The 42 Precepts of Maat
Once again, I feel the need to put something out there for STs, players, and anyone else who wishes to read, some culture material that you may find pertinant.
The 42 Precepts of Ma'at
If you are a man who leads,
Who controls the affairs of the many,
Seek out every beneficent deed,
See that your conduct is blameless.
Great is Maat, lasting in effect, Unchallenged since the time of Asar. One punishes the
transgressor of laws, Through the greedy overlooks this;
Baseness may seize riches.
Yet crime never lands its wares;
In the end it is Maat that lasts,
Man says, "It is my father's ground."
Do not falsify the temple rations,
Do not be greedy and you'll find profit.
Do not move the markers on the borders of fields,
Nor shift the position of the measuring-cord.
Do not be greedy for a cubit of land,
Nor encroach on the boundaries of a widow.
The trodden path worn down by time,
He who disguises it in the fields,
When he has snared by false oaths,
He will be caught by the might of the Moon.
Recognize him who does this on earth: He is an oppressor of the weak,
A foe bent on destroying your being,
The taking of life is in his eye.
His house is an enemy to the town,
His storage bins will be destroyed;
His wealth will be seized from his children's hands,
His possessions will be given to another.
Beware of destroying the borders of fields.
Lest a terror carry you away;
One pleases God with the might of the lord
When one discerns the borders of fields.
Desire your being to be sound,
Beware of Nebercher, the Lord of All;
Do not erase another's marker,
It profits you to keep it sound.
Plow your fields and you'll find what you need,
You'll recieve bread from your threshing-floor.
Better is a bushel given you by The God,
Than thousands through wrongdoing.
Do not move the scales nor alter the weights,
Nor diminish the fractions of Measure;
Do not desire a measure of the fields, Nor neglect those of the treasury.
The Ape sits by the balance,
His heart is in the plummet;
Where is a god as great as Djehuti,
Who invented these things and made them?
Do not make for yourself deficient weights,
They are rich in grief through the might of God,
If you see someone who cheats, Keep your distance from him.
Speak the truth in your house,
That the officials of the land may respect you; Uprightness befits the lord,
The front of the house puts fear in the back.
Set your goodness before people,
Then you are greeted by all;
One welcomes the Uraeus, Approve what is good,
Spits upon Apophis, what is bad.
Do not converse with a heated man,
So as to befriend a hostile, man.
If you are sent to transport straw,
Stay away from its container.
If a man is observed on a fradulent errand,
He will not be sent on another occasion.
They are rich in gried through the might of God,
If you see someone who cheats,
Keep your distance from him.
A measurer who indulges in cheating,
His Eye seals against him.
One will do all you say
If you are versed in writings;
Study the writings; put them in your heart.
Then all your words will be effective.
For it is evil to destroy,
Difficult to restore what one has damaged,
To rebuild what one has demolished.
Beware of it! An action is repaid by its like,
And to every action there is a consequence.
I have not robbed with violence.
Beware of punishing unjustly,
Do not kill anyone, it does not serve you or bring what you desire.
Punish instead with beatings, and detention,
By these actions the land will be well ordered;
Except for the unrighteous one whose plans are found out...
But this should be said to the Bowman:
Lo, the miserable Asiatic,
He is wretched because of the place he lives in:
Short of water, bare of wood,
Its paths are many and painful because of mountains.
He is nomadic, not dwelling in one place,
The constant need for food propels his legs,
He makes war since the time of Heru,
He is not successful in conquering nor is he conquered,
He is traitorous and does not announce the day of combat,
He is like a thief who darts around a group.
But as I live and shall be what I am,
When the Bowmen were a sealed wall,
I broke through their defenses.
I attack them with the forces from Lower Egypt,
I captured their men and women,
I took their cattle,
Until the Asiatics despised Egypt.
Do not worry about the Asiatic,
The Asiatic is like a crocodile on its shore,
It snatches from a lonely road,
But it cannot capture anything from a populous town.
A great gift of God, is Maat.
Given, it ism only to those chosen by God.
The might of those who resemble God,
The poor are saved from their tormentor through it.
You will endure on earth when you do justice;
Calm those who weep, don't oppress the widow who is grieving,
Don't drive out a man from the property of his father;
Don't decrease the nobles in their possessions.
