The interpretation of this 'important, rather atypical' text is made difficult by its poor state of preservation. The translation is taken from the full commentary on the text by R. Jasnow, "A Late Period Hieratic Wisdom Text (P. Brooklyn 47.218.135)" ( PDF ). The format of the translation has been altered so that it mostly follows the format of the French translation by D. Agut-Labordère & M. Chauveau, "Héros, magiciens et sages oubliés de l'Égypte ancienne" (Paris, 2011), pp.213-221.
[1] ****
When one said to him the manner (?) . . . this land before him . . . the Son of Ra, Wȝḥ-ỉb-Rʿ came forth . . . he gave to him the seat 15 . . . among them . . . throne of Horus governing . . . before everyone (?).
{ An Inaccessible Sanctuary }
[2] . . . 5 in the course of every day. [They] repel them from it so as to prevent them from knowing its lay-out . . . They [made] all its paths with flint-stones, they being sharper than a knife, they being wanting in water, they [being empty of food. Whoever fares upon their water is ship-[wrecked] . . . he cannot reach the shore. He built for it a wall of granite around it. Its ramparts are of flint, its double-door of tin, [its] door-bolt of . . . Whoever reaches there and transgresses its ground, [entering] into it so as to trespass on it, he falls (?) . . . place of his two feet. He will not return to his place of origin . . . The one who knows how to enter into it finds it like the horizon of heaven.
{ The Warrior King }
As for those whom Pre created, Pharaoh is their herdsman. His speech is the seed of the bulls. Many (?) are the . . . against the perverse ones. Are bulls perverse? Their herdsman 10 is the one who tames [them with the] mouth of his prod. Myriads of soldiers cannot seize them through robbery. They fall at the sight of a brave man. As for him who is on the path . . . reaches him when he sallies forth. He slaughters myriads [of soldiers.] Myriads of soldiers are leaderless. The brave man is a leader who fights with the edge of his axe. [A brave] man is a hound. His sthȝt is a . . . a wall of copper, while he looks out for (?) the one who [fights (?)] with him. He fights, while he . . . 15 He makes a slaughter, burning with fire.
{ Conduct towards a Superior }
A soldier is feeble, whose master is not with [him. He is a] chariot, which has not a [kȝ]šn. He is a transport ship, which has no [rudder(?) . . .
Place (?)] your master in your body that he may love you . . . his health through the gods, . . . his household.
The one who praises his master since . . ., he will love him more than his flesh, and he will [give (?) to him rat]ions daily on account of the love of [his master (?)] . . ., and he will cause his men to work for him in accordance with their . . .
But as for him who causes] his lord to be greatly troubled in his body, the master looks to . . . His heart does not rest until he exacts from him the compensation of that which he did to him.
A noble lives on Truth. Falsehood is his abomination. He joins the blessed ones. He is a companion of truth.
The noble gives compensation to the one who causes his work to be excellent and to the one who causes his labour to be abundant. He will distinguish himself from the Friends on account of the abundance of your activity for your master daily, so that he stretches out to you his hand with the promise of life.
A chief who is cruel to him, however, is cruel to his men.
As for the one who causes his affairs to 20 go badly, the god exacts compensation from him. Even if he spends the night being silent, it is to the god without need (?) that he speaks concerning your case (?) . . .
[3] . . . Shai knows well how to use his hand on account of it to punish [him]. There does not exist the one who can save him from it. . . .
Do that which you said to him that you would do. Do not allow tomorrow to come, while his report is neglected. . . . your plea another time.
A master is the like of the one who is happy with the . . . every sort of misery in existence, while his sustenance is not in his hand. A guilty man (?) gives his report (?) . . . bend his elbows before . . . he sees the master? . . . He is greedier than . . . the Fate.
10 The one who is suffering under evil does not neglect (?) . . . the god so that he begs for death . . . His [heart] is weak. He cannot raise himself. His life is that of a dead man (?) . . .
Be trustworthy with your master. He will love [you (?)] . . .
