Great Hymn to the Aten

001 Adoration of Re-Horakhty, who rejoices in the horizon,

002 in his name as Shu who is in the Aten,

003 living forever and ever—the living Aten, great in jubilee festivals, lord of all

004 the Aten encircles, lord of sky, lord of earth, lord of the House of Aten in Akhetaten; King of Upper and Lower Egypt, living in truth, lord of the Two Lands,

005 Neferkheperure-Waenre, son,

006 living in truth, lord of appearances, Akhenaten,

007 great in his lifetime; his beloved wife, lady of the Two Lands, Neferneferuaten Nefertiti,

008 may she live, be sound, and grow young forever and ever.

001 You appear beautifully in the horizon of the sky,

002 living Aten, origin of life.

003 When you rise in the horizon,

004 you fill every land with your beauty.

005 You are radiant, great, gleaming, high above every land.

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

007 You are Re, and you reach their limits;

008 you bind them for your beloved son.

009 Though you are far away, your rays are upon the earth;

010 you are in their faces, though your going is unknown.

011 When you rest in the western horizon, the earth lies in darkness, in the condition of death.

012 They sleep in chambers, their heads covered;

013 no eye sees its fellow.

014 All their possessions may be stolen from beneath their heads, and they do not know it.

015 Every lion comes out from its den;

016 every serpent bites.

017 Darkness is a shroud, the land in silence, for its maker rests in his horizon.

018 At daybreak, when you rise in the horizon, shining as the Aten by day,

019 you drive away darkness and give your rays.

020 The Two Lands are in festival, awake and standing on their feet.

021 You have raised them; their bodies are cleansed, their clothes put on,

022 their arms lifted in praise at your appearing.

023 The whole earth performs its work.

024 Every herd rests upon its pasture;

025 trees and plants flourish.

026 Birds fly from their nests,

027 their wings raised in praise of your spirit.

028 All cattle leap upon their feet;

029 all that fly and alight,

030 they live when you rise for them.

031 Ships sail downstream and upstream alike;

032 every road opens at your appearing.

033 Fish in the river dart before your face;

034 your rays are within the great green sea.

035 You create seed in women,

036 and make semen in men.

037 You give life to the son in his mother’s womb,

038 calming him so that he does not weep.

039 Nurse within the womb, giver of breath to sustain everything he has made,

040 when he descends from the womb on the day of his birth,

041 you open his mouth completely

042 and provide what he needs.

043 When the chick in the egg speaks within the shell,

044 you give it breath inside her to keep it alive.

045 You have made for it its appointed time to break her from within the egg.

046 It comes out of the egg to speak at its appointed time;

047 it walks upon its two feet when it comes from her.

048 How many are your works, though hidden from sight,

049 sole god, with no other beside him!

050 You created the earth according to your heart, while you were alone:

051 people, herds, every kind of animal,

052 all that tread the earth on their feet,

053 and all that are in the sky, flying on their wings;

054 the foreign lands of Syria and Kush, and the land of Egypt.

055 You set every person in his place

056 and provide what they need.

057 Each has his food, and his lifetime is reckoned.

058 Their tongues differ in speech, and their forms likewise;

059 their skins are distinct, for you distinguish the peoples.

060 You make the Nile flood in the underworld and bring it forth as you desire,

061 to keep the people alive, just as you made them for yourself,

062 lord who made them all and is among them.

063 Lord of every land, who rises for them, Aten of daytime, great in majesty,

064 every distant foreign land—you make their life.

065 You have placed a Nile flood in the sky, that it may descend for them.

066 It makes waves upon the mountains like the great green sea,

067 to drench their fields within their towns.

068 How effective are your plans, lord of eternity!

069 The Nile flood in the sky is for the foreigners and for the animals of every foreign land that walk on feet;

070 the Nile flood comes from the underworld for the beloved land.

071 Your rays nurse every field.

072 When you rise, they live and flourish for you.

073 You make the seasons to bring forth everything you have made:

074 winter to cool them, and heat that they may taste you.

075 You made the distant sky so that you might rise within it,

076 to see everything you made, while you alone rise in your form as the living Aten,

077 appearing, shining, far away and near.

078 You make millions of forms from yourself, the one:

079 cities, towns, fields, roads, and river.

080 Every eye beholds you as you face them.

081 You are the Aten of daytime overhead, for you have not departed.

082 No eye exists that you created in its place not to see your body [...] the one alone that you made.

083 You are in my heart, and there is no other who knows you

084 except your son, Neferkheperure-Waenre.

085 You cause him to understand your plans and your power.

086 The earth comes into being by your hand,

087 just as you made them.

088 When you rise, they live;

089 when you rest, they die.

090 You yourself are the span of life;

091 life is lived through you.

092 Faces are open to your beauty until you rest.

093 Every work is laid aside

094 when you rest in the west.

095 When you rise, you sustain [...] the king.

096 Every leg is in motion since you founded the earth.

097 You raise them for your son who came from your body,

098 the King of Upper and Lower Egypt, living in truth, lord of the Two Lands,

099 Neferkheperure-Waenre,

100 son of Re, living in truth, lord of appearances,

101 Akhenaten, great in his lifetime,

102 and the great royal wife, his beloved, lady of the Two Lands,

103 Neferneferuaten Nefertiti, living forever.