Do not say: "Find me a strong superior,
For a man in your town has injured me";
Do not say: "Find me a protector, For one who hates me has injured me."
Indeed you do not know the palns of God,
And should not weep for tomorrow;
Settle in the arms of The God,
Your silence will overthrow them.
The crocodile that makes no sound,
Dread of it is ancient.
Do not empty your belly to everyone, And thus destroy respect of you;
Broadcast not your words to others,
Nor join with one who bares his heart.
Better is one whose speech is in his belly,
Than he who tells it to cause harm.
Do not provoke your adversary,
So as to make him tell his thoughts;
Do not leap to come before him,
When you do not see his doings.
First gain insight from his answer,
Then keep still and you will succeed.
Leave it to him to empty his belly,
Know how to sleep, he will be found out.
Do not harm him,
Be wary of him, do not ignore him. Indeed you do not know the plans of God,
And should not weep for tomorrow;
Settle in the arms of The God,
Your silence will overthrow them.
I have not acted insolently or with violence.
Don't act with evil, kindness is an expression of good nature,
Make your memory last through love of you.
Increase the people, befriend the town,
God will be praised for donations
Make people come through your good nature,
A wretch is the one who desires the land,
A fool is the one who covets what others possess.
Do not falsify the temple rations,
Do not be greedy and you'll find profit.
Do not remove a servant of The God,
So as to do favors to another.
Do not say: "Today is like tomorrow, How will this end?
Comes tomorrow, today has vanished,
The deep has become the water's edge. Crocodiles are bared, hippopotami stranded, The fish
crowded together.
Don't falsify the oracles in the scrolls, And thus disturb the plans of God;
Don't use for yourself the might of God, As if there were no Fate and Destiny.
Hand over property to its owners,
Thus do you seek life for yourself;
Don't raise your desire in their house,
Or your bones belong to the execution-block.
Steer, we will ferry the wicked.
We do not act like his kind;
Lift him up; give him your hand,
Leave him the hands of The God;
Fill his belly with bread of your own; give him drink, for it is in the heart of the God to show
another act of compassion,
That he be sated and weep.
They who rever MAAT are long lived;
they who are covetous have no tomb.
God thinks of him who works for him.
Satisfy your dependents by means of righteous deeds. This is what the favored ones of The God do.
I have not committed any sin against my own purity.
The liar is an abomination to him.
I have not laid waste the ploughed lands.
I have not stopped the water when it should flow. I have not made a cutting in a canal of running water.
Thou makest the Two Lands to flourish through Maak-heru, in the presence of him who is the Lord to the Uttermost Limit.
Do not repeat calumny,
Nor should you listen to it,
It is the spouting of the hot-bellied.
Report a thing observed, not heard,
If it is negligible, don't say anything,
He who is before you recognizes worth.
'If a seizure is ordered and carried out,
Hatred will arise against him who seizes;
Calumny is like a dream against which one covers the face.
Do not malign anyone,
Great or small, the Ba abhors it.
The hothead incites citizens; He creates divisions among the young; If you see that people follow him,
Speak out against him before those who give council, Suppress the hothead, he is against harmony, The talker is a troublemaker for society. Your duty is to curb the multitude, and suppress its heat...
Do not recall yourself to a man,
Nor strain to seek his hand.
If he says to you: "Here is a gift."
No poor person whill refuse it.
Don't blink at him, nor bow your head,
Nor turn aside your gaze.
Salute him with your mouth, say, "Greetings".
He will desist and you succeed.
Do not rebuff him in his approach,
Do not listen to an official's reply indoors
In order to repeat it to another outside.
Do not let your word be carried outside,
Lest your heart be aggrieved.
If you are angered by a misdeed,
Lean toward a man on account of his rightness;
Pass it over, don't recall it,
Since he was silent to you the first day.
A quarreler is a mindless person,
If he is known as an aggressor
The hostile man will have trouble in the neighborhood.
I have not slaughtered the cattle that are set apart for the Gods (The Sacred bull - Apis).
Give thyself to the God,
Keep thyself daily for God and let tomorrow be as today.
Offer to your god,
Beware of offending him.
Do not question his images,
Do not accost him when he appears.
Do not jostle him in order to caryy him,
Do not disturb the oracles."
Be careful; help to protect him,
Let your eye watch out for his wrath,
And kiss the ground in his name.
