Maxim No.

34

Do not overstep your identity of foreigner to be able to speak

to me in haste, in [my] language.
By repeating a statement that you made in the inferior
language, you will be considered an adversary.
(Even) Egyptians are ruined because of language.
Beware of causing disaster!

Do not overstep your identity of foreigner to be able to speak in haste to me in

[my] language.

20,7 1
imi =k wTsA ib =k n pA
do not surpass your identity of the

2 20,8 3
s DriDri r rdit gm tw =f r =k
man foreigner to be able to find he mouth yours
to speak through you

4 5
r =i As Hr mdt
to me in haste in the language

Do not open your heart to a stranger so that he finds what to say against you. (Suys 1935) 1
Thou shouldst not express thy (whole) heart to the stranger, to let him discover thy speech
against thee. (Wilson 1955)
Do not reveal your heart to a stranger, He might use your words against you; (Lichtheim 1976)
Do not reveal your heart to the strange man, To make him know your hasty saying. (Quack 1994)
You should not raise your heart (i.e. your thoughts) up / speak out in front of the strange man
in order to (not) give him the opportunity to classify your saying {against me} (as) premature. (Dils 2021)
1 The Ib heart, ib stood for the part of the physical features that a person inherites from his mother,

while the Haty heart, HAty stood for the resulting physical features of the person, i.e. the
combination of the physical identities of both parents”.

2 Ani, the author of the instructions, is calling his own son a foreigner because his mother, a woman of
the public harems, was a foreigner speaking a foreign language.

3 The phrase gm r to find a mouth means to speak:

4 The phrase r =i to me, is written quite clearly on the original:

5 The phrase Hr mdt in the language, occurs in a copy of the text on papyrus Deir el-
Medina 1.

By repeating a statement that you made in the inferior language, you

will be considered an adversary.

2
smy snnw pr m r =k wHm
statement inferior coming out of mouth yours repeating

=k sw iry =k rqAyw
you it will make you one of the adversaries
Very quickly a companion denounces the words. If you do this again, you will be at a disadvantage. (Suys 1935)
If a passing remark issuing from thy mouth is hasty and it is repeated, thou wilt make enemies. (Wilson 1955)
The noxious speech that came from your mouth, He repeats it and you make enemies. (Lichtheim 1976)

In the bad talk that came out of your mouth. He will repeat it and you will be considered a rebel. (Quack 1994)
(Because) a second rate utterance (i.e., bad speech) is what will have come out of your mouth.
He / she will repeat it so that you will be considered an opponent. (Dils 2021)

(Even) Egyptians are ruined because of language.

20,9 6
whAnwt rmT Hr nst =f
destroyed are the Egyptians because of language theirs (his)

A man is ruined because of language. (Suys 1935)

A man can be destroyed because of his tongue. (Quack 1994)
A person can be brought to a (social / political) crash because of his tongue. (Dils 2021)

6 By Egyptians are here meant the ex-‘foreigners’ who had been admitted into the society and who could
but should not speak the forbidden foreign language.

Beware of causing disaster.

sAw .tw iry =k iqAt

Beware of causing you calamity

Be careful not to cause estrangement. (Suys 1935)

Beware and you will do well. (Lichtheim 1976)
Be careful not to harm yourself. (Quack 1994)
Be careful not to suffer a loss! (Dils 2021)
 Maxims Nos 35 - 36

The mind of the Egyptian people is as spacious as a double

store room and full of all kinds of statements.
Choose the proper one and keep the improper one locked up
into your mind.
An aggressive statement stands by the stake of impalement. .
Say of the pleasant, of the preferred ones.
I will not be with you forever to stand up for someone transgressing
unjustly.
Finally, the god will judge the pure one and then the fate imposed
(by the judge) will take him away.

7
ir Xt rmT wsxt Snwt
as to the mind of the Egyptian people it is spacious as a double store room

8 4
iw =st mH.tw wsbt nbt
is it full of statements all

THE BELLY OF A MAN IS WIDER THAN A STOREHOUSE, AND IT IS FULL OF EVERY (KIND OF) RESPONSE. (Wilson)
A man's belly is wider than a granary, and full of all kinds of answers; (Lichtheim)
A person's body is more spacious than a state store and filled with every statement. (Quack)

7 It is obvious that Xt must be rendered here as mind; and that is what Wörterbuch
suggests (Wb III 357.3)
8 The ‘statements’ are the thoughts that can be voiced either in the proper or in the improper
language.
 Choose the proper one and keep the improper one locked into your mind.

