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Many of the passages in the indictment of Apuur resemble the descriptions of the state of the land of Israel and her people which are found in the writings of the Hebrew Prophets, and the "shepherd of mankind," i.e. of the Egyptians, forcibly reminds us of the appeal to the "Shepherd of Israel" in Psalm lxxx. 1.

After many breaks in the text we come to the passage in which Apuur seems to foretell the coming of the king who is to restore order and prosperity to the land. He is to make cool that which is hot. He is to be the "shepherd of mankind," having no evil in his heart. Is he sleeping? Behold, his might is not seen."

Another Egyptian writer, called Apuur, who probably flourished a little before the rule of the kings of the twelfth dynasty, depicts the terrible state of misery and corruption into which Egypt had fallen in his time, but his despair is not so deep as that of the man who was tired of his life or that of the priest Khakhepersenb.

The following extracts will give an idea of the character of the indictment which Apuur drew up against the Government and society of his day, and which he had the temerity to proclaim in the presence of the reigning king and his court. He says: "The guardians of houses say, 'Let us go and steal. The snarers of birds have formed themselves into armed bands.