Egyptian Hymns to the Creator

Egyptian Hymns to the Creator

[Hymns to the sun and the creator, chief among them the Great Hymn to the Aten; a representative rendering.]

You rise in beauty on the horizon of heaven,

O living disk, the beginning of life.

When you dawn in the east,

you fill every land with your beauty.

You are fair, great, and gleaming, high above the earth;

your rays embrace the lands to the limit of all you have made.

When you set in the western horizon, the earth lies in darkness as in death; men sleep in their chambers, their heads covered, and no eye sees its fellow; their goods could be taken from under their heads, and they would not know. Every lion comes out of its den, and the serpents bite; darkness reigns, and the land is silent, for their maker rests in the horizon.

At dawn you rise on the horizon and shine as the disk by day; you drive away the darkness and give your rays, and the Two Lands awake in festival. Men rise and stand on their feet, for you have raised them; they wash and take their garments, and their arms are lifted in praise at your rising. The whole land does its work.

How manifold are your works,

hidden from the face of mankind!

O sole god, beside whom there is no other,

you made the earth as you wished, you alone:

all peoples, herds, and flocks,

all that is upon the earth and goes on its feet,

all that is on high and flies with its wings.

You set every man in his place and supply his needs;

each has his food, and his days are numbered.

You are in my heart,

and none other knows you

but your son, whom you have taught your ways.