Tremble as though he were as a vizier. Prepare yourself for a tȝyty . . . sȝb. Beware . . . a vizier. Do not let there exist his obstruction. . . . He is fearful when cursing more than fire. The unruly man . . . [they place (?)] him in flames. He cannot . . . his companion of yesterday suffers (?) . . . until he ... a Medjay . . . a support (?) of the earth. The protection of the one 15 [for whom (?)] you will make . . . a wise man from a stupid man there[in (?)] because(?) . . . [a stupid] man (?). He cannot finish . . . . . . said by (?) a wise man . . . with his mouth, and he completes the attaining of it, . . . the matter is more precious (?) than a . . . hidden . . .
. . . [the one] who hung up the heaven, while establishing the earth. Everything which has come into being comes into being through him. He did not ask (?) his wise ones (?) . . . his court of the gods who are with him, being one who loves truth, who hates falsehood, one without a fondness for 20 hatred . . . who appointed Thoth as vizier. He performs for him every matter of the determinations of their mouths so that he comes forth in justification of voice against the enemies who . . . judging between Pre and Apophis in the Exalted of Years. They did not withdraw their hearts from him.
{ Miscellaneous Maxims }
[4] . . . They do not give his property . . . They do not allow him to speak . . . like a . . . he being wretched. It is for? the one who is [excellent(?)] that they act, he working like a bee . . . [He is the] best of the wise men . . . to him . . .
[He is] like Sia, a perfect wise man, [a crocodile to the thief, a Fate to the evil one,] a guardian poisonous (?) [snake] in the house of his lord . . . superior 5 . . . hand over to him your one calf so that he may feed your many calves. You will find it a prosperous way, there not being your finding obstruction therein. Let your chief know your [excellence (?). Be] attentive so that he relates to you everything which has happened to him and so that he determines for you in the future.
The praises of [the] servant are from his mouth, while his heart [is scornful (?).He] hastens towards the image(?) of Fate daily.
A barking domestic dog is the one who causes his master to be safe. His biting is that which is despised (?) . . . at the gate (?) of the house of his lord, being forgetful of the respect due him, he is in everybody's eye a thing which makes enmity.
Love your household.
Choose for yourself a multitudinous harem. . . . the earth being fit to be a tutor (?) for the offspring (?) of nobles.
A good man(?) opens up his arms to every man. Are you more powerful 10 than your . . .
The property of the just man does not perish. The robber does not bequeath to his son.
A chief does not say that which concerns him. His ... is not able to call out(?) . . . the one who is unimportant after being great, the one who is great after being unimportant.
The one who causes that god be disrespected is the one who causes that fear of him be known to (?) the masses. The ones of . . . in accordance with the nature of wild beasts.
One is born after another has died. One is old, another is young.
Do not ever allow a great man to be evil. . . . you make a reproach (?) against (?) him, while he is standing in the . . .
Collect for yourself property again and again . . . A ship, the crew of which is evil, it is shipwrecked. . . . time, so that your enemies do not . . . over you so that you suffer . . . you be frightened (?) . . . his Medjay slaughters 15 . . . repentance (?) is a physician for the [heart (?)] . . . granite, the snare for the hearts . . . . An obedient (?) porter (?) is the one who draws water . . . . An excellent master is the one who . . . the temple.
An evil person is an abomination to his master.
Their condition of death lives in wrongly acquired property, they (?) having even consumed the sons of the evil-doers.
Prepare for the one who causes the . . . to bear witness . . . He speaks in order to give offence.
Violence to you is the result of an evil household.
The mouth speaks one thing to one man, another to another.
The one who shipwrecks himself is the one who sends [for aid?] . . . the soldier. The one who . . . works the land.
A labourer who is suffering under two sticks is happy with one. . . .
[As for the one who treads] the earth with his two feet, 20 it is for him that the river has been established (?), while the fieldworker produces (?) that which makes his flesh comfortable so that [he (?)] asks for . . . for the powerful ones(?)
[5] . . . Do not let . . . while it is not included? in the loss (?) [of] your property. . . . reported . . . [the] theft of (?) . . . [the] palace, and he . . . a policeman in the saying . . .
If they discover that you have stolen, they will [kill] you. If they do not discover that you have stolen, sickness will be in your flesh.
As for the one who steals with his servant, he does not allow him to reach the Fate (?). The servant is placed in the covert, he being festive in his [heart], having stolen his master's property, and having 5 had sex with his master's wife before him, while the master is silent. He does not speak.
Do not make for yourself a master and a friend, lest you become as a dog who has no master and you perish between them. That which your master . . . abomination . . . for him, you being (?) . . . exceedingly concerning it. An evil man, silver and gold are his beloved.
