Fear

Passages

Every passage tagged with this emotion in the Vela corpus. Search the body text, narrow by source or register, click through to a book’s profile to see how the passage sits with the rest of the work.

Page 74 of 529 · 20 per page

• From Amplified Holy Bible (2015)

  8 Crispus, the leader of the synagogue, believed in the Lord together with his entire household [joyfully acknowledging Him as Messiah and Savior]; and many of the Corinthians who heard [Paul’s message] were believing and being baptized. 9 One night the Lord said to Paul in a vision, “Do not be afraid anymore, but go on speaking and do not be silent; 10 for I am with you, and no one will attack you in order to hurt you, because I have many people in this city.” [Is 43:5 ; Jer 1:8 ] 11 So he settled there for a year and six months, teaching them the word of God [concerning eternal salvation through faith in Christ]. 12 But when d Gallio was proconsul of Achaia (southern Greece), the Jews made a united attack on Paul and brought him before e the judgment seat, 13 declaring, “This man is persuading people to worship God in violation of the law [of Moses].” 14 But when Paul was about to reply, Gallio said to the Jews, “If it were a matter of some misdemeanor or serious crime, O Jews, I would have reason to put up with you; 15 but since it is merely a question [of doctrine within your religion] about words and names and your own law, see to it yourselves; I am f unwilling to judge these matters.” 16 And he drove them away from the judgment seat. 17 Then the Greeks all seized g Sosthenes, the leader of the synagogue, and began beating him right in front of the judgment seat; but Gallio paid no attention to any of this. [1 Cor 1:1 ] 18 Paul stayed for a while longer, and then told the h brothers and sisters goodbye and sailed for Syria; and he was accompanied by Priscilla and Aquila. At Cenchrea [the southeastern port of Corinth] he had his hair cut, because he was keeping a [Nazirite] vow [of abstention]. 19 Then they arrived in Ephesus, and he left the others there; but he entered the synagogue and reasoned and debated with the Jews. 20 When they asked him to stay for a longer time, he refused; 21 but after telling them goodbye and saying, “I will return again if God is willing,” he set sail from Ephesus. 22 When he had landed at Caesarea, he went up and i greeted the church [at Jerusalem], and then went down to Antioch. Paul’s Third Missionary Journey 23 After spending some time there, he left and traveled through the territory of Galatia and Phrygia, strengthening and encouraging all the disciples. 24 Now a Jew named Apollos, a native of Alexandria, came to Ephesus. He was an eloquent and cultured man, and well versed in the [Hebrew] Scriptures.

• From Amplified Holy Bible (2015)

  [Dan 7:8 ] 6 And he opened his mouth to speak blasphemies (abusive speech, slander) against God, to blaspheme His name and His tabernacle, and those who live in heaven. 7 He was also e permitted to wage war against the saints (God’s people) and to overcome them, and authority and power over every tribe and people and language and nation. [Dan 7:21 , 25 ] 8 All the inhabitants of the earth will fall down and worship him, everyone whose name has not been written since the foundation of the world in the Book of Life of the Lamb who has been slain [as a willing sacrifice]. 9 If anyone has an ear, let him hear. 10 If anyone is destined for captivity, he will go into captivity; if anyone kills with a sword, he must be killed with a sword. Here is [the call for] the patient endurance and the faithfulness of the saints [which is seen in the response of God’s people to difficult times]. [Jer 15:2 ] The Beast from the Earth 11 Then I saw f another beast rising up out of the earth; he had two horns like a lamb and he spoke like a dragon. [Matt 7:15 , 16 ] 12 He exercises all the authority of the first beast in his presence [when the two are together]. And he makes the earth and those who inhabit it worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed. 13 He performs great signs (awe-inspiring acts), even making fire fall from the sky to the earth, right before peoples’ eyes. 14 And he deceives those [unconverted ones] who inhabit the earth [into believing him] because of the signs which he is given [by Satan] to perform in the presence of the [first] beast, telling those who inhabit the earth to make an image to the beast who was wounded [fatally] by the sword and has come back to life. [Deut 13:1–5 ; Mark 13:22 ; 2 Thess 2:9 , 10 ] 15 And he is given power to give breath to the image of the beast, so that the image of the beast will even [appear to] speak, and cause those who do not bow down and worship the image of the beast to be put to death. [Dan 3:5 ] 16 Also he compels all, the small and the great, and the rich and the poor, and the free men and the slaves, to be given a mark on their right hand or on their forehead [signifying allegiance to the beast], 17 and that no one will be able to buy or sell, except the one who has the mark, either the name of the beast or the number of his name. 18 Here is wisdom. Let the person who has enough insight calculate the number of the beast, for it is the [imperfect] number of a man; g and his number is h six hundred and sixty-six.