He gives power in a million forms,
He who magnifies him is magnified.
God of this earth is the sun in the sky,
While his images are on earth;
When incense is given them as daily food,
The lord of risinings is satisfied.
Do not cheat a man through pen on scroll,
The God abhors it...
Do not make for yourself false documents,
They are a deadly provocation;
They mean the great restraining oath,
They, mean a hearing by the herald.
Don't falsify the oracles in the scrolls,
And thus disturb the plans of God;
Don't use for yourself the might of God,
As if there were no Fate and Destiny.
Hand over property to its owners,
Thus do you seek life for yourself;
Don't raise your desire in their house,
Or your bones belong to the execution-block.
Make your monuments of The God,
This keeps alive their maker's name,
A man should do what profits his ba.
In the monthly service, wear the white sandals,
Visit the temple, discover the mysteries,
Enter the shrine, eat bread in God's house;
Proffer libations, multiply the loaves,
Make ample the daily offerings,
It profits him who does it.
Endow your monuments according to your wealth,
Even one day of spiritual practice leads to eternity,
Even an hour contributes to the future,
God recognizes the one who works for Him.
The wise one is a teacher to the nobles.
Those who know that he knows will not attack him,
No crime or injustice occurs when a wise one is near; justice comes to them distilled,
In the form of the sayings of the ancestors.
Copy your fathers, your ancestors.
See that their wise words endure in books,
Open them and read them, copy their knowledge, they who are taught become skilled.
One should revere The God on his path,
Made of costly stone, fashioned of bronze.
As watercourse is replaced by watercourse,
So no river allows itself to be concealed,
It breaks the channel in which it was hidden.
So also the ba goes to the place it knows,
And strays not from its former path.
The day he is charged with his crime
Is misfortune for his children.
If only Khnum came to him,
The Potter to the heated man,
So as to knead the heart.
He is like a young wolf in the farmyard,
He turns one eye against the other,
He causes brothers to quarrel.
He runs before every wind like clouds,
He dims the radiance of the sun;
He flips his tail like the crocodile's young,
His lips are sweet, his tongue is bitter,
A fire burns in his belly.
Don't leap to join such a one,
Lest a terror carry you away.
Don't force yourself to greet the heated man,
For then you injure your own heart;
Do not say "greetings" to him falsely,
While there is terror in your belly.
Do not enter the house of anyone,
Until he admits you and greets you;
Do not snoop around in his house; let your eye observe in silence.
Do not speak of him to another outside,
Who was not with you;
A great deadly crime this is.
Don't start a quarrel with a hot-mouthed man,
Nor needle him with words.
Pause before a foe; bend before an attacker,
Sleep before speaking.
A storm that bursts like fire in straw,
Such is the heated man in his hour.
Withdraw from him, leave him alone,
The God knows how to answer him.
If you make your life with these in your heart,
Your children will observe them.
As for the heated man in the temple,
He is like a tree growing indoors;
A moment lasts its growth of shoots
Its end comes about in the woodshed;
It is floated far from its place,
The flame is its burial shroud.
The truly silent, who keeps apart,
He is like a tree grown in a meadow.
It greens; it doubles its yield,
It stands in front, of its lord.
Its fruit is sweet, its shade delightful,
Its end comes in the garden.
May you be justified before The God;
That a man may say of you even when you are absent,
That you punish in accordance.
Good nature allows a man to experience heaven,
The cursing of the angry and agitated ones is painful to oneself.
Do not prefer the well born to the commoner,
Choose a man on account of his skills,
Then all crafts are done.
I have not behaved with arrogance (Boastful).
When you are given an oar in the midst of the deep,
Bend your arms and take it.
The God will not be offended thereby.
I have not committed adultery (And homosexuality). - I don't write them...I just type them.
If you want friendship to endure
In the house you enter
As master, brother, or friend,
In whatever place you enter,
Beware of approaching the women.
Unhappy is the place where it is done,
Unwelcome is he who intrudes on them.
A thousand men are turned -away from their good: A short moment is like a dream,
Then death comes for having known them.
Poor advice is "shoot the opponent,"
When one goes to do it the heart rejects it.
He who fails through lust of them,
No affair of his can prosper.
If you take to wife a good woman
Who is joyful and known by her town,
If she is fickle and likes the moment,
Do not reject her, let her eat,
The joyful brings happiness.
