The seventh gate. The name of the doorkeeper is: he who takes possession of their knives. The name of its warder is: he with a high voice. The name of the herald: he who drives back the enemies.
Said by N when he approaches the seventh gate.
I have come to thee, Osiris,([7]) pure are thine effluxes. Thou goest round and thou seest the sky with Rā. Thou seest mankind, thou the only one. Thou addressest Rā in the Sektit boat of the sky, when he goes round the horizon. I say what I wish, my mummy is mighty. What I say takes place like what he says. I shall not be driven back from thee. I have made my way.
Said near the seven gates.([8]) When the deceased arrives at the pylons, he is not driven back, nor repulsed from Osiris. It is given him to be among the glorious ones, the most excellent of them, so that he may have dominion over the first followers of Osiris.
Every deceased to whom this chapter is read is like the lord of eternity, he is of one substance with Osiris, and in no place has he to encounter a great fight.
Notes.
Chapter 147 is very like 144, in fact, it is the same more developed. It refers also to the seven gates; and whenever the deceased approaches one of the gates, he has to say the name of the doorkeeper, which, as we saw before, is that of the gate itself; and also the name of the warder and that of the herald. Besides the deceased has to address the gate, probably in order to open it so that he may pass through. The words he utters are found in chapters 117, 119 and 136B. The two first have nearly the same title, the arrival at Restau, near Abydos. If, as is most probable, the various parts of the Book of the Dead did not originate in the same place, we may safely assert that these chapters, as well as those of the gates and the pylons, come from Abydos.
On the whole the Papyrus of Ani is more complete for chapter 147 than the Leyden text Lc which is published in my edition. Therefore this chapter has been translated from Ani, using Lc whenever Ani is too corrupt.
[1.] Chapter 119, vide p. 206, “Chapter whereby one entereth and goeth forth from Restau.”
[2.] I should translate: which give to Restau its name. This is an instance of those wonderful etymologies often met with in religious texts. From the word