Spell 17 — I am Yesterday, I know Tomorrow
R.O. Faulkner / E.A. Wallis Budge (composite, abridged) · Public domain / scholarly composite. Reproduced for educational and religious commentary.
1Here begin the praises and recitations for going up and going down in the Duat, in the beautiful West, for being a powerful one in the realm of the dead.
2I am Atum when I was alone in the Nun. I am Ra at his rising, in the beginning when he ruled what he had made.
3Who is he? Ra — when he rose for the first time, in Heracleopolis, crowned as a king. The pillars of Shu had not yet come into being. He was upon the high ground of him who is in Hermopolis.
4I am the great god, the self-created, who came into being of himself. He is Ra; he is the water; he is Hapy, the father of the gods.
5I am Yesterday; I know Tomorrow. Who is he? Yesterday is Osiris; Tomorrow is Ra — the day on which the enemies of the lord of the All are destroyed, and his son Horus is made ruler.
6I am the phoenix in Heliopolis. Who is he? He is Osiris. Who has been bound at the side of his father — that is, his ka. Who has been reared in his father's house — that is, his soul.
7I have brought ointments. I am pure. The wrappings about me are clean. My linen is washed in nun-water and steeped in the salt of the south.
8I am the lord of crowns. I am the cat at the side of the persea-tree in Heliopolis on the night of the slaughter of the rebels — the cat which slew Apep. Who is the cat? It is Ra himself.
9Make my way for me. Open up to me. I am one who has gone forth in the day, having become a soul, possessing power, being mighty in the use of his mouth.
10Behold — I shall not perish. The land shall not be destroyed. I am a soul that goes forth; I am a soul that comes in. I am the lord of speech. I am the lord of names. I am the lord of going forth by day.