This is adapted from an excerpt from the Book of the Dead. This is a spell. THE CHAPTER OF NOT LETTING THE BODY PERISH

Praise to you, O my divine father Osiris. You did not decay, you did not become worms, you did not wither, you did not rot, you did not putrefy, you did not turn into worms. I am the god Khepera, and my members shall have being everlastingly. I shall not decay, I shall not rot, I shall not putrefy, I shall not turn into worms. I shall have my being, I shall have my being; I shall live, I shall live; I shall flourish, I shall flourish, I shall flourish, I shall wake up in peace, I shall not putrefy, my intestines shall not perish, I shall not suffer injury. My eye shall not decay. The form of my face shall not disappear. My ear shall not become deaf. My head shall not be separated from my neck. My tongue shall not be removed. My hair shall not be cut off. My eyebrows shall not be shaved away, and no evil defect shall assail me. My body shall be stablished. It shall neither become a ruin, nor be destroyed on this earth.

–Adapted from E. A. Wallis Budge’s translation of the Book of the Dead

Read the passage, then answer the questions to determine the central idea.

Why does the speaker say, “I shall not decay”?

When was the spell likely used?


What is the central idea of the passage?