The Judgment Hall — Spell 125

The Forty-Two.

In the judgment hall, the deceased stood and spoke against the standard — forty-two times, before forty-two gods, one for each nome of Egypt. This is the audit the Portal runs: one confession a day, for forty-two days. Say it. Then check it against the day.

Documented RecordThe number is not a cipher. It is the map of the country made sacred — the 42 nomes, Upper and Lower Egypt, each with its own god, each hearing its own confession. Budge's translation, public domain, in the order the text gives them.

The Audit — 42 Days, 42 Confessions

One per day

01

Usekh-nemmet — Anu (Heliopolis) — "I have not done iniquity."
Check — where did I do a quiet wrong I didn't have to do?

02

Hept-shet — Kher-aha — "I have not committed robbery."
Check — what did I take today that no one offered?

03

Fenti — Khemenu (Hermopolis) — "I have not stolen with violence."
Check — where did I muscle in and call it effort?

04

Am-khaibitu — Qerrt — "I have not committed theft."
Check — what did I take that no one named as taken?

05

Neha-hau — Re-stau — "I have not killed men."
Check — whose life did I dull today, by words or by silence?

06

The Lion and Lioness God — of heaven — "I have not made light the bushel of corn."
Check — where did I shrink someone's portion, or their work?

07

Merti-f-em-tes — Sekhem-bHut (Letopolis) — "I have not acted deceitfully."
Check — what did I show them that wasn't there?

08

Neba — Khetkhet — "I have not robbed the property of the god."
Check — what sacred thing did I spend on a small thing?

09

Set-qesu — Suten-henen (Herakleopolis) — "I have not uttered falsehood."
Check — what did I say I didn't know, that I did?

10

Uatch-Nesert — Hut-ka-Ptah (Memphis) — "I have not stolen food."
Check — where did I eat first, before others had enough?

11

Qerti — Ament — "I have not cursed."
Check — what did I silently wish on someone I mean well?

12

Hetch-abehu — Ta-she (Fayyum) — "I have not attacked any man."
Check — who did I push today without touching them?

13

Am-senf — the slaughterhouse — "I have not slain the cattle of the god."
Check — what living thing did I spend that should have stayed alive?

14

Am-besek — Mabit — "I have not used deceit (?)"
Check — where did I let a trick stand in for a truth?

15

Neb-Maat — Maati — "I have not stolen grain (?)"
Check — what harvest did I count as mine while it was still growing?

16

Thenemi — Bast (Bubastis) — "I have not acted the part of the spy."
Check — where did I watch instead of participate?

17

Aati — Anu — "I have not slandered."
Check — what did I say about someone that wasn't in front of them?

18

Tutu-f — Ati — "I have not been angry without cause."
Check — what did my anger actually want today?

19

Uamemti — the House of the Block — "I have not lain with another man's wife."
Check — whose loyalty did I borrow today?

20

Maa-anuf — Per-Menu — "I have not abused myself (?)"
Check — what did I do to myself I wouldn't do to someone I love?

21

Heri-seru — Nehatu — "I have made no man to be afraid."
Check — who left a room of mine today more afraid than they came in?

22

Khemi — Ahaui — "I have attacked no man."
Check — where did I hit first to see what would break?

23

Shet-kheru — Urit — "I have not been a man of wrath."
Check — what did I let burn that I should have put down?

24

Nekhen — Heq-at — "I have not been deaf to the words of truth."
Check — what true thing did I hear today and refuse?

25

Ser-Kheru — Unes — "I have not stirred up strife."
Check — where did I poke a fire that was already out?

26

Basti — Shetait — "I have made no one to weep."
Check — whose tears did I cause today, even if they dried them?

27

Her-f-ha-f — the place of sailing — "I have neither acted impurely, nor lain with men."
Check — where did I blur a line I said was a line?

28

Ta-ret — the night — "I have not eaten my heart."
Check — what did I swallow today that I should have said out loud?

29

Kenemti — Kenmet — "I have not cursed any man."
Check — what blessing did I spend as a curse?

30

An-hetep-f — Sau — "I have not done deeds of violence."
Check — where did I force what was ready to be asked?

31

Neb-heru — Tchefet — "I have not acted hastily."
Check — what did I do today that needed three days and got three minutes?

32

Serekhi — Unth — "I have not defiled my skin, I have not defiled the god." Inferred
Check — where did I let the outside make me dirty?

33

Neb-abui — Sauti — "I have not made loud my voice in speaking."
Check — where did I raise my voice to win the room?

34

Nefer-Tem — Hut-ka-Ptah (Memphis) — "I have not acted deceitfully, I have not acted wickedly."
Check — what did I do today I'd be glad to have filmed?

35

Tem-sep — Tetu — "I have not cursed the king."
Check — what did I grumble at that was only carrying?

36

Ari-em-ab-f — Tebti — "I have not fouled water."
Check — whose source did I drink from and leave dirty?

37

Ahi — Nu — "I have not made my voice loud."
Check — where did I speak over what was speaking?

38

Utu-rekhit — the house — "I have not cursed the god."
Check — what did I treat as owed that I should have thanked for?

39

Neheb-nefert"I have not acted insolently."
Check — where did I let rank stand in for respect?

40

Neheb-kau — the city — "I have not worked for honours (?)"
Check — what did I do today for the room, not the work?

41

Tcheser-tep — the cavern — "I have not increased my possessions except through my own goods."
Check — what did I add to myself today that didn't come through my own work?

42

An-a-f — Auker — "I have not treated with contempt the god of my city."
Check — whose home did I treat as smaller than mine?

Text. E. A. Wallis Budge, Osiris and the Egyptian Resurrection (1912), vol. 1, "Osiris as Judge of the Dead," pp. 338–342 — public-domain digitized copy. Where Budge's own copy is uncertain, his "(?)" is kept. No. 32 is partly illegible in the digitized copy; the wording is restored from the parallel confession — labeled inferred. The list is given in the order the text gives it, with each confession's nome god.

Running the 42 days

Day 1 is No. 1. One confession a day — say it in the morning, answer its check against the day, and at night close it honestly. The audit is not a list to memorize. It is a question, asked forty-two times, to forty-two parts of a country you now carry inside you.

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