The 42 Precepts of Ma'at
If you are a man who leads,
Who controls the affairs of the many,
Seek out every beneficent deed,
See that your conduct is blameless.
Great is Maat, lasting in effect, Unchallenged since the time of Asar. One punishes the
transgressor of laws, Through the greedy overlooks this;
Baseness may seize riches.
Yet crime never lands its wares;
In the end it is Maat that lasts,
Man says, "It is my father's ground."
Do not falsify the temple rations,
Do not be greedy and you'll find profit.
Do not move the markers on the borders of fields,
Nor shift the position of the measuring-cord.
Do not be greedy for a cubit of land,
Nor encroach on the boundaries of a widow.
The trodden path worn down by time,
He who disguises it in the fields,
When he has snared by false oaths,
He will be caught by the might of the Moon.
Recognize him who does this on earth: He is an oppressor of the weak,
A foe bent on destroying your being,
The taking of life is in his eye.
His house is an enemy to the town,
His storage bins will be destroyed;
His wealth will be seized from his children's hands,
His possessions will be given to another.
Beware of destroying the borders of fields.
Lest a terror carry you away;
One pleases God with the might of the lord
When one discerns the borders of fields.
Desire your being to be sound,
Beware of Nebercher, the Lord of All;
Do not erase another's marker,
It profits you to keep it sound.
Plow your fields and you'll find what you need,
You'll recieve bread from your threshing-floor.
Better is a bushel given you by The God,
Than thousands through wrongdoing.
Do not move the scales nor alter the weights,
Nor diminish the fractions of Measure;
Do not desire a measure of the fields, Nor neglect those of the treasury.
The Ape sits by the balance,
His heart is in the plummet;
Where is a god as great as Djehuti,
Who invented these things and made them?
Do not make for yourself deficient weights,
They are rich in grief through the might of God,
If you see someone who cheats, Keep your distance from him.
Speak the truth in your house,
That the officials of the land may respect you; Uprightness befits the lord,
The front of the house puts fear in the back.
Set your goodness before people,
Then you are greeted by all;
One welcomes the Uraeus, Approve what is good,
Spits upon Apophis, what is bad.
Do not converse with a heated man,
So as to befriend a hostile, man.
If you are sent to transport straw,
Stay away from its container.
If a man is observed on a fradulent errand,
He will not be sent on another occasion.
They are rich in gried through the might of God,
If you see someone who cheats,
Keep your distance from him.
A measurer who indulges in cheating,
His Eye seals against him.
One will do all you say
If you are versed in writings;
Study the writings; put them in your heart.
Then all your words will be effective.
For it is evil to destroy,
Difficult to restore what one has damaged,
To rebuild what one has demolished.
Beware of it! An action is repaid by its like,
And to every action there is a consequence.
I have not robbed with violence.
Beware of punishing unjustly,
Do not kill anyone, it does not serve you or bring what you desire.
Punish instead with beatings, and detention,
By these actions the land will be well ordered;
Except for the unrighteous one whose plans are found out...
But this should be said to the Bowman:
Lo, the miserable Asiatic,
He is wretched because of the place he lives in:
Short of water, bare of wood,
Its paths are many and painful because of mountains.
He is nomadic, not dwelling in one place,
The constant need for food propels his legs,
He makes war since the time of Heru,
He is not successful in conquering nor is he conquered,
He is traitorous and does not announce the day of combat,
He is like a thief who darts around a group.
But as I live and shall be what I am,
When the Bowmen were a sealed wall,
I broke through their defenses.
I attack them with the forces from Lower Egypt,
I captured their men and women,
I took their cattle,
Until the Asiatics despised Egypt.
Do not worry about the Asiatic,
The Asiatic is like a crocodile on its shore,
It snatches from a lonely road,
But it cannot capture anything from a populous town.
A great gift of God, is Maat.
Given, it ism only to those chosen by God.
The might of those who resemble God,
The poor are saved from their tormentor through it.
You will endure on earth when you do justice;
Calm those who weep, don't oppress the widow who is grieving,
Don't drive out a man from the property of his father;
Don't decrease the nobles in their possessions.
Do not say: "Find me a strong superior,
For a man in your town has injured me";
Do not say: "Find me a protector, For one who hates me has injured me."