• From Amplified Holy Bible (2015)

  [Dan 7:3 , 7 , 21 ] 8 And their dead bodies will lie exposed in the open street of the great city (Jerusalem), which in a spiritual sense is called [by the symbolic and allegorical names of] Sodom and Egypt, where also their Lord was crucified. [Is 1:9 ] 9 Those from the peoples and tribes and languages and nations d look at their dead bodies for three and a half days, and will not allow their dead bodies to be laid in a tomb. 10 And those [non-believers] who live on the earth will gloat over them and rejoice; and they will send gifts [in celebration] to one another, because these two prophets tormented and troubled those who live on the earth. 11 But after three and a half days, the breath of life from God came into them, and they stood on their feet; and great fear and panic fell on those who were watching them. [Ezek 37:5 , 10 ] 12 And the two witnesses heard a loud voice from heaven saying to them, “Come up here.” Then they ascended into heaven in the cloud, and their enemies watched them. [2 Kin 2:11 ] 13 And in that [very] hour there was a great earthquake, and a tenth of the city fell and was destroyed; seven thousand e people were killed in the earthquake, and the rest [who survived] were overcome with terror, and f they glorified the God of heaven [as they recognized His awesome power]. 14 The second woe is past; behold, the third woe is coming quickly. The Seventh Trumpet—Christ’s Reign Foreseen 15 Then the seventh angel sounded [his trumpet]; and there were loud voices in heaven, saying, “T he kingdom (dominion, rule) of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ; and He will reign forever and ever.” [Ps 22:28 ; Dan 2:31–45 ; 7:13 , 14 , 27 ; Zech 14:9 ] 16 And the twenty-four elders, who sit on their thrones before God, fell face downward and worshiped God, 17 saying, “T o You we give thanks, O Lord God Almighty [the Omnipotent, the Ruler of all], Who are and Who were, because You have taken Your great power and the sovereignty [which is rightly Yours] and have [now] begun to reign. 18 “And the nations (Gentiles) became enraged, and Your wrath and indignation came, and the time came for the dead to be judged, and [the time came] to reward Your bond-servants the prophets and the saints (God’s people) and those who fear Your name, the small and the great, and [the time came] to destroy the destroyers of the earth.” [Ps 2:1 ; 2 Thess 1:3–12 ] 19 And the temple of God which is in heaven was opened; and the ark of His covenant appeared in His temple, and there were flashes of lightning, loud rumblings and peals of thunder and an earthquake and a great hailstorm.

• From Another Country (1962)

