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Great Hymn to the Aten

Praise of Re-Harakhti, who rejoices on the horizon in his name as Shu who is in the Aten-disk, living forever and ever; the great living Aten who is in jubilee, lord of all that the Aten encircles, lord of heaven, lord of earth, lord of the House of the Aten in Akhetaten; and of the King of Upper and Lower Egypt, who lives on truth, Lord of the Two Lands, Neferkheperure Waenre, the Son of Re, who lives on truth, Lord of Diadems, Akhenaten, great in his duration; and of the Chief Wife of the King, whom he loves, Lady of the Two Lands, Neferneferuaten Nefertiti, living, healthy, and youthful forever and ever; by the Fanbearer on the Right Hand of the King, Overseer of All the Horses of His Majesty, who gives satisfaction throughout the land, favorite of the good god, the God's Father, Eye; he says:

Universal Splendor and Power of the Aten

You rise beautifully on the horizon of the sky,
O living Aten, creator of life!
When you dawn on the eastern horizon,⁠
you fill every land with your beauty.
You are splendid, great, radiant, high above every land;
your rays encompass the lands to the limit of all that you have made.
Since you are Re, you reach to the end of them,
and you subdue them for your beloved son.
Though you are far away, your rays are upon the earth;
though you are before their faces, no one sees your goings.

Night

When you set on the western horizon,⁠
the land is in darkness like death.
People sleep in chambers with heads wrapped,
and one eye does not see another.
If all their goods under their heads were stolen,
they would not know it.
Every lion comes from its den,
and all creeping snakes bite;
darkness is a shroud, and the land is silent,
for their maker rests on his horizon.

Day and Humanity

The earth brightens when you rise on the horizon,
when you shine as the Aten by day.
You drive away darkness and send out your rays;
the Two Lands are in festival,
awake and standing on their feet,
for you have raised them up.
They wash their bodies and put on their clothes,
lifting their arms in praise at your appearance;
throughout the land, everyone does their work.

Day and the Animals and Plants

All herds rest content in their pastures;
trees and plants grow green.
Birds fly from their nests,
their wings stretched out in praise of your spirit.
All flocks leap on their feet;
all things that fly and land live when you rise for them.

Day and the Waters

Ships sail upstream and downstream alike,
for every road lies open at your appearance.
Fish in the river leap before your face,
and your rays reach deep into the great green sea.

Creation of Humanity

You who create seed in women,
who make fluid into human beings,
giving life to the child in the mother's womb,
soothing him with what stills his tears,
nurse even within the womb,
giving breath to sustain all that you make!⁠
When the child comes from the womb to breathe on the day of birth,
you open their mouth completely and supply their needs.

Creation of Animals

When the chick in the egg speaks within the shell,
you give it breath inside to sustain its life.
When you have made it complete so that it breaks the shell,
it comes out from the egg to chirp at its appointed time,
and walks upon its two feet as soon as it comes out.

The Whole Creation

How manifold are the things that you have made!
They are hidden from sight,
O sole God, beside whom there is no other!
You created the earth according to your heart
while you were alone:
humanity, cattle, and all kinds of animals,
all that are upon the earth walking on their feet,
and all that are on high flying with their wings.
The foreign lands of Syria and Kush, and the land of Egypt:
you set every person in their place,
and you supply their needs;
everyone has their food,
and their span of life is counted.
Their tongues are diverse in speech, and their natures as well;
their complexions are distinct,
for you have distinguished the foreign peoples.

Watering the Earth in Egypt and Abroad

You make a Nile in the underworld,
and bring it up as you wish to sustain the people of Egypt,
just as you made them for yourself,
lord of them all, toiling on their behalf,
the lord of every land, rising for them,
the Aten of the day, great in majesty.
All distant foreign lands, you also make them live,
for you have set a Nile in the sky,
so that it descends for them and makes waves upon the mountains
like the great green sea,
watering their fields in their towns.
How excellent are your designs, O Lord of Eternity!
A Nile in the sky is for the foreign peoples
and for all wild beasts of every land that walk upon their feet,
while the true Nile comes from the underworld for Egypt.

The Seasons

Your rays nurse every meadow;
when you rise, they live and grow for you.
You make the seasons to foster all that you have made:
the winter to bring them coolness,
and the summer heat so that they may feel you.

