“Great Hymn to the Aten”

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The fanbearer at the right hand of the king, the commander of all the horse of his Person, the confidant throughout the entire land, the favorite of the Good God, the God’s Father Ay, and his wife, The favorite of the Good God, the great nurse of the King’s Chief Wife NEFERNEFRUATEN-NEFERTITI—may she live forever continually—the king’s ornament, Tiyi.

Adoration of HOR-ATEN, [living] forever [continually—Great living Aten]who is in jubilee, Lord of all that Aten encircles, Lord of Heaven, Lord of Earth, Lord of the House of Aten in Akhet-Aten; and the King of Upper and Lower Egypt, who lives on Maat, the Lord of the Two Lands, NEFERKHEP-RURE-WAENRE, the Son of Re who lives on Maat, Lord of Crowns, AKHENATEN, long [in his lifetime]; and the King’s Chief Wife, his beloved, the Lady of the Two Lands, NEFERNEFRUATEN-NEFERTITI, may she live, be healthy and youthful everlastingly forever. He says:

“Beautifully you appear from the horizon of heaven, O living Aten who initiates life—

For you are risen from the eastern horizon and have filled every land with your beauty;

For you are fair, great, dazzling and high over every land,

And your rays enclose the lands to the limit of all you have made;

For you are Re, having reached their limit and subdued them your beloved son;

For although you are far away, your rays are upon the earth and you are perceived.”

“When your movements vanish and you set in the western horizon,

The land is in darkness, in the manner of death.

(People), they lie in bedchambers, heads covered up, and one eye does not see its fellow.

All their property might be robbed, although it is under their heads, and they do not realize it.

Every lion is out of its den, all creeping things bite.

Darkness gathers, the land is silent.

The one who made them is set in his horizon.”

“(But) the land grows bright when you are risen from the horizon,

Shining in the orb (= Aten) in the daytime, you push back the darkness and give forth your rays.

The Two Lands are in a festival of light—

Awake and standing on legs, for you have lifted them up:

Their limbs are cleansed and wearing clothes,

Their arms are in adoration at your appearing.

The whole land, they do their work:

All flocks are content with their pasturage,

Trees and grasses flourish.

Birds are flown from their nests, their wings adoring your Ka;

All small cattle prance upon their legs.

All that fly up and alight, they live when you rise for them.

Ships go downstream, and upstream as well, every road being open at your appearance.

Fish upon the river leap up in front of you, and your rays are (even) inside the Great Green (sea).”

“(O you) who brings into being foetuses in women,

Who makes fluid in people,

Who gives life to the son in his mother’s womb, and calms him by stopping his tears;

Nurse in the womb, who gives breath to animate all he makes

When it descends from the womb to breathe on the day it is born—

You open his mouth completely and make what he needs.

When the chick is in the egg, speaking in the shell,

You give him breath within it to cause him to live;

And when you have made his appointed time for him, so that he may break himself out of the egg,

He comes out of the egg to speak at his appointed time and goes on his two legs when he comes out of it.”

“How manifold it is, what you have made, although mysterious in the face (of humanity),

O sole god, without another beside him!

You create the earth according to your wish, being alone—

People, all large and small animals,

All things which are on earth, which go on legs, which rise up and fly by means of their wings,

The foreign countries of Kharu and Kush, (and) the land of Egypt.

You set every man in his place, you make their requirements, each one having his food and the

reckoning of his lifetime. Their tongues differ in speech, their natures likewise. Their skins are

distinct, for you have made foreigners to be distinct.

You make the inundation from the underworld,

And you bring it to (the place) you wish in order to cause the subjects to live,

Inasmuch as you made them for yourself, their lord entirely, who is wearied with them,

the lord of every land, who rises for them,

The orb (= Aten) of the daytime, whose awesomeness is great!

(As for) all distant countries, you make their life:

You have granted an inundation in heaven, that it might come down for them

And make torrents upon the mountains, like the Great Green, to soak their fields with what suits them.”

“How functional are your plans, O lord of continuity!

An inundation in heaven, which is for the foreigners (and) for all foreign flocks which go on legs;

(And) an inundation when it comes from the underworld for the Tilled Land (= Egypt),

While your rays nurse every field:

When you rise, they live and flourish for you.

You make the seasons in order to develop all you make:

The Growing season to cool them, and heat so that they might feel you.”

“You made heaven far away just to rise in it, to see all you make,

Being unique and risen in your aspects of being as ‘living Aten’—manifest, shining, far (yet) near.

You make millions of developments from yourself, (you who are) a oneness: cities, towns, fields,

the path of the river.

Every eye observes you in relation to them, for you are Aten of the daytime above the earth (?).

When you have gone, nobody can exist.

You create their faces so that you might not see [your]self [as] the only (thing) which you made.”

“You are in my heart, and there is none who knows you except your son,

NEFERKHEPRURE-WAENRE,

For you make him aware of your plans and your strength.

The land develops through your action, just as you made them (= people):

When you have risen they live, (but) when you set they die. You are lifetime in your (very)

limbs, and one lives by means of you.

Until you set, (all) eyes are upon your beauty (but) all work is put aside when you set on the western side.

(You) who rise and make [all creation] grow for the king, (as for) everyone who hurries about on

foot since you founded the land,

You raise them up for your son, who issued from your limbs, the King of Upper and Lower

Egypt, who lives on Maat,

The Lord of the Two Lands, NEFERKHEPRURE-[WAENRE],

Son of Re, who lives on Maat, Lord of Crowns, AKHENATEN, long in his lifetime;

(And) the King’s Chief Wife, his beloved, the Lady of the Two Lands,

NEFERNEFRUATEN-NEFERTITI.”

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Reprinted from Texts from the Amarna Period in Egypt, by William J. Murnane. Copyright © 1995 Society of Biblical Literature. Reprinted courtesy of the publisher.