  The room was growing darker. Bessie sang, The blues has got me on the go. They runs around my house, in and out of my front door. Then the needle scratched aimlessly for a second, and the record player clicked itself off. Eric’s attention had painfully snagged itself on the memory of those unloved, but not wholly undesired, girls. Their texture and their odor floated back to him: and it was abruptly astonishing that he had not thought of that side of himself for so long. It had been because of Yves. This thought filled him with a hideous, unwilling resentment: he remembered Yves’ hostile adventures with the girls of the Latin Quarter and St. Germain-des-Près. These adventures had not touched Eric because they so clearly had not touched Yves. But now, superbly, like a diver coming to the surface, his terror bobbed, naked, to the surface of his mind: he would lose Yves, here. It would happen here. And he, he would have no woman, and he would have no Yves. His flesh began to itch, he felt himself beginning to sweat. He turned and smiled at Cass, who had moved to the sofa, and sat very still beside him in the gloom. She was not watching him. She sat with her hands folded in her lap, busy with thoughts of her own. “This is one hell of a party,” he said. She rose, smiling, and shook herself a little. “It is, isn’t it? I was beginning to wonder where the children are—they should be home by now. And maybe I’d better turn on some lights.” She switched on a lamp near the bar. Now, the water and the lights along the water glowed more softly, suggesting the imminent night. Everything was pearl gray, shot with gold. “I’d better go and rouse Richard.” “I didn’t know,” he said, “that it would be so easy to feel at home again.” She looked at him quickly, and grinned. “Is that good?” “I don’t know yet.” He was about to say something more, something about Yves, but he heard Richard’s study door open and close. He turned to face Richard as he came into the room; he looked very handsome and boyish and big. “So we finally got you back here! I’m told it took every penny Shubert Alley could scrape together. How are you, you old bastard?” “I’m fine, Richard, it’s good to see you.” They clung together, briefly, in the oddly truncated, shrinking, American embrace, and stepped back to look at one another. “I hear that you’re selling more books than Frank Yerby.” “Better,” said Richard, “but not more.” He looked over at Cass. “How are you, chicken? How’s the headache?” “Eric started telling me about Paris, and I forgot all about it. Why don’t we go to Paris? I think it would do wonders for us.”

• From The Decameron (1353)

  During this parley, the whole place had been encompassed about with men-at-arms; wherefore the abbot, seeing himself taken with his men, betook himself, sore against his will, to the castle, in company with the ambassador, and with him all his household and gear, and alighting there, was, by Ghino's orders, lodged all alone in a very dark and mean little chamber in one of the pavilions, whilst every one else was well enough accommodated, according to his quality, about the castle and the horses and all the gear put in safety, without aught thereof being touched. This done, Ghino betook himself to the abbot and said to him, 'Sir, Ghino, whose guest you are, sendeth to you, praying you acquaint him whither you are bound and on what occasion.' The abbot, like a wise man, had by this laid by his pride and told him whither he went and why. Ghino, hearing this, took his leave and bethought himself to go about to cure him without baths. Accordingly, he let keep a great fire still burning in the little room and causing guard the place well, returned not to the abbot till the following morning, when he brought him, in a very white napkin, two slices of toasted bread and a great beaker of his own Corniglia vernage[441] and bespoke him thus, 'Sir, when Ghino was young, he studied medicine and saith that he learned there was no better remedy for the stomach-complaint than that which he purposeth to apply to you and of which these things that I bring you are the beginning; wherefore do you take them and refresh yourself.' [Footnote 441: See p. 372, note.]

• From The Well of Loneliness (1928)

  Then one afternoon Roger came with his car to take Angela for a drive through the hills. The New Year was slipping into the spring, and the air smelt of sap and much diligent growing. A warm February had succeeded the winter. Many birds would be astir on those hills where lovers might sit unashamed — where Stephen had sat holding Angela clasped in her arms, while she eagerly took and gave kisses. And remembering these things Ste- phen turned and left them; unable just then to endure any longer. Going home, she made her way to the lakes, and there she quite suddenly started weeping. Her whole body seemed to dissolve itself in weeping; and she flung herself down on the kind earth of Morton, shedding tears as of blood. There was no one to witness those tears except the white swan called Peter. 5 TERRIBLE, heart-breaking months. She grew gaunt with her un- appeased love for Angela Crossby. And now she would some- times turn in despair to the thought of her useless and unspent money. Thoughts would come that were altogether unworthy, but nevertheless those thoughts would persist. Roger was not rich; she was rich already and some day she would be even richer. She went up to London and chose new clothes at a West End tailor’s; the man in Malvern who had made for her father was getting old, she would have her suits made in London in future. She ordered herself a rakish red car; a long-bodied, sixty horse power Métallurgique. It was one of the fastest cars of its year, and it certainly cost her a great deal of money. She bought twelve pairs of gloves, some heavy silk stockings, a square sapphire scarf pin and a new umbrella. Nor could she resist the lure of pyjamas made of white crépe de Chine which she spotted in Bond Street. The pyjamas led to a man’s dressing-gown of brocade — an amaz- ingly ornate garment. Then she had her nails manicured but not ‘ THE WELL OF LONELINESS 2H polished, and from that shop she carried away toilet water and a box of soap that smelt of carnations and some cuticle cream for the care of her nails. And last but not least, she bought a gold bag with a clasp set in diamonds for Angela. All told she had spent a considerable sum, and this gave her a fleeting satisfaction. But on her way back in the train to Malvern, she gazed out of the window with renewed desolation. Money could not buy the one thing that she needed in life; it could not buy Angela’s love. 6

