The Book of the Bee

An unabridged edition edited by E. A. Wallis Budge with all Chapters, Footnotes, Preface, and the Apology, to include: Of God's eternal intention in respect of the creation of the universe - Of the creation of the seven natures (substances) in silence - Of earth, water, air, and fire - Of heaven - Of the angels - Of darkness - Of effused (circumambient) light - Of the firmament - Of the creation of trees and plants, and the making of seas and rivers - Of the making of the luminaries - Of the creation of sea-monsters, fish, winged fowl, and the reptiles that are in the seas - Of the creation of beasts and animals - Of the formation of Adam - Of the making of Eve - Of Paradise - Of the sin of Adam - Of the expulsion of Adam and Eve from Paradise - Of Adam's knowing Eve - Of the invention of the instruments for working in iron - Of Noah and the Flood - Of Melchizedek - Of the generations of Noah, how seventy-two families sprang from three sons - Of the succession of generations from the Flood until now - Of the building of the Tower - Of Abraham - Of the temptation of Job - Of Isaac's blessing upon Jacob - Of Joseph - Of Moses and the Children of Israel - Of Moses' rod - Of Joshua the son of Nun, and the Judges, and brief notices of the Kings of the Children of Israel - Of the death of the Prophets; how they died, and (where) they were buried - Of the divine dispensation which was wrought in the New Testament, and of the genealogy of Christ - Of the announcement of the angel to Joachim in respect of Mary - Of the annunciation of Gabriel to Mary in respect of her conception of our Lord - Of our Lord's birth in the flesh - Of the prophecy of Baruch the scribe - Of the star which appeared in the East on the day of our Lord's birth - Of the coming of the Magi from Persia, and the slaughter of the infants - Of the going down of our Lord into Egypt - Of John the Baptist and his baptism of our Lord - Of our Lord's fast and His contest with Satan - Of the Passover of our Lord - Of the passion of our Lord - Of the resurrection of our Lord - Of the ascension of our Lord - Of the descent of the Holy Ghost upon the Apostles in the upper chamber - Of the teaching of the Apostles, their deaths, and the place where each of them (was buried) - The names of the twelve Apostles and the seventy (Disciples), one after another in (his) grade - Of minor matters; those of the Apostles who were married, etc. - The names of the Eastern Patriarchs, and the places where they were buried - The names of the kings who have reigned in the world from the Flood to the present time, and the (number of the) years of the reign of each of them. The names of the kings of the Medes and the Egyptians; the names of the seventy old men who brought out the Scriptures and translated them; the names of the Roman emperors, and of the kings of Persia - Of the end of times and the change of kingdoms. From the book of Methodius, the bishop of Rome - Of Gog and Magog, who are imprisoned in the North - Of the coming of Antichrist, the son of perdition - Of death and the departure of the soul from the body - Of the rising of the dead and the general resurrection, the end of the material world, and the beginning of the new world - Of the manner in which men will rise in the day of the resurrection - Of the happiness of the righteous, and the torture of sinners; and of the manner in which they will exist yonder - Of the demons and sinners in Gehenna, whether after they have been punished and have suffered and received their sentence, they will have mercy shewn to them or not; and if mercy be shewn to them, when it will be.