The Last 7 Confessions 36-42

Confession 36. O Ihy who came forth from the Primordial Waters, my voice was not loud.

The primordial waters refer to both Nun and the beginning of creation. Ihy is the god of jubilation and the happiness that emanates from the sound of a sacred rattle. I have not made my voice loud refers to raising one's voice when it is not required to be heard, such as yelling during an argument that shows a loss of control.

Confession 37. O Sistrum Bearer coming forth from Nun, I have not made haughty my voice.

The Sistrum Bearer is either Bast, Sekhmet or Hathor. All three goddesses are associated with the sistrum though the instrument is most often named sacred to Bast. Coming forth from Nun means that the goddess came forth from creation without a creator. All three of these goddess have myths with references to this as well but here Hathor is most often the one without a creator. I have not made my voice haughty, I have not boasted or made myself important only through my words. Arrogance is another way some have taken this confession.

Confession 38. O He-Who-Prospers-the-Common-People who came forth from Asyut, I have not cursed a god.
Asyut is Lycopolis in Upper Egypt. This city is sacred to Anubis and Wepwawet. He-Who-Prospers-the-Common-People might refer to Anubis because he brings prosperity, eternal life, to the common people. It is also possible that this could be another funerary god. Cursing a god not only means direct words but also defaming or going against that which the god holds sacred. 

39. O Uniter of Good who came forth from the Cavern, I have not harmed the rations or place of the gods.
The cavern refers to coming from the Duat. Uniter of Good in this refers to Khepera and his place as Ra who united creation, gods and man in the service of Ma'at. This confession is talking about not destroying the offerings or sacred places of the gods.

Min, god of fertility and travel

40.O Upraised of Head who came forth from the Shrine, I have not stolen the Khenef-cakes from the Blessed.
Upraised of Head is likely the god Min given the image used to show the "person" this title is directed toward. Also, the word for shrine in this text is related to the image of the water which is a common location for the shrines of Min.
Khenef cakes are a traditional offering cake that are sweet. These were left for gods, the dead and other beings as a form of thanks or celebration.

41. O He-Who-Brings-His-Portion who came forth from the Hall of Two Truths, I have not stolen the Hefn-cakes of a youth, nor have I sinned against the god of my town.
The Hall of Two Truths is the hall of Ma'at where judgement takes place. He Who Brings His Portion is Thoth who brings many things to the hall including records and the knowledge of what Hathor, Khnum or Anubis has whispered to the soul at the beginning of life. Hefn-cakes are a treat made for children so this means, more or less, to not neglect children or deny them the same you would have for yourself. Sinning against the town god in modern terms would be the equivalent of sinning against your patron deity. Sin is a convenient word here that is used for understanding of the Western reader. The true interpretation would be closer to not acting against the ideals, realms or sacred powers of that deity.


42. O He-Who-Brightened-the-Land who came forth from the Faiyum, I have not slain sacred cattle
He who comes forth from the Faiyum is usually Sobek. With the crocodile seen as the slayer often enough, it would make sense that you would declare to the crocodile god you have not slain. This goes beyond the direct meaning of killing a sacred cow. It also means neglecting a sacred animal or any other action which would harm it unnecessarily.

Confessions 26-30

Confession 26. O Youth who came forth from the Double Scepter Nome, I have not been neglectful of truthful words.

Egyptian Elephantnose fish believed to be the sacred Oxyrhyncus

The Nome of the Double Scepter is the West Bank area around Oxyrhynchus (Per-Medjed in Egyptian). This is not too far south of the Faiyum. This area is sacred to Osiris as it was here that the Oxyrhynchus fish was discovered that had swallowed his penis. The youth could refer to Horus the child. However, Oxyrhynchus is also known for having a temple with many dog mummies which could suggest Anubis as he is also the son of Osiris. While the god may be confusing the confession is not. I have not neglected the truth. This means telling the truth, promoting the truth, seeking the truth and so on. It can also mean remaining ignorant or ignoring teachings, being uneducated, since the Egyptians saw education (provided the teacher was in Ma'at) as a form of truth.

Artifact of the Oxyrhynchus

Confession 27. O Dark One who came forth from the Darkness, I have not caused grief.
The dark one who came forth from the darkness is Nun. He is named with this title in more than one text. Grief has a broad meaning that encompasses distress, sorrow or mental suffering from loss. Basically, it is saying that the person confessing hasn't purposefully caused mental suffering of others. 

Confession 28. O He-Who-Brings-His-Offering who comes forth from Asyut, I have not been violent.
Asyut is Lycopolis in Upper Egypt. A city sacred to Anubis and Wepwawet. He who brings his offerings likely Wepwawet as he is an overseer of funerary offerings among other things. The confession... pretty straightforward, I'm not violent. However, it is important to realize that culturally Ancient Egyptians did not consider self defense or defense of one's home, land or country to be violence.

Confession 29. O Proclaimer of Voice who came forth from Wenis, I have not confounded truth.
Wenis is another name for Unas the deified pharaoh.However, it might mean Saqqara where he is buried as well. If it is Saqqara that is meant then the Proclaimer of Voice is probably one of the death deities. Most likely of them is Sobek who returns the voice of the deceased in the Duat. I have not confounded the truth is a statement of not masking, obscuring or otherwise twisting the truth. This confession is all about claiming to be "a straight shooter" to use an American turn of phrase.