• From The Well of Loneliness (1928)

  to her roughly: ‘ How much do you love me? Tell me quickly, quickly! ’ Her voice shook with something very like fear. ‘Stephen, you’re hurting me — don’t, you're hurting! You know how I love you — more than life.’ ‘ You are my life . . . all my life,’ muttered Stephen. CHAPTER 54 I ate, which by now had them well in its grip, began to play F the game out more quickly. That summer they went to Pont- resina since Mary had never seen Switzerland; but the Comtesse must make a double cure, first at Vichy and afterwards at Bag- noles de l’Orne, which fact left Martin quite free to join them. Then it was that Stephen perceived for the first time that all was not well with Martin Hallam. Try as he might he could not deceive her, for this man was almost painfully honest, and any deception became him so ill that it seemed to stand out like a badly fitting garment. Yet now there were times when he avoided her eyes, when he grew very silent and awkward with Stephen, as though something inevitable and unhappy had obtruded itself upon their friendship; something, moreover, that he feared to tell her. Then one day in a blinding flash of insight she suddenly knew what this was — it was Mary. Like a blow that is struck full between the eyes, the thing stunned her, so that at first she groped blindly. Martin, her friend . . . But what did it mean? And Mary . . . The in- credible misery of it if it were true. But was it true that Martin Hallam had grown to love Mary? And the other thought, more incredible still — had Mary in her turn grown to love Martin? The mist gradually cleared; Stephen grew cold as steel, her perceptions becoming as sharp as daggers — daggers that thrust themselves into her soul, draining the blood from her innermost being. And she watched. To herself she seemed all eyes and ears, a monstrous thing, a complete degradation, yet endowed with an almost unbearable skill, with a subtlety passing her own under- standing. And Martin was no match for this thing that was Stephen. He, the lover, could not hide his betraying eyes from her eyes that were THE WELL OF LONELINESS 489 also those of a lover; could not stifle the tone that crept into his voice at times when he was talking to Mary. Since all that he felt was a part of herself, how could he hope to hide it from Stephen? And he knew that she had discovered the truth, while she in her turn perceived that he knew this, yet neither of them spoke — in a deathly silence she watched, and in silence he endured her watching.

• From Amplified Holy Bible (2015)

  You have not [simply] lied to people, but to God.” 5 And hearing these words, Ananias fell down suddenly and died; and great fear and awe gripped those who heard of it. 6 And the young men [in the congregation] got up and wrapped up the body, and carried it out and buried it. 7 Now after an interval of about three hours his wife came in, not knowing what had happened. 8 Peter asked her, “Tell me whether you sold your land for so much?” And she said, “Yes, for so much.” 9 Then Peter said to her, “How could you two have agreed together to put the Spirit of the Lord to the test? Look! The feet of those who have buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out also.” 10 And at once she fell down at his feet and died; and the young men came in and found her dead, and they carried her out and buried her beside her husband. 11 And great fear and awe gripped the whole church, and all who heard about these things. 12 At the hands of the apostles many signs and wonders (attesting miracles) were continually taking place among the people. And by common consent they all met together [at the temple] in [the covered porch called] Solomon’s portico. 13 But none of the rest [of the people, the non-believers] dared to associate with them; however, the people were holding them in high esteem and were speaking highly of them. 14 More and more believers in the Lord, crowds of men and women, were constantly being added to their number, 15 to such an extent that they even carried their sick out into the streets and put them on cots and sleeping pads, so that when Peter came by at least his shadow might fall on one of them [with healing power]. 16 And the people from the towns in the vicinity of Jerusalem were coming together, bringing the sick and those who were tormented by unclean spirits, and they were all being healed. Imprisonment and Release 17 But the b high priest stood up, along with all his associates (that is, the sect of the Sadducees), and they were filled with jealousy and resentment. 18 They arrested the apostles and put them in a public jail. 19 But during the night an angel of the Lord opened the prison doors, and leading them out, he said, 20 “Go, stand and continue to tell the people in the temple [courtyards] the whole message of this Life [the eternal life revealed by Christ and found through faith in Him].” 21 When they heard this, they went into the temple [courtyards] about daybreak and began teaching.