Is your master hateful? Reprove him! But an abomination is the reproving of him (?) . . .
Be silent! Do not reply! Do not praise until he recognises the importance of that which you did for him.
That which you hate to be done to you, do not do it to another . . .
[Do] you know the day in which you may become wretched with every kind of obstruction and lasting rejection (?) As for a heedful man who . . . according to his word, he bequeaths to his (?) . . . [no] evil (?) having reached him, while those who are greater than he bend to him with their shoulders.
Be energetic so that your sustenance comes about. Do not be weak, lest you 10 founder.
You should reach a foolish son? so as to instruct him, even while your coffin is at the place of your two feet.
You should support the son of your son. When he supports others? himself, so will he learn the difficulty of supporting his . . . concerning you, when you are old.
An excellent servant is? a miserable son. A wretch is he who singles out one son from another. A miserable son is an abomination . . . . . . [an abomination] in his heart.
As for children, their father and their mother are their witnesses before god which belong to them. Is a brother needy, he being . . . death.
If a companion resolves (?) [any] matter of yours in the world, you should give to him a reward, it being secret . . . a companion. Does his(?) companion . . . chatter (?) with unpleasant . . . and yet does not betray your words which are private, . . .
15 . . . with the vagina is? an excellent woman. One unlucky (?) with her vagina is the barren wife of the one who will (?) spend six months of the year hunting (?). The woman who reproves their . . . .
As for a servant who is lacking his food of yesterday, he does not delay to disturb the heart of his master. He seeks whatever is distressing so as to do it to him in (?) the . . . through it.
As for the staring of the two eyes (?), the one who gazes piercingly with his two eyes at his elder brother(?), his mother or [father], he brings up against himself a blasphemous accusation. He protects himself from . . . the lazy one . . . for you your two feet. He hurries when he wishes. If he is . . ., he turns his back. If a pair of horses rushes behind him (?) . . .
{ Praise of Agricultural Work }
[6] . . . a leader . . . him, so that he directs ... watering of fields . . . There is no consumption [of] provisions in the heart [of the leader (?). There is no] waste of the seed [of the] virtuous ones. As for the one who digs dykes (?) with his own hands, [he will] not [become] a have-not. But the [fool] will not enter into the plans [of the wise man (?)] . . . Let [one protect (?) the] produce.
Dig a canal for your field so that the river may take to it the flow in its dykes, and so that it becomes like [a ?] well.
The fields will 5 flourish (?) through (?) the work of two farmers in seed-time. The land will perish through the work of one in harvest-time, although the field is in good condition.
Does a hoer cease his work, the granaries being full of barley and emmer? The threshing floor will thus suffer a shortage. There is then no produce for the store-rooms. The nobles are the ones whose hands will fill their bellies, while the ones who work the land starve to death in the low-lying fields.
A field flourishes through a cultivator, its ... and . . ., they are the ones who cause it to be destroyed. The husband . . . of a field is its farmer . . . creates for him produce and sustenance. A field is turquoise (?), a fair well for the one who knows its nature. It is fat for [him who] works it; granite for him who 10 plunders it. You should say: "My field is well supplied" when you give its farmer the equipment of his labour.
You plough, you being under the yoke. You reap, while you stumble along (?). Be prepared on the threshing floor of the granaries. That which is lost is the offering of the weak ones. Make your feet hurry, while you look to (?) the cultivator (?). Provide for him (?), while you reap.
He who causes one to plough, he will (?) cause [another] to reap, and he will cause that they both labour without cease . . .
[One who] causes farmers to [work] in a field every year, he is successful (?), an owner of silver, gold, cows, birds, granaries, every kind of small cattle in a [great] 15 Nile . . . [the] farmer in a small Nile, his heart will be joyful.
As for a farmer who ploughs and reaps, without his having . . . he will extend (?) his hand like a lion. He is a man who draws water from a well. his vase being as a sieve, a farmer from year to year. He does not have [a handful] of barley. But when he plants (?) in the Nile-mud, then he fills granaries with barley and emmer. The one who is well prepared cultivates, while causing to come forth the following exclamations of the ignorant man: "The farmer is the chief of every occupation. For him do they work. His hands are their breath of life in . . ."
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