The PROPHECY of NEFERTI

The PROPHECY of NEFERTI

I

And His Majesty Pharoah Senefru said: Come Neferti, my friend and speak to me some beautiful words and well-chosen phrases which might please me upon hearing them. And the teacher-priest, Neferti, deplored what had come to pass in Kemet [Ancient Egypt], speaking on the condition of the East where ASIATIC PEOPLES roam in strength, frightening those about to harvest their crops and seizing cattle even at the plough. He said:

Be moved my heart and mourn for this land in which you were born. For there is silence before evil; what should be condemned is feared and the great are overthrown in the land of your birth. Tire not then while this evil exists. Rise up against that which is before you. For lo, the great no longer rule the land and what was establish has now been undone. May Ra begin to re-establish this land for it is ruined and nothing of value remains. Not even the black of a nail has escaped this fate. Lo, the land is destroyed and there are none to care for it. There are none who speak and none who weep. How then fares this land?

II.

I shall speak of what is before me. I will never foretell that which will not come. A strange bird will breed in the Delta marsch and make ist nest beside the people of Kemet. For the people will let it approch through lack of action. And afterwards, all good things will pass away.

Beasts of the desert will drink at the river of Kemet and take their ease on the shores for they will have no none to fear. The land is in turmoil and no one knows what will come to pass, for what the future will bring is hidden. And as it is said: when sight and hearing fail the many, those who cannot speak will lead.

III.

I show you a land torn up by turmoil. That which should not be has come to pass. People will take up weapons of war and the land will live in confusion. People will spill blood for bread and laugh out loud at pain and misery. And none will weep over death. Everyone´s heart shall care only for him or herself. A person will sit with his/her back turned while one murders another. I show you the son and daughter as enemy, the brother and sister as foe and the child slaying mother and father. I show you the undermost turned to the uppermost.

IV.

But a KING shall come from the south named AMENI, the vindicated one, the son of a woman of NUBIA. He will join together the Double Crown and the land will be enclosed in his grasp. The people of his reign will rejoice, for Ameni, the son of man, will make his name for all eternity. The evil-minded plotters of threason will hold back their speech through fear of him. The ASIATIC INVADERS will fall befare his fury and the LIBYAN INVADERS will be consumed by his flame. Rebels will yield before his wrath and traitors will be brought low by his might. Then, MAAT, RIGHTEOUSNESS and ORDER, will return to its place and ISFET, EVIL and CHAOS, will be driven away.

Transcription: Jean-Baptiste Pente

08.04.2012

Source:
- M. Karenga, Selections from the Husia – Sacred Wisdom of Ancien Egypt, 1984
- E. Hornung, Das Totenbuch der Ägypter, 1990
- Alt-Ägyptische Dichtung, Reclam 1996