(From the Papyrus of Nu, Sheet 18)

THE CHAPTER OF NOT LETTING THE BODY PERISH.

The Osiris Nu saith:- Homage to thee, O my divine father Osiris! I come to embalm thee. Do thou embalm these my members, for I would not perish and come to an end [but would be] even like unto my divine father Khepera, the divine type of him that never saw corruption. Come then, strengthen my breath, O Lord of the winds, who dost magnify these divine beings who are like unto thyself. Stablish me, stablish me, and fashion me strongly, O Lord of the funeral chest. Grant thou that I may enter into the land of everlastingness, according to that which was done for thee, along with thy father Tem, whose body never saw corruption, and who himself never saw corruption. I have never done that which thou hatest, nay, I have acclaimed thee among those who love thy KA. Let not my body become worms, but deliver thou me as thou didst deliver thyself. I pray thee, let me not fall into rottenness, as thou lettest every god, and every goddess, and every animal, and every reptile, see corruption, when the soul hath gone out of them, after their death.

And when the soul hath departed, a man seeth corruption, and the bones of his body crumble away and become stinking things, and the members decay one after the other, the bones crumble into a helpless mass, and the flesh turneth into foetid liquid. Thus man becometh a brother unto the decay which cometh upon him, and he turneth into a myriad of worms, and he becometh nothing but worms, and an end is made of him, and perisheth in the sight of the god of day (Shu), even as do every god, and every goddess, and every bird, and every fish, and every creeping worm, and every reptile, and every beast, and every thing whatsoever. Let [all the Spirits fall] on their bellies [when] they recognize me, and behold, the fear of me shall terrify them; and thus also let it be with every being that hath died, whether it be animal, or bird, or fish, or worm, or reptile. Let life [rise out of] death. Let not the decay caused by any reptile make an end [of me], and let not [enemies] come against me in their various forms. Give thou me not over to the Slaughterer in this execution-chamber, who killeth the members, and maketh them rot, being [himself] invisible, and who destroyeth the bodies of the dead, and liveth by carnage. Let me live, and perform his order; I will do what is commanded by him. Give me not over to his fingers, let him not overcome me, for I am under thy command, O Lord of the Gods.

Homage to thee, O my divine father Osiris, thou livest with thy members. Thou didst not decay, thou didst not become worms, thou didst not wither, thou didst not rot, thou didst not putrefy, thou didst not turn into worms. I am the god Khepera, and my members shall have being everlastingly. I shall not decay, I shall not rot, I shall not putrefy, I shall not turn into worms, and I shall not see corruption before the eye of the god Shu. I shall have my being, I shall have by being; I shall live, I shall live; I shall flourish, I shall flourish, I shall flourish, I shall wake up in peace, I shall not putrefy, my intestines shall not perish, I shall not suffer injury. My eye shall not decay. The form of my face shall not disappear. My ear shall not become deaf. My head shall not be separated from my neck. My tongue shall not be removed. My hair shall not be cut off. My eyebrows shall not be shaved away, and no evil defect shall assail me. My body shall be stablished. It shall neither become a ruin, nor be destroyed on this earth.