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.
One per day
Usekh-nemmet — Anu (Heliopolis) — "I have not done iniquity."
Check — where did I do a quiet wrong I didn't have to do?
Hept-shet — Kher-aha — "I have not committed robbery."
Check — what did I take today that no one offered?
Fenti — Khemenu (Hermopolis) — "I have not stolen with violence."
Check — where did I muscle in and call it effort?
Am-khaibitu — Qerrt — "I have not committed theft."
Check — what did I take that no one named as taken?
Neha-hau — Re-stau — "I have not killed men."
Check — whose life did I dull today, by words or by silence?
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?
Merti-f-em-tes — Sekhem-bHut (Letopolis) — "I have not acted deceitfully."
Check — what did I show them that wasn't there?
Neba — Khetkhet — "I have not robbed the property of the god."
Check — what sacred thing did I spend on a small thing?
Set-qesu — Suten-henen (Herakleopolis) — "I have not uttered falsehood."
Check — what did I say I didn't know, that I did?
Uatch-Nesert — Hut-ka-Ptah (Memphis) — "I have not stolen food."
Check — where did I eat first, before others had enough?
Qerti — Ament — "I have not cursed."
Check — what did I silently wish on someone I mean well?
Hetch-abehu — Ta-she (Fayyum) — "I have not attacked any man."
Check — who did I push today without touching them?
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?
Am-besek — Mabit — "I have not used deceit (?)"
Check — where did I let a trick stand in for a truth?
Neb-Maat — Maati — "I have not stolen grain (?)"
Check — what harvest did I count as mine while it was still growing?
Thenemi — Bast (Bubastis) — "I have not acted the part of the spy."
Check — where did I watch instead of participate?
Aati — Anu — "I have not slandered."
Check — what did I say about someone that wasn't in front of them?
Tutu-f — Ati — "I have not been angry without cause."
Check — what did my anger actually want today?
Uamemti — the House of the Block — "I have not lain with another man's wife."
Check — whose loyalty did I borrow today?
Maa-anuf — Per-Menu — "I have not abused myself (?)"
Check — what did I do to myself I wouldn't do to someone I love?
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?
Khemi — Ahaui — "I have attacked no man."
Check — where did I hit first to see what would break?
Shet-kheru — Urit — "I have not been a man of wrath."
Check — what did I let burn that I should have put down?
Nekhen — Heq-at — "I have not been deaf to the words of truth."
Check — what true thing did I hear today and refuse?
Ser-Kheru — Unes — "I have not stirred up strife."
Check — where did I poke a fire that was already out?
Basti — Shetait — "I have made no one to weep."
Check — whose tears did I cause today, even if they dried them?
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?
Ta-ret — the night — "I have not eaten my heart."
Check — what did I swallow today that I should have said out loud?
Kenemti — Kenmet — "I have not cursed any man."
Check — what blessing did I spend as a curse?
An-hetep-f — Sau — "I have not done deeds of violence."
Check — where did I force what was ready to be asked?
Neb-heru — Tchefet — "I have not acted hastily."
Check — what did I do today that needed three days and got three minutes?
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?
Neb-abui — Sauti — "I have not made loud my voice in speaking."
Check — where did I raise my voice to win the room?
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?
Tem-sep — Tetu — "I have not cursed the king."
Check — what did I grumble at that was only carrying?
Ari-em-ab-f — Tebti — "I have not fouled water."
Check — whose source did I drink from and leave dirty?
Ahi — Nu — "I have not made my voice loud."
Check — where did I speak over what was speaking?
Utu-rekhit — the house — "I have not cursed the god."
Check — what did I treat as owed that I should have thanked for?
Neheb-nefert — "I have not acted insolently."
Check — where did I let rank stand in for respect?
Neheb-kau — the city — "I have not worked for honours (?)"
Check — what did I do today for the room, not the work?
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?
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.
Thank you, and I love you.
Enter The Academy →