Indeed you do not know the palns of God,
And should not weep for tomorrow;
Settle in the arms of The God,
Your silence will overthrow them.
The crocodile that makes no sound,
Dread of it is ancient.
Do not empty your belly to everyone, And thus destroy respect of you;
Broadcast not your words to others,
Nor join with one who bares his heart.
Better is one whose speech is in his belly,
Than he who tells it to cause harm.
Do not provoke your adversary,
So as to make him tell his thoughts;
Do not leap to come before him,
When you do not see his doings.
First gain insight from his answer,
Then keep still and you will succeed.
Leave it to him to empty his belly,
Know how to sleep, he will be found out.
Do not harm him,
Be wary of him, do not ignore him. Indeed you do not know the plans of God,
And should not weep for tomorrow;
Settle in the arms of The God,
Your silence will overthrow them.
I have not acted insolently or with violence.
Don't act with evil, kindness is an expression of good nature,
Make your memory last through love of you.
Increase the people, befriend the town,
God will be praised for donations
Make people come through your good nature,
A wretch is the one who desires the land,
A fool is the one who covets what others possess.
Do not falsify the temple rations,
Do not be greedy and you'll find profit.
Do not remove a servant of The God,
So as to do favors to another.
Do not say: "Today is like tomorrow, How will this end?
Comes tomorrow, today has vanished,
The deep has become the water's edge. Crocodiles are bared, hippopotami stranded, The fish
crowded together.
Don't falsify the oracles in the scrolls, And thus disturb the plans of God;
Don't use for yourself the might of God, As if there were no Fate and Destiny.
Hand over property to its owners,
Thus do you seek life for yourself;
Don't raise your desire in their house,
Or your bones belong to the execution-block.
Steer, we will ferry the wicked.
We do not act like his kind;
Lift him up; give him your hand,
Leave him the hands of The God;
Fill his belly with bread of your own; give him drink, for it is in the heart of the God to show
another act of compassion,
That he be sated and weep.
They who rever MAAT are long lived;
they who are covetous have no tomb.
God thinks of him who works for him.
Satisfy your dependents by means of righteous deeds. This is what the favored ones of The God do.
I have not committed any sin against my own purity.
The liar is an abomination to him.
I have not laid waste the ploughed lands.
I have not stopped the water when it should flow. I have not made a cutting in a canal of running water.
Thou makest the Two Lands to flourish through Maak-heru, in the presence of him who is the Lord to the Uttermost Limit.
Do not repeat calumny,
Nor should you listen to it,
It is the spouting of the hot-bellied.
Report a thing observed, not heard,
If it is negligible, don't say anything,
He who is before you recognizes worth.
'If a seizure is ordered and carried out,
Hatred will arise against him who seizes;
Calumny is like a dream against which one covers the face.
Do not malign anyone,
Great or small, the Ba abhors it.
The hothead incites citizens; He creates divisions among the young; If you see that people follow him,
Speak out against him before those who give council, Suppress the hothead, he is against harmony, The talker is a troublemaker for society. Your duty is to curb the multitude, and suppress its heat...
Do not recall yourself to a man,
Nor strain to seek his hand.
If he says to you: "Here is a gift."
No poor person whill refuse it.
Don't blink at him, nor bow your head,
Nor turn aside your gaze.
Salute him with your mouth, say, "Greetings".
He will desist and you succeed.
Do not rebuff him in his approach,
Do not listen to an official's reply indoors
In order to repeat it to another outside.
Do not let your word be carried outside,
Lest your heart be aggrieved.
If you are angered by a misdeed,
Lean toward a man on account of his rightness;
Pass it over, don't recall it,
Since he was silent to you the first day.
A quarreler is a mindless person,
If he is known as an aggressor
The hostile man will have trouble in the neighborhood.
I have not slaughtered the cattle that are set apart for the Gods (The Sacred bull - Apis).
Give thyself to the God,
Keep thyself daily for God and let tomorrow be as today.
Offer to your god,
Beware of offending him.
Do not question his images,
Do not accost him when he appears.
Do not jostle him in order to caryy him,
Do not disturb the oracles."
Be careful; help to protect him,
Let your eye watch out for his wrath,
And kiss the ground in his name.
He gives power in a million forms,
He who magnifies him is magnified.
