In the Egyptian Book of the Dead, the deceased’s moral declaration before the judgment tribunal was called the Negative Confession. It consisted of statements denying that the person had committed particular offenses.
The declarations were addressed to divine judges associated with the Hall of Two Truths. Their purpose was not merely to provide a private prayer. They presented the deceased as someone who had upheld ma’at, the principle of truth, justice, and cosmic order.
The Negative Confession is often linked with the weighing of the heart, but it was a separate part of the judgment sequence. The heart’s measurement provided a symbolic test, while the declarations expressed the deceased’s claims about personal conduct. Surviving versions vary in wording and length across manuscripts.