20,10
i iri tw =k stp tA nfrt
Oh do you choose the proper one

i Dd … iw tA bin Ddh .tw m Xt tw =k

Oh … to be the improper one imprisoned in mind yours

Choose the good one and say it, While the bad is shut in your belly. (Lichtheim)
You shall choose what is good to say, while the bad is locked in your body. (Quack)

An aggressive statement stands by the stake of impalment.

9 5
wsbt nxt.tw aHa.tw Hatwy
statement aggressive standing by the stake

A rude answer brings a beating, (Lichtheim)

A rough answer brings blows. (Quack)
An aggressive answer / utterance carries the risk of a whipping (literally: is subject to the stick). (Dils)

9 A parallel passage in line 22,8 reads as follows:

A combative statement is subject to the stake of impalment.

wSbt aHA.tw Xr SAbdy

statement combative subject to the stake

The stake, called SAbdy (as right above) instead of HAtwy , occurs in the
following enlightening passage from “The Instructions of “Amenemope”:

Oh, do perceive the custodian of the inferior person:

when he nails him on the stake,
when all his people are crushed in the shackles,
when punishing by killing in the execution grounds.
 i iri =k siAA r Hy n twA
Oh do you perceive of the custodian of the inferior person

iw dmi =f sw sAbd
when nails he him on the stake

iw rmT =f nb maDA n pxA

when people his all are crushed in the shackles

iw TA Hwi nmit
when punishing by killing in the execution grounds
(“The Instructions of Amenemope”, Chapter 11, lines 14.19 – 15.3)

Say of the pleasant, of the preferred ones.

20,11
i Dd m pA nDm mr tw
Oh say of the pleasant preferred one

Say the pleasant popular. (Quack)

6
I will not be with you forever

iyA bn iw =k mdi =i r - nHH

indeed not be you with me forever

Certainly, you will always be with me (Erman 1923)

… … … … (Lichtheim)
Verily you will not be with me forever (Quack) (Dils)
 to stand up for one transgressing unjustly.

10
an wsbt pA thAi tw m grg
standing up for the one transgressing unjustly

and answer him who lied against me, (Erman 1923)

He who sins by lying (Suys) (According to Suys, Maxim No. 36 begins at this point)
Don't ever talk back to your attacker, do not set a trap for him; (Lichtheim)
To take revenge on the one who offended you by lying (Quack)
<to> (?) hold him accountable who afterwards (?) Attacked you (?) In a lying way (?) (Dils)

10 an wsb means to advocate

antworten jemandem to answer someone

eintreten für jemanden stand up for someone

7
Finally, the god will judge the pure one,

20,12 11
m sA pA nTr wpwt pA mAatw
finally the god judges / recognizes the pure one

in spite of the God who judges the righteous. (Erman 1923)

despite the god, when he who is righteous is a judge, (Suys)
It is the god who judges the righteous, (Lichtheim)
God judges the righteous, (Quack)
God judges / recognizes the righteous (Dils)
 11 The ‘god’ is judge Anubis, who was a real person. On a 5050-year-old wooden tablet, Anubis
appears as the administrator and judge of a public harem to whom some goods were shipped:
https://www.academia.edu/38345632/Deciphering_a_5050_year_old_Egyptian_tablet

then the fate imposed (by the judge) takes him away.

12
iw pAy =f SAyt iw iTAy =f
then his imposed fate comes to take away him

His fate comes to take him. (Erman 1923)

his fate prevails. (Suys)
His fate comes and takes him away. (Lichtheim)
When his fate has come to take him. (Quack)
when his (the righteous or the aggressor?) fate has come to take him away. (Dills)

8
12 The term SAyt can be rendered as fate, but fate imposed on the basis of
certain criteria; not something predetermined, as we moderns understand fate.
According to the Wörterbuch, the main meaning of the term is the definite, the determinate.
It is used in the sense of tax, levy, duty, charge, contribution, to be imposed, and in this case
fate with reference to someone’s lifetime, misfortune, or death.