"O Nefer-Tem, comer forth from Het-ka-Ptah, I have not acted
deceitfully; I have not committed wickedness.

"O Nekhen, comer forth from Heqat, I have not turned a deaf ear to
the words of the Law (or Truth)."

The names of most of the Forty-Two gods are not ancient, but
were invented by the priests probably about the same time as the
names in the Book of Him that is in the Tuat and the Book of Gates,
i.e., between the XIIth and the XVIIIth dynasties. Their artificial
character is shown by their meanings. Thus Usekh-nemmit means "He
of the long strides"; Fenti means "He of the Nose"; Neha-hau means
"Stinking-members"; Set-qesu means "Breaker of bones," etc. The
early Egyptologists called the second part of the CXXVth Chapter the
"Negative Confession," and it is generally known by this somewhat
inexact title to this day.

In the third part of the CXXVth Chapter comes the address which the
deceased made to the gods after he had declared his innocence of the
sins enumerated before the Forty-Two gods. He says: "Homage to you,
O ye gods who dwell in your Hall of Maati. I know you and I know your
names. Let me not fall under your slaughtering knives. Bring not my
wickedness to the notice of the god whose followers ye are. Let not
the affair [of my judgment] come under your jurisdiction. Speak ye the
Law (or truth) concerning me before Neb-er-tcher, [8] for I performed
the Law (or, truth) in Ta-mera (i.e., Egypt). I have not blasphemed
the God. No affair of mine came under the notice of the king in his
day. Homage to you, O ye who are in your Hall of Maati, who have no
lies in your bodies, who live on truth, who eat truth before Horus,
the dweller in his disk, deliver ye me from Babai [9] who liveth upon