Confession 30.O Possessor of Faces who came forth from Nedjefet, I have not been impatient.
Nedjefet is the nome of Egypt that contains Akhetaten's capitol Amarna.Since historical texts state that Amarna was built on a site where no other cities had been the god referenced must be either Aten or Thoth as they were the only gods sacred to this city. Possessor of Faces could relate Thoth's association with the moon. I have not been impatient means both the act defined by the word but also judging hastily or without information.

Confessions 6-10

Confession 6: O Double Lion who came forth from the Sky, I have not reduced the measure.
Reducing the measure refers to ancient trade where things were weighed on scales. This in essences means you have not cheated people in your dealings with them as a seller or a person rendering a service. You have not reduced the measure of what they receive for what they have given. It might also be interpreted as not being greedy but in some versions of the Negative Confessions there is another confession specifically about greed. The Double Lion of the Sky is Aker the double headed lion Tuau and Sef; yesterday(West) and today(East), who guard the mountain pass to the Eastern and Western horizons.

Confession 7: O He-Whose-eyes-are-in-Flames who came forth from Asyut, I have not stolen god's property.
This confession also has two ways to read it. First is the straightforward idea of stealing from a temple. Though, due to how Egyptian society was structured "god's" could be read as "pharaoh's" property. If this is the way we choose to read it then it means not stealing from the government. Asyut is the Egyptian name for what the Greeks called Lycopolis. This is the city sacred to Anubis and Wepwawet, gods of death and dying as well as healing and medicine. There is some awesome mythology about wolves repelling invasions in this area and Osiris coming from the dead in the form of a "wolf shade". I have assumed that this refers to Anubis or Wepwawet. Both these deities are spoken of in reference to wolves with glowing eyes. However, I have not seen any direct evidence that He Whose Eyes are in Flame is one of these gods, merely my suspicions.

Confession 8:O Burning One who came forth backwards, I have not told lies.
An obvious confession. I have not been deceitful or lied. These are the laws of the goddess of truth, it is the one that should be expected. However, I have no idea who "Burning One" is yet. I am still researching it.

Confession 9: O Breaker of Bones who came forth from Heracleopolis, I have not stolen food.
Egypt had a sort of socialist distribution of food so stealing meant someone else would go hungry or have less to eat. I have seen this believed in many ways. Some practitioners associate it with actually stealing others see it as working the system... so something like using food stamps or food banks when you don't truly need it. Still others see it as not being wasteful with food. I think any of these would work for the idea being put forth.  Heracleopolis was known as Hwt-nen-nesu (approximately: Hewet-nen-nye-soo), the house of the royal children. Given the title "Breaker of Bones" and the association with the royal children I have always associated this assessor with one of two goddesses: Sekhmet who is sometimes a protector of the royal children or Tuaret who is associated with protecting all children. Both goddesses are known for being aggressive defenders.

Confession 10: O Ordered of Flame who came forth from Memphis, I have not sullen.
 Sullen in this case can be defined as one of three things: dismal, lacking hope or lazy. All of these can be seen as letting circumstances depress you into inaction. Action and taking action is seen as following the path of honesty and truth. Ordered of Flame is likely a reference to Ptah. He is god of craftsman and crafting and Memphis was his sacred city. Ordered of Flame to me has always brought about the ideas of fire being used in most of the crafts he is associated with including pottery, metal working and creating building materials. It could also be a reference to his wife Sekhmet but it seems that confession 9 may refer to her. It is unlikely that 2 confessions are given to one god.

Beginning of the road.....

All journeys have a start and this one does too. The start is...... What does "Ancient Egyptian" mean? How do we delineate this term from Egypt in general, modern or in the past.

The short answer is time. As far as time is concerned Ancient Egypt ends at 30 BC with the defeat of Cleopatra and Marc Anthony. (That is a story for another day I am sure) Those dates are etched into the writing of Greco-Roman scholars. We know them as fact. Where it started is a completely different concern altogether. The beginning can be as early as 8,000 BC  up until approximately 5,500 BC. The debate over these dates has been going on for some time. Do we start when the images of the gods first appear or do we wait until there is a tribe with some Egyptian qualities living along the Nile River? The earliest examples of what is claimed to be an image of Anubis and another of the Apis bull and perhaps even Sekhmet are to be found on the rocks near where the Tashwinat Mummy was found in Libya.

The one thing we can be sure of is by the time the Naqada culture came around in 4,000 BC there were people we would recognize as Egyptians along the Nile. These people even had hieroglyphs, a full set of them. This also brings us to a very important word that is km.t (pronounced by most Kemet). This is the Egyptian word for themselves. No longer can we debate on which people were Egyptian and which were not. Those historical people, long ago, are kind enough to give us a slap in the head to recognize them as a contiguous group.

So, we call km.t Egypt but what did it mean to the people who wrote these texts thousands of years ago? km is the word for black and it is theorized that km.t means black soil or refers to black soil and the fertile areas of delta and bank along the Nile River. How ever we translate it by 3,100 BC we have a pharaoh ruling Egypt from Memphis, religion in place, writing and no way to deny that these people are Egyptians as our modern minds would define them.

In short, this is the brief definition of when Ancient Egypt begins and ends.