Joseph and Asenath 16

1And Asenath hasted and set an empty table before him; and, as she was starting to fetch bread, the divine angel saith to her: "Bring me also an honeycomb."

2And she stood still and was perplexed and grieved for that she had not a bee's comb in her storehouse.

3And the divine angel saith to her: "Wherefore standest thou still?"

4And she said: "My lord, I will send a boy to the suburb, because the possession of our inheritance is near, and he will come and bring one quickly thence, and I will set it before thee."

5The divine angel saith to her: "Enter thy storehouse and thou wilt find a bee's comb lying upon the table; take it up and bring it hither."

6And she said, "Lord, there is no bee's comb in my storehouse."

7And he said, "Go and thou wilt find."

8And Asenath entered her storehouse and found an honeycomb lying upon the table; and the comb was great and white like snow and full of honey, and that honey was as the dew of heaven, and the odour thereof as the odour of life.

9Then Asenath wondered and said in herself: "Is this comb from the mouth of this man himself?"

10And Asenath took that comb and brought it and set it forth upon the table, and the angel said to her: "Why is it that thou saidst, 'There is no honeycomb in mine house,' and lo! thou hast brought it me?"

11And she said: "Lord, I have never put an honeycomb in mine house, but as thou saidst so it hath been made.

12Came this forth from thy mouth? for that the odour thereof is as the odour of ointment."

13And the man smiled at the woman's understanding.

14Then he calleth her to himself, and, when she came, he stretched out his right hand and took hold of her head, and, when he shook her head with his right hand, Asenath feared the angel's hand greatly, for that sparks proceeded from his hands after the manner of red-hot iron, and accordingly she was all the time gazing with much fear and trembling at the angel's hand.

15And he smiled and said: "Blessed art thou, Asenath, because the ineffable mysteries of God have been revealed to thee; and blessed are all who cleave to the Lord God in penitence, because they shall eat of this comb, for that this comb is the spirit of life, and this the bees of the paradise of delight have made from the dew of the roses of life that are in the paradise of God and every flower, and of it eat the angels and all the elect of God and all the sons of the Most High, and whosoever shall eat of it shall not die forever."

16Then the divine angel stretched out his right hand and took a small piece from the comb and ate, and with his own hand placed what was left in Asenath's mouth and said to her, "Eat," and she ate.

17And the angel saith to her: "Lo! now thou hast eaten the bread of life and hast drunk the cup of immortality and been anointed with the unction of incorruption; lo! now to-day thy flesh produceth flowers of life from the fountain of the Most High, and thy bones shall be made fat like the cedars of the paradise of delight of God and unwearying powers shall maintain thee; accordingly thy youth shall not see old age, nor shall thy beauty fail for ever, but thou shalt be as a walled mother-city of all."

18And the angel touched the comb, and many bees arose from the cells of that comb, and the cells were numberless, tens of thousands of tens of thousands and thousands of thousands.

19And the bees also were white like snow, and their wings as purple and crimson stuff and as scarlet; and they had also sharp stings and injured no man.

20Then all those bees encircled Asenath from feet to head, and other great bees like their queens arose from the cells, and they circled round upon her face and upon her lips, and made a comb upon her mouth and upon her lips like the comb that lay before the angel; and all those bees ate from the comb that was upon Asenath's mouth.

21And the angel said to the bees, "Go now to your place."

22Then all the bees rose and flew and departed to heaven; but as many as wished to injure Asenath all fell upon the earth and died.

23And thereupon the angel stretched his staff over the dead bees and said to them: "Rise and depart ye also into your place."

24Then all the dead bees rose and departed into the court that adjoined Asenath's house and took up their lodging upon the fruit-bearing trees.