God of this earth is the sun in the sky,
While his images are on earth;
When incense is given them as daily food,
The lord of risinings is satisfied.
Do not cheat a man through pen on scroll,
The God abhors it...
Do not make for yourself false documents,
They are a deadly provocation;
They mean the great restraining oath,
They, mean a hearing by the herald.
Don't falsify the oracles in the scrolls,
And thus disturb the plans of God;
Don't use for yourself the might of God,
As if there were no Fate and Destiny.
Hand over property to its owners,
Thus do you seek life for yourself;
Don't raise your desire in their house,
Or your bones belong to the execution-block.
Make your monuments of The God,
This keeps alive their maker's name,
A man should do what profits his ba.
In the monthly service, wear the white sandals,
Visit the temple, discover the mysteries,
Enter the shrine, eat bread in God's house;
Proffer libations, multiply the loaves,
Make ample the daily offerings,
It profits him who does it.
Endow your monuments according to your wealth,
Even one day of spiritual practice leads to eternity,
Even an hour contributes to the future,
God recognizes the one who works for Him.
The wise one is a teacher to the nobles.
Those who know that he knows will not attack him,
No crime or injustice occurs when a wise one is near; justice comes to them distilled,
In the form of the sayings of the ancestors.
Copy your fathers, your ancestors.
See that their wise words endure in books,
Open them and read them, copy their knowledge, they who are taught become skilled.
One should revere The God on his path,
Made of costly stone, fashioned of bronze.
As watercourse is replaced by watercourse,
So no river allows itself to be concealed,
It breaks the channel in which it was hidden.
So also the ba goes to the place it knows,
And strays not from its former path.
The day he is charged with his crime
Is misfortune for his children.
If only Khnum came to him,
The Potter to the heated man,
So as to knead the heart.
He is like a young wolf in the farmyard,
He turns one eye against the other,
He causes brothers to quarrel.
He runs before every wind like clouds,
He dims the radiance of the sun;
He flips his tail like the crocodile's young,
His lips are sweet, his tongue is bitter,
A fire burns in his belly.
Don't leap to join such a one,
Lest a terror carry you away.
Don't force yourself to greet the heated man,
For then you injure your own heart;
Do not say "greetings" to him falsely,
While there is terror in your belly.
Do not enter the house of anyone,
Until he admits you and greets you;
Do not snoop around in his house; let your eye observe in silence.
Do not speak of him to another outside,
Who was not with you;
A great deadly crime this is.
Don't start a quarrel with a hot-mouthed man,
Nor needle him with words.
Pause before a foe; bend before an attacker,
Sleep before speaking.
A storm that bursts like fire in straw,
Such is the heated man in his hour.
Withdraw from him, leave him alone,
The God knows how to answer him.
If you make your life with these in your heart,
Your children will observe them.
As for the heated man in the temple,
He is like a tree growing indoors;
A moment lasts its growth of shoots
Its end comes about in the woodshed;
It is floated far from its place,
The flame is its burial shroud.
The truly silent, who keeps apart,
He is like a tree grown in a meadow.
It greens; it doubles its yield,
It stands in front, of its lord.
Its fruit is sweet, its shade delightful,
Its end comes in the garden.
May you be justified before The God;
That a man may say of you even when you are absent,
That you punish in accordance.
Good nature allows a man to experience heaven,
The cursing of the angry and agitated ones is painful to oneself.
Do not prefer the well born to the commoner,
Choose a man on account of his skills,
Then all crafts are done.
I have not behaved with arrogance (Boastful).
When you are given an oar in the midst of the deep,
Bend your arms and take it.
The God will not be offended thereby.
I have not committed adultery (And homosexuality). - I don't write them...I just type them.
If you want friendship to endure
In the house you enter
As master, brother, or friend,
In whatever place you enter,
Beware of approaching the women.
Unhappy is the place where it is done,
Unwelcome is he who intrudes on them.
A thousand men are turned -away from their good: A short moment is like a dream,
Then death comes for having known them.
Poor advice is "shoot the opponent,"
When one goes to do it the heart rejects it.
He who fails through lust of them,
No affair of his can prosper.
If you take to wife a good woman
Who is joyful and known by her town,
If she is fickle and likes the moment,
Do not reject her, let her eat,
The joyful brings happiness.