The Pyramid Texts were funerary inscriptions that were written on the walls of the early Ancient Egyptian pyramids at Sakkara. These date back to the fifth and sixth dynasties, approximately the years 2350-2175 B.C.E. However, because of extensive internal evidence, it is believed that they were composed much earlier, circa 3000 B.C.E. The Pyramid Texts are, therefore, essentially the oldest sacred texts known.

Samuel Mercer was the first to produce a complete English translation of this mysterious text, in 1952. This was also the first complete translation in any language. The Mercer translation was followed by the R.O. Faulkner translation in 1969, which is considered the standard today.

Utterances (272-274)

392a. To say: O Lofty-one, which is not sharpened, thou Door of Nun,

392b. N. comes to thee. Cause this (door) to be opened for him.

392c. N., he is small,

392d. (yet) N. is chief of the Followers of Rē‘; he is not chief of the evil gods (demons).

393a. To say: The sky is overcast, the stars are darkened,

393b. the bows are agitated, the bones of the earth-gods quake.

393c. The agitations cease

394a. after they have seen N. dawning (as) a ba,

394b. as a god, who lives on his fathers and feeds on his mothers.

394c. N. is lord of craftiness, whose name his mother knows not.

395a. The honour of N. is in heaven, his might is in the horizon,

395b. like his father, Atum, who begat him. He has begotten him mightier than he.

396a. The kas of N. are behind him, his maid-servants are under his feet,

396b. his gods are over him, his uraeus-serpents are upon his brow;

396c. the leader-serpent of N. is on his forehead, she who perceives the soul (of the enemy), (as) a diadem, a flame of fire;

396d. the might of N. is for his protection.

397a. N. is the bull of heaven, who (once) suffered want and decided (lit. gave in his heart) to live on the being of every god,

397b. who ate their entrails (?) when it came (to pass) that their belly was full of magic 397c. from the Isle of Flame.

398a. N. is equipped, he who has incorporated his spirits.

398b. N. dawns as the Great One, lord of those with (ready) hands.

398c. He sits, his side towards Geb (the earth).

399a. It is N. who judges with him whose name is hidden,

399b. (on) this day of slaying the eldest (gods).

399c. N. is lord of offerings, who knots the cord,

399d. who himself prepares his meal.

400a. N. is he who eats men and lives on gods,

400b. lords of messengers, who distributes orders.

401a. It is "Grasper-of-the-top-knot" who is in kḥȝ.w who lassoes them for N.

401b. It is "The serpent with raised head (dśr-tp)" who watches them (the gods) for N., who repels them for him.

401c. It is "He who is upon the willows" who binds them for N.

402a. It is "Khonsu who slaughters the lords (gods)," in that he beheads them for N.,

402b. and takes out for him what is in their body.

402c. He (Khonsu?) is the messenger whom he (N.) sends forth to punish.

403a. It is Šsm.w who cuts them up for N.,

403b. cooking for him a meal of them in his evening cooking-pots.

403c. It is N. who eats their magic and swallows their spirits;

404a. their Great Ones are for his morning meal,

404b. their middle-sized ones are for his evening meal,

404c. their little ones are for his night meal,

404d. their old men and old women are for his incense-burning (or, fire).

405a. It is "The Great Ones in the north side of heaven" who lay for him the fire

405b. to the kettles containing them, with the thighs of their eldest (as fuel).

406a. The inhabitants of heaven wait on N.,

406b. when the hearth was constructed for him with (out of) the legs of their women.

406c. He has completely encircled the two heavens; he has revolved about the two lands.

407a. N. is the great mighty one, who has power over the mighty ones.

407b. N. is the ‘hm-falcon, who surpasses the ‘hm-falcons--the great falcon.

407c. Whom he finds on his way, he eats for himself bit by bit.

407d. The respect of N. is before (first of) all noble ones, who are in the horizon.

408a. N. is a god older than the eldest.

408b. Thousands serve him; hundreds make offering to him.

408c. A certificate as (of) a mighty, great one is given to him by Śȝḥ, father of the gods.

409a. N. has dawned again in heaven; he is crowned with the Upper Egyptian crown as lord of the horizon.

409b. He has smashed the dorsal vertebra;

409c. he has carried off the hearts of the gods;

410a. he has eaten the red crown, he has swallowed the green one;

410b. N. feeds on the lungs of the wise ones;

410c. he is satisfied by living on hearts as well as their magic.

411a. N. is disgusted when he licks the emetics which are in the red crown,

411b. (but) he is delighted when their magic is in his belly.

411'c. The dignities of N. shall not be taken from him,

411d. (for) he has swallowed the intelligence of every god.

412a. The lifetime of N. is eternity, its limit is everlastingness

412b. in this his dignity of "If he wishes he does, if he wishes not he does not,"

412c. who is within the boundary of the horizon for ever and ever.

413a. Behold, their soul (of the gods) is in the belly of N., their spirits are with N.,

413b. as his soup à la ntr.w, cooked for N. from their bones,

413c. Behold, their soul is, with N., their shadows are taken away from the hand of those to whom they belong.

414a. N. is as that which dawns, which dawns, which endures, which endures.

414b. The doers of evil shall not be able to destroy

414c. the favourite place of N. among the living in this land for ever and ever.