3.5 Comparison of Akhenaten’s Hymn to the Aton and the Hebrew Psalm 104
Akhenaten’s Hymn to the Aton
(14th century BCE)
(John L. Foster, trans. Ancient Egyptian Literature: An Anthology, U.Texas P., 2001.)
1 Let your holy Light shine from the height of heaven, O living Aton, source of all life!
2 From eastern horizon risen and streaming, you have flooded the world with your beauty.
3 You are majestic, awesome, bedazzling, exalted, overlord over all earth, yet your rays, they touch lightly, compass the lands to the limits of all your creation.
4 There in the Sun, you reach to the farthest of those you would gather in for your Son, whom you love;
5 Though you are far, your light is wide upon earth; and you shine in the faces of all who turn to follow your journeying.
6 When you sink to rest below western horizon earth lies in darkness like death,
7 Sleepers are still in bedchambers, heads veiled, eye cannot spy a companion;
8 All their goods could be stolen away, heads heavy there, and they never knowing!
9 Lions come out from the deeps of their caves, snakes bite and sting;
10 Darkness muffles, and earth is silent he who created all things lies low in his tomb.
11 Earth-dawning mounts the horizon, glows in the sun-disk as day:
12 You drive away darkness, offer your arrows of shining, and the Two Lands are lively with morning song.
13 Sun’s children awaken and stand, for you, golden light, have upraised the sleepers;
14 Bathed are their bodies, who dress in clean linen, their arms held high to praise your Return.
15 Across the face of the earth they go to their crafts and professions.
16 The herds are at peace in their pastures, trees and the vegetation grow green;
17 Birds start from their nests, wings wide spread to worship your Person;
18 Small beasts frisk and gambol, and all who mount into flight or settle to rest live, once you have shone upon them;
19 Ships float downstream or sail for the south, each path lies open because of your rising;
20 Fish in the River leap in your sight, and your rays strike deep in the Great Green Sea.
21 It is you [who] create the new creature in Woman, shape the life-giving drops into Man,
22 Foster the son in the womb of his mother, soothe him, ending his tears;
23 Nurse through the long generations of women to those given Air, you ensure that your handiwork prosper.
24 When the new one descends from the womb to draw breath the day of his birth,
25 You open his mouth, you shape his nature, and you supply all his necessities.
26 Hark to the chick in the egg, he who speaks in the shell!
27 You give him air within to save and prosper him;
28 And you have allotted to him his set time before the shell shall be broken;
29 Then out from the egg he comes, from the egg to peep at his natal hour!
30 And up on his own two feet goes he when at last he struts forth therefrom.
31 How various is the world you have created, each thing mysterious, sacred to sight,
32 O sole God, beside whom is no other!
33 You fashioned earth to your heart’s desire, while you were still alone,
34 Filled it with man and the family of creatures, each kind on the ground, those who go upon feet, he on high soaring on wings,
35 The far lands of Khor and Kush, and the rich Black Land of Egypt.
36 And you place each one in his proper station, where you minister to his needs;
37 Each has his portions of food, and the years of life are reckoned him,
38 Tongues are divided by words, natures made diverse as well,
39 Even men’s skins are different that you might distinguish the nations.
40 You make Hapy, the Nile, stream through the underworld, and bring him, with whatever fullness you will,
41 To preserve and nourish the People in the same skilled way you fashion them.
42 You are Lord of each one, who wearies himself in their service,
43 Yet Lord of all earth, who shines for them all, Sun-disk of day, holy Light!
44 All of the far foreign countries– you are the cause they live,
45 For you have put a Nile in the sky that he might descend upon them in rain—
46 He makes waves on the very mountains like waves on the Great Green Sea
to water their fields and their villages.
47 How splendidly ordered are they, your purposes for this world,
48 O Lord of Eternity, Hapy in heaven!
49 Although you belong to the distant peoples, to the small, shy beasts who travel the deserts and uplands,
50 Yet Hapy, he comes from Below for the dear Land of Egypt as well.
51 And your Sunlight nurses each field and meadow: when you shine, they live, they grow sturdy and prosper through you.
52 You set seasons to let the world flower and flourish–winter to rest and refresh it, the hot blast of summer to ripen;
53 And you have made heaven far off in order to shine down therefrom, in order to watch over all your creation.
54 You are the One God, shining forth from your possible incarnations as Aton, the Living Sun,
55 Revealed like a king in glory, risen in light, now distant, now bending nearby.
56 You create the numberless things of this world from yourself, who are One alone–cities, towns, fields, the roadway, the River;
57 And each eye looks back and beholds you to learn from the day’s light perfection.
58 O God, you are in the Sun disk of Day,
59 Over-Seer of all creation –your legacy passed on to all who shall every be;
60 For you fashioned their sight, who perceive your universe, that they praise with one voice all your labors.
61 And you are in my heart; there is no other who truly knows you but for your son, Akhenaten.
62 May you make him wise with your inmost counsels, wise with your power, that earth may aspire to your godhead, its creatures fine as the day you made them.
