
deeper than the world below —
not all gods in concert can see his true features.
No likeness of him is sketched on papyri,
no eyewitness account to picture him.

God is reluctant to release his full glory,
great beyond questioning, potent beyond all belief.
Instant is the ruin of that unfortunate god
who utters — even in innocence — God's hidden Name.
No god draws forth godhead by this means.
God is final, ineffable Spirit,
past knowing his Name and his mystery.

CCC

God is three of all gods:
Amun, Re, Ptah — these are preeminent.
Past knowing his nature as Amun, the hidden,
he is Re in his features, in body is Ptah.
Their cities on earth endure to eternity:
Thebes, Heliopolis, Memphis, forever.

Word from heaven is heard in the City of Sun,
told in the temple of Ptah to the Handsome of Face.
Who shapes it in signs for the books of Thoth's wisdom —
thus the city of Amun records the gods' histories.
For God's judgment is rendered from Thebes:
when decision emerges, it comes through the Ennead.
Since each move of his lips is most secret,
gods carry out what he commands.

God's Word can end a life or preserve it,
life or death for all men unfolds by means of it.
And he opens his countenance as Re, Ptah, or Amun —
a trinity of unchanging forms.

D

Brought down and doomed are the rebels, down on their faces —
none now dare to attack him.
Land freshens once more over erstwhile opponents;
the dissatisfied cannot be found.

Rampant lion with razor claws, in a swallow
he drinks the power and blood of pretenders.
Bull, strong-backed and steady, whose hooves
bear down on foe's neck while horns do their work.
Bird of prey who swoops to seize his attacker,
talons keen to rend flesh and crack bone.

How he delights to do battle, secure in his mighty arm!
Hills quake to his tread when the war-fit masters him.
Earth shakes as he bellows his war-cry,
creation cowers in fear.
O, woe to any who challenge him,
who taste the play of his double-tipped weapon.
For he, our God, is skilled above any,
Lord of the deadly horns.

DC

The mind of God is perfect knowing,
his lips its flawless expression,
all that exists is his spirit,
by his tongue named into being.
He strides, and hollows under his feet become the sources of the Nile —
the Inundation wells from the hidden grotto into his footprints.
His soul is all space,
his heart the life-giving moisture.
He is Falcon of Twin Horizons,
sky god skimming heaven.
His right eye is the day,
while his left is the night,
and he guides human seeing down every way.

His body is Nun, the swirling original waters —
within it the Nile,
shaping, bringing to birth,
fostering all creation.
His burning breath is the breeze,
gift offered every nostril,
from him too the destiny fallen to each.
His consort the fertile field —
he sends his seed into her,
and new vegetation and grain
grow strong as his children.

Fruitful One, Eldest,
he fathered gods in those first days,
whose faces turn to him
daily and everywhere.
That countenance still shines on mankind and deities,
and it mirrors the sum of the world.

Colophon

The Leiden Hymns are from Papyrus Leiden I 350, a New Kingdom manuscript dated to the fifty-second regnal year of Ramesses II (c. 1227 BCE), now held in the Rijksmuseum van Oudheden, Leiden, the Netherlands. The hymns represent one of the most sophisticated expressions of theological monotheism in the ancient world — a tradition that predates the Hebrew Psalms and anticipates the Neoplatonic One.

This is a Good Works Translation from Egyptian, produced by the New Tianmu Anglican Church with AI assistance, 2026. The translation draws on the critical editions of A. H. Gardiner (Zeitschrift für Ägyptische Sprache und Altertumskunde 42, 1905), Jan Zandee (De Hymnen aan Amon van Papyrus Leiden I 350, Brill, 1947), and the interpretive scholarship of Assmann, Hornung, and Allen. It is not a reproduction of any existing English translation.

Compiled and formatted for the Good Work Library by the New Tianmu Anglican Church, 2026.

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Source Text: Transliteration of Papyrus Leiden I 350 (Selected Stanzas)

Egyptian source text transliterated from the hieratic of Papyrus Leiden I 350, following the critical edition of Jan Zandee (De Hymnen aan Amon van Papyrus Leiden I 350, Leiden: Brill, 1947) and the initial publication of A. H. Gardiner (Zeitschrift fuer Aegyptische Sprache und Altertumskunde 42, 1905). Transliteration uses standard Egyptological conventions. Presented here for reference, study, and verification alongside the English translation above.

IX

psDt aAt prt m nww
dmDw r dwA bAw n Hm
nb nTrw ir sw Ds.f
nb nTrw ntf nb

wbn.f n sDrw rsw
sHD.f Hrw m sStA
irw.f n.sn m rnpwt
nbt awt Hr mAA.f

pt r nbw mw nww r xsbD
rsy r xsbD
m wbn.f Hr.sn
nTrw pAwty m biAt aAwy.sn wn
rmT nbt m ptr wr

Snwt Hr wAwA n.f
r iAt wat awwy.sn m sSnw
rmw m mw Hr pAA
Xr mrwt.f
awt nDsw m Aw ib
Apdw Hr psd m Dnhwy.sn

xprw rx sw
m At nt wbn.f nfr
anx pw m mAA.f ra nb
sn m Drt.f xtmw m sStA.f
nn nTr wAH xtm mrwt.sn

nn anx nn sw
ntf nTr aA
bAw sxm nTrw nbw

X

wAst r niwt nbt
tA mw m Htp
Sat r irt AHwt
r smn snTt.s Hr iAt tpyt
m xpr tA

xpr Hrw n rmT
r smn niwwt kA.s nbt
niwwt nbt Hr rnw.sn m qd.sn
Hr wDt nt wAst irt nTr Hr kmt

