that is, the
principal evil one; and Khepra, the scarabaeus deity, overthrows the
principal evil one, every day, according to this text.

"The Osiris * * * (name of the defunct was inserted in this blank,) is
considered as a lord of eternity, he is considered as Khepra, he is
lord of the diadem, he is in the eye of the sun," etc., says chapter
XLII., lines 12, 13 _et seq._

And in chapter XVII., which is one of the oldest chapters of the
_Per-em-hru_, lines 76, 77, 78, is; "O Khepra in thy boat! (i.e., as
Harmakhis) the body of the gods is even thy body, or so to say, it is
Eternity. Save Osiris * * * from those watching judges (i.e., Isis and
Nephthys,) to whom the master of spells has entrusted, at his
pleasure, the watching of his enemies--whom the executioner will
strike--and from whose observation none escape. Let me not fall under
their sword; let me not go into their place of torture; let me not
remain supplicating in their abodes; let me not come into their place
for execution; let me not sit down in their boilers; let me not do
those things which are done by those whom the gods detest," etc.

Further according to the Book of the Dead, the soul of the dead man,
says: "I fly among those of the divine essence, I become in it, Khepra
... I am that, which is in the bosom of the gods." (Chapter LXXXIII.,
lines 1, 2.)

Another text reads: "O it who establishes the mysteries which are in
me, produce the transformations as Khepra, going out of the condition
of the disk so as to give light (or, to enlighten.)" Chapter LXIV.,
line 16. (Comp. also chapter XCIII.)

Another text says: "I give vigor to the murdering sword which is in
the hand of Khepra against the rebels." (Chapter XCV., line 3.)

Khepra is also called, Tum-Khepra. (Chapter CXLI., line 6.)

Reaching the eternal abode, the soul, says: "I am intact, intact as my
father Osiris-Khepra, of whom the image is, the man whose body is not
decomposed." (Chapter CLIV., lines 1, 2.)

On articles of furniture, on toys, on the coffins of mummies, on
papyri and linen and other monuments, the scarabaeus appears and sets
off in a strong light, the Egyptian belief in the resurrection and
re-birth of the pious dead. The very idea of the transformation is
shown, by the hieroglyph of the scarab for the word _Kheper_, i.e.,
_to be_, to _become_, to _raise up_. One of the most urgent prayers to
be found in many places, in the Book of the Dead as made by the
deceased, is,