• From Amplified Holy Bible (2015)

  15 For He says to Moses, “I WILL HAVE MERCY ON WHOMEVER I HAVE MERCY , AND I WILL HAVE COMPASSION ON WHOMEVER I HAVE COMPASSION .” [Ex 33:19 ] 16 So then God’s choice is not dependent on human will, nor on human effort [the totality of human striving], but on God who shows mercy [to whomever He chooses—it is His sovereign gift]. 17 For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, “I RAISED YOU UP FOR THIS VERY PURPOSE , TO DISPLAY MY POWER IN [dealing with] YOU , AND SO THAT MY NAME WOULD BE PROCLAIMED IN ALL THE EARTH .” [Ex 9:16 ] 18 So then, He has mercy on whom He wills (chooses), and He hardens [the heart of] whom He wills. 19 You will say to me then, “Why does He still blame me [for sinning]? For who [including myself] has [ever] resisted His will and purpose?” 20 On the contrary, who are you, O man, who answers [arrogantly] back to God and dares to defy Him? Will the thing which is formed say to him who formed it, “Why have you made me like this?” [Is 29:16 ; 45:9 ] 21 Does the potter not have the right over the clay, to make from the same lump [of clay] one object for honorable use [something beautiful or distinctive] and another for common use [something ordinary or menial]? 22 What if God, although willing to show His [terrible] wrath and to make His power known, has tolerated with great patience the objects of His wrath [which are] prepared for destruction? [Prov 16:4 ] 23 And what if He has done so to make known the riches of His glory to the objects of His mercy, which He has prepared beforehand for glory, 24 including us, whom He also called, not only from among the Jews, but also from among the Gentiles?

• From Amplified Holy Bible (2015)

  12 Now if Israel’s transgression means riches for the world [at large] and their failure means riches for the Gentiles, how much more will their fulfillment and reinstatement be! 13 But now I am speaking to you who are Gentiles. Inasmuch then as I am an apostle to the Gentiles, I magnify my ministry, 14 in the hope of somehow making my fellow countrymen jealous [by stirring them up so that they will seek the truth] and perhaps save some of them. 15 For if their [present] rejection [of salvation] is for the reconciliation of the world [to God], what will their acceptance [of salvation] be but [nothing less than] life from the dead? 16 If the first portion [of dough offered as the first fruits] is holy, so is the whole batch; and if the root (Abraham, the patriarchs) is holy, so are the branches (the Israelites). [Num 15:19–21 ] 17 But if some of the branches were broken off, and you [Gentiles], being like a wild olive shoot, were grafted in among them to share with them the rich root of the olive tree, 18 do not boast over the [broken] branches and exalt yourself at their expense. If you do boast and feel superior, remember that it is not you who supports the root, but the root that supports you. 19 You will say then, “Branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in.” 20 That is true. They were broken off because of their unbelief, but you stand by your faith [as believers understanding the truth of Christ’s deity]. Do not be conceited, but [rather stand in great awe of God and] fear [Him]; 21 for if God did not spare the natural branches [because of unbelief], He will not spare you either. 22 Then appreciate the gracious kindness and the severity of God: to those who fell [into spiritual ruin], severity, but to you, God’s gracious kindness—if you continue in His kindness [by faith and obedience to Him]; otherwise you too will be cut off. 23 And even they [the unbelieving Jews], if they do not continue in their unbelief, will be grafted in; for God has the power to graft them in again. 24 For if you were cut off from what is by nature a wild olive tree, and against nature were grafted into a cultivated olive tree, how much easier will it be to graft these who are the natural branches back into [the original parent stock of] their own olive tree?