Beauty Due to Light

You made the distant sky in order to shine in it,
in order to look upon all that you have made,
while you are alone, rising in your manifestations as the living Aten:
dawning, gleaming, moving far off, and returning near.
You make millions of forms out of yourself alone:
cities, towns, fields, roads, and river.
Every eye sees you opposite them,
for you are the Aten of the day high above the earth;
when you go forth, every eye is upon you,
for you created their faces so that you might not see yourself alone.

Revelation to the King

You are in my heart,
and there is no other who knows you
except your son, Neferkheperure Waenre,
for you have made him skilled in your designs and in your power.
The earth came into being by your hand, just as you made them:
when you rise, they live;
when you set, they die.
You yourself are lifetime, and by you people live.
Eyes are fixed upon your beauty until you set,
and all work is laid aside when you set in the west;
when you rise again, you make everything flourish for the King,
and for everyone who hastens upon their feet,
since you founded the earth
and raised them up for your son who came forth from your body:
the King of Upper and Lower Egypt, who lives on truth,
Lord of the Two Lands, Neferkheperure Waenre,
the Son of Re, who lives on truth, Lord of Diadems, Akhenaten, great in his duration;
and the Chief Wife of the King, whom he loves,
Lady of the Two Lands, Neferneferuaten Nefertiti,
living and flourishing forever and ever.

Texts in conversation

Compare Great Hymn to the Aten and Genesis 1:30

Ancient Near East, Egyptian · Hebrew Bible

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Summary

The Egyptian text the Great Hymn to the Aten and Genesis describe creation as orderly, purposeful, and sustained by divine will. Both describe life as dependent on divine breath and highlight the diversity of creatures and nations as part of its design.

Passages

Great Hymn to the Aten

Ancient Near East, Egyptian
You who create seed in women, who make fluid into human beings, giving life to the child in the mother's womb, soothing him with what stills his tears, nurse even within the womb, giving breath to sustain all that you make! When the child comes from the womb to breathe on the day of birth, you open their mouth completely and supply their needs. When the chick in the egg speaks within the shell, you give it breath inside to sustain its life. When you have made it complete so that it breaks the shell, it comes out from the egg to chirp at its appointed time, and walks upon its two feet as soon as it comes out.
1353–1336 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in the Great Hymn to the Aten

Genesis 1:30

Hebrew Bible
28 God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply! Fill the earth and subdue it! Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and every creature that moves on the ground.” 29 Then God said, “I now give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the entire earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. 30 And to all the animals of the earth, and to every bird of the air, and to all the creatures that move on the ground—everything that has living breath in it—I give every green plant for food.” It was so. 31 God saw all that he had made—and it was very good! There was evening, and there was morning, the sixth day.
750–400 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Genesis

References

"... A very different picture of creation and humanity’s place is found in Psalm 104, which celebrates creation’s biodiversity and commends it all for YHWH’s enjoyment. As the most extensive psalm of creation in the Psalter, Psalm 104 is a poetic revelry of praise to YHWH for having created the world in all of its diversity, a product of divine wisdom (verse 24). This cosmic liturgy proceeds from the meteorological to the zoological to the anthropological, all expressed in doxological fashion. Scholars often observe several parallels with the ‘Great Hymn to the Aten’, the sun-disk deity whose worship was mandated under the Eighteenth Egyptian Dynasty of Pharaoh Akhenaten (14th century BCE). Psalm 104 and this Egyptian hymn share such motifs as the ‘call of admiration’ to the deity, the diversity of creation, aquatic life, ships plying the sea, and divine provision, from food to springs of water. While the parallels are strong, direct literary dependence seems unlikely ... also well noted is the parallel movement shared in Genesis 1 and Psalm 104, so evident that one can easily delineate the psalm’s structure in terms of the ‘days’ of creation enumerated in Genesis ... but such synoptic comparison works well only for the first three days, those days that establish the creational domains of light, heaven, and land ..."
William P. Brown, “Creation in the Old Testament,” in St Andrews Encyclopaedia of Theology, ed. Brendan N. Wolfe et al. (University of St Andrews, 2022).

References are not endorsements of their contents. Read each reference in full to understand its author's intentions in using these texts.

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