63 Once you rose into shining, they lived; when you sink to rest, they shall die.
64 For it is you who are Time itself,the span of the world; life is by means of you.
65 Eyes are filled with beauty until you go to your rest;
66 All work is laid aside as you sink down the western horizon.
67 Then, Shine reborn! Rise splendidly! my Lord, let life thrive for the King
68 Who has kept peace with your every footstep since you first measured ground for the world.
69 Lift up the creatures of earth for your Son who came forth from your Body of Fire!
Psalm 104
(Holy Bible The New King James Version. New York: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1982.)
1 Bless the Lord, O my soul. O Lord my God, you are very great. You are clothed with honor and majesty.
2 wrapped in light as with a garment. You stretch out the heavens like a tent,
3 you set the beams of your chambers on the waters, you make the clouds your chariot, you ride on the wings of the wind,
4 You make the winds your messengers, fire and flame your ministers.
5 You set the earth on its foundations, so that it shall never be shaken.
6 You cover it with the deep as with a garment; the waters stood above the mountains.
7 At your rebuke they flee; at the sound of your thunder they take to flight.
8 They rose up to the mountains, ran down to the valleys to the place that you appointed for them.
9 You set a boundary that they man not pass, so that they might not again cover the earth.
10 You make springs gush forth in the valleys; they flow between the hills,
11 giving drink to every wild animal; the wild asses quench their thirst.
12 By the streams the birds of the air have their habitation; they sing among the branches.
13 From your lofty abode you water the mountains; the earth is satisfied with the fruit of your work.
14 You cause the grass to grow for the cattle, and plants for people to use, to bring forth food from the earth,
15 and wine to gladden the human heart, oil to make the face shine, and bread to strengthen the human heart.
16 The trees of the Lord are watered abundantly, the cedars of Lebanon that he planted.
17 In them the birds build their nests; the stork has its home in the fir trees.
18 The high mountains are for the wild goats; the rocks are a refuge for the coneys.
19 You have made the moon to mark the seasons; the sun knows its time for setting.
20 You made darkness, and it is night, when all the animals of the forest come creeping out.
21 The young lions roar for their prey, seeking their food from God.
22 When the sun rises, they withdraw and lie down in their dens.
23 People go out to their work and to their labor until the evening.
24 O Lord, how manifold are your works! In wisdom you have made them all; the earth is full of your creatures.
25 Yonder is the sea great and wide, creeping things innumerable are there, living things both small and great.
26 There go the ships, and Leviathan that you formed to sport in it.
27 These all look to you to give them their food in due season;
28 when you give to them, they gather it up; when you open your hand, they are filled with good things.
29 When you hide your face, they are dismayed; when you take away their breath, they die and return to their dust.
30 When you send forth your spirit, they are created; and you renew the face of the ground.
31 May the glory of the Lord endure forever; may the Lord rejoice in his works—
32 who looks on the earth and it trembles, who touches the mountains and they smoke.
33 I will sing to the Lord as long as I live; I will sing praise to my God while I have being.
34 May my meditation be pleasing to him, for I rejoice in the Lord.
36 Let sinners be consumed from the earth, and let the wicked be no more. Bless the Lord, O my soul. Praise the Lord!
Use These Questions to Compare Akhenaten’s Hymn to the Aton and Psalm 104 from the Old Testament of the Christian Bible
These two poems, so comparable in content, are printed side-by-side so as to emphasize the common themes. The 69-verse Hymn to the Aton is in regular font; the 36-verse Psalm 104 is in italics. Before reading either poem, please consider your attitude about the Egyptian sun (especially on a summer day in the Valley of the Kings when the temperature reaches 120oF).
Akhenaten’s Hymn to the Aton was in praise of the sun-disk god. Describe Akhenaten’s attitude toward the sun. How important was mortal man? Did Egypt receive any special blessings from the Aton?
Psalm 104 is attributed to King David. Explain the psalmist’s attitude toward the sun. Was the sun the Supreme Creator (variously called in other writings Adonai, Yahweh, Jehovah or Lord)? Identify at least three metaphors which were used to describe the Lord. According to this psalm, were the Hebrews entitled to any special blessings?
Both authors emphasize the opposition of light and dark. What is symbolized by this contrast? Summarize the opposing interpretations of the setting of the sun, flooding waters and the shroud of darkness.
Did both authors claim the same status? Evaluate what Akhenaten was claiming about himself as compared to what the Psalmist was stating about himself.