XX

nfr tw xns.k Hrt
Hr Axty
ntt nt hrw nb
mn m sxrw.k nHH
ir rnpwt sAx Abdw
hrww grHw wnwwt
nmtt.k m nmt.k

XC

psDt aAt Ssp m Haw.k
Hr.k m Twt nb.sn
wbn.k m HAt
ir.k nn tA m-bAH
nTr imn
Hr imn sw r nTrw

ak.k m qd.k m tA-tnn tA Hr xpr m nnw
fAi nTrw pAwty m At.k tpyt
Ts mtwt.k m kA mwt.f
kA nxt sA mwt.f
sn.k r Hrt aAt r xpr
mn m itn ir nw
ii m itw nTrw ms.sn sAw
sgrg pAt r DAmw.k

sAx.k xprw
nn wnt nn ntt
dwAt nHH im.k Hna.k
nn.k m hrw tpy
nTrw nb m-xt

C

m sxpr xprw tpyw
imn m xpr tp
nn rx.tw iwt.f
nn nTr xpr m-HAt.f
nn nTr ky Hna.f m Dd qd.f
nn mwt.f irt rn.f
nn it.f Dd n.f Dd ink pw

qmA swHt.f waw
bA Dsrt ms.f m sStA
ir nfrw.f Ds.f
ntf nTr ir sw Ds.f qds
nTrw nbw m-xt.f
Hna.f sAx.f tA

CC

dkr m snfrw xprw
nTr n biAyt sbAwt snty
nTr n sSm mAA nbw
nTrw nb Hr snsn qd.f
r stwt.sn Ds.sn
sTsi Axw Hr Axw
m sxm aA nTr.f

ra Ds.f xnm m irw nTr mAA
nTr pw Hmww Hsw m Iwnw
Dd n nTr tA m mAat Twt.f
imn xpr m nnw
Twt nTr nmtt Hr.sn
psDt m Hmnw
ms nTrw pAwty mwt ra
tm Ds.f m Haw wa
ntf wa nb xprw m pAt

bA.f Dd.sn pw aA tp
ntf m dAt n imntyw
HAt n iAbty
bA.f m Hrt XAt.f m imnt
Twt.f m wAst r wAH
m Di.f sw m rmT

wa pw nTr imn
wn m-sA nn irw
sStA r nTrw
nn rx.tw qd.f

wA.f r Hrt
dmD.f r dAt
nn nTrw rx Hrw.f mAa
nn Twt.f Hr mDAt
nn mtr r Ss sw

Saa nTr r wDa bAw.f
aA sSm sxm r Hm nbt
mt m tA xft nTr nt pw
Dd rn.f imn m rx
nn nTr saHa nTr im
nTr pw sp aA
wAH r rx rn.f sStA.f

CCC

nTr wa pw nTrw nbw
imn ra ptH Hryw Sfy
imn m rn.f
ra m Hr.f ptH m Haw.f
niwwt.sn Hr tA r nHH
wAst Iwnw mn-nfr r Dt

wpwt Hrt m sDm m Iwnw
wHm m Hwt kA ptH n nfr Hr
sS m Hsmn n Ss DHwty
niwt imn ipt sSw nTrw
wDt nTr m wAst
m prt m psDt
sp nb irw n irt.f m sStA
nTrw Hr irt wD.f

mDw nTr smA anx
anx mwt n rmT nb im.f
wn Hr.f m ra ptH imn
xprw wa nn whmw

D

sxr xftyw Hr Hrw.sn
nn wa Hr aHA r.f
tA wAD r sSrw
nn gm sbyw

mAi xnt int m am
wnm bAw xftyw.f
kA nxt grg m wart
awy.fy Hr irt kAt mAbAw.fy
qnr Hm Drt sqr qsw

nfr n.f aHA m Drt.f wsrt
Dww Hr mnmn n nmtt.f aHA sxm im.f
tA Hr mnmn m xrw.f
xpr nbt m snD
iw n Tst r.f
dp awy.f n anxwy
ntf nTr Ax r nb
nb abwy Dsrw

DC

sAA pw rxy
sptyw mn wDt
kA pw nb xprw.f
mdw.f ns.f xpr im
nmt.f nmtt bkAw Xr rdwy.f
Hapi m tpHt StAt r nmt.f
bA.f iswt nbt
ib.f mw anx
Hr Axty pw
nTr pt xns Hrt
irt.f wnmt m hrw
irt.f iAbtt m grH
sHD.f rmT Hr wAt nbt

Haw.f nww mw tpyw
itrw im.f
qmA ms
Sdi xprw nb
TAw.f pw m fnd nbt
SAa.f n.f Hna sp sw nb
Hmt.f AHt Stpyt
wAH mtw.f im.s
sm nb bnrt
xpr m msw.f

xpr tp Hrd
ms nTrw m hrw tpy
Hrw.sn r.f
m hrw nb r swt nbt
Hr pw Hr rmT nTrw
mAA aA pw n tA

Source Colophon

The Egyptian source text is transliterated from Papyrus Leiden I 350, held in the Rijksmuseum van Oudheden, Leiden, the Netherlands (Inventory AMS 75). The hieratic papyrus dates to the fifty-second regnal year of Ramesses II (c. 1227 BCE). The transliteration follows the critical edition of Jan Zandee, De Hymnen aan Amon van Papyrus Leiden I 350 (Leiden: Brill, 1947), cross-referenced with A. H. Gardiner, "Hymns to Amon from a Leiden Papyrus," Zeitschrift fuer Aegyptische Sprache und Altertumskunde 42 (1905): 12-42. Standard Egyptological transliteration conventions are used throughout.

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