When the dead person appeared before
Osiris’s
tribunal, he exculpated himself before the judges with a confession called
“denial” because it was performed denying the fact of having committed
injustices or evil actions (generally religious or ritual).
This
confession was given in two periods: first the dead person directed
himself to the whole tribunal, then to the 42 divinities who helped
Osiris.
After greeting the latter: “Great God, God of truth and justice,
Almighty God”, of whom he declared he knew the magic name, as the one of
his helpers, the dead person began his confession:“I have not been violent against my parents. I have not committed crimes.
I have not exploited others. I have not been unjust. I have not plotted
conspiracies. I have not been blasphemous”.
The dead person talked to each one of the forty-two judges, generally the
spirits of cities or of other earthly places:
“Oh you, Spirit who appears in Eliopoli and goes ahead in great steps. I
have not been perverse….Oh you, Spirit of Letopolis, of the glance that
seems knives, I have not deceived… Oh, you Spirit of Amenti, god of the
double spring of the Nile, I have not slandered ….
The confession presented in itself, considering the sins that the soul
denied, a high moral character, but, actually, it was sufficient to know
how to repeat it by heart or to read it after writing it on the tomb, to
be sure to receive the absolution even if all the sins mentioned during
the confession had been committed:
I have not said the false
I have not committed raids
I have not stolen
I have not killed men
I have not committed disloyalties
I have not taken away offers from the god
I have not told lies
I have not stolen food
I have not dishonored my reputation
I have not committed transgressions
I have not killed sacred bulls
I have not committed perjury
I have not stolen bread
I have not eavesdropped
I have not spoken bad about others
I have not fought but for right things
I have not committed homosexual acts
I have not had reprehensible behavior
I have not frightened anybody
I have not given way to anger
I have not been deaf to the words of truth
I have not given disturb
I have not made deceits
I have not had a bad behavior
I have not been joined (to a boy)
I have not been negligent
I have not been quarrelsome
I have not been exaggerative active
I have not been impatient
I have not committed affronts against a god’s image
I have not missed my word
I have not committed evil things
I have not had visions of demons
I have not plotted against the king
I have not advanced with difficulty in the water
I have not raised my voice
I have not had privileges for my advantage
I am not rich except for what belongs to me
I have not cursed the name of the god of the city.
Among the living, a confession of the same kind is known, which was
pronounced by the priest after the opening of the naos, in the morning,
during the daily cult, in the hour used for the worship of the god.
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