• From The Well of Loneliness (1928)

  oon after the departure of Mademoiselle Duphot, there oc- S curred two distinct innovations at Morton. Miss Puddleton arrived to take possession of the schoolroom, and Sir Philip bought himself a motor-car. The motor was a Panhard, and it caused much excitement in the neighbourhood of Upton-on- Severn. Conservative, suspicious of all innovations, people had abstained from motors in the Midlands, and, incredible as it now seems to look back on, Sir Philip was regarded as a kind of pioneer. The Panhard was a_high-shouldered, snub-nosed abortion with a loud, vulgar voice and an uncertain temper. It suffered from frequent fits of dyspepsia, brought about by an unhealthy spark-plug. Its seats were the very acme of discomfort, its primitive gears unhandy and noisy, but nevertheless it could manage to attain to a speed of about fifteen miles per hour — given always that, by God’s good grace and the chauffeur’s, it was not in the throes of indigestion. Anna felt doubtful regarding this new purchase. She was one of those women who, having passed forty, were content to go on placidly driving in their broughams, or, in summer, in their charming little French victorias. She detested the look of herself in large goggles, detested being forced to tie on her hat, detested the heavy, mannish coat of rough tweed that Sir Philip insisted she must wear when motoring. Such things were not of her; they offended her sense of the seemly, her preference for soft, cling- ing garments, her instinct for quiet, rather slow, gentle move- ments, her love of the feminine and comely. For Anna at forty- four was still slender, and her dark hair, as yet, was untouched with grey, and her blue Irish eyes were as clear and candid as when she had come as a bride to Morton. She was beautiful still, THE WELL OF LONELINESS 69 and this fact rejoiced her in secret, because of her husband. Yet Anna did not ignore middle age; she met it half-way with dignity and courage; and now her soft dresses were of reticent colours, and her movements a little more careful than they had been, and her mind more severely disciplined and guarded — too much guarded these days, she was gradually growing less tolerant as her interests narrowed. And the motor, an unimportant thing in itself, served nevertheless to crystallize in Anna a cer- tain tendency towards retrogression, a certain instinctive dislike of the unusual, a certain deep-rooted fear of the unknown.

• From Amplified Holy Bible (2015)

  20 “As for the mystery of the seven stars which you saw in My right hand, and the seven golden lampstands: the seven stars are the angels ( v divine messengers) of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches. Revelation 2 Message to Ephesus 1 “T O THE angel (divine messenger) of the church in a Ephesus write: “ T hese are the words of the One who holds [firmly] the seven stars [which are the angels or messengers of the seven churches] in His right hand, the One who walks among the seven golden lampstands (the seven churches): 2 ‘I know b your deeds and your toil, and your patient endurance, and that you cannot tolerate those who are evil, and have tested and critically appraised those who call themselves apostles (special messengers, personally chosen representatives, of Christ), and [in fact] are not, and have found them to be liars and impostors; 3 and [I know that] you [who believe] are enduring patiently and are bearing up for My name’s sake, and that you have not grown weary [of being faithful to the truth]. 4 ‘But I have this [charge] against you, that you have left your first love [you have lost the depth of love that you first had for Me]. 5 ‘So remember the heights from which you have fallen, and repent [change your inner self—your old way of thinking, your sinful behavior—seek God’s will] and do the works you did at first [when you first knew Me]; otherwise, I will visit you and remove your lampstand (the church, its impact) from its place—unless you repent. 6 ‘Yet you have this [to your credit], that you hate the works and corrupt teachings of the c Nicolaitans [that mislead and delude the people], which I also hate. 7 ‘He who has an ear, let him hear and heed what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who d overcomes [the world through believing that Jesus is the Son of God], I will grant [the privilege] to eat [the fruit] from the tree of life, which is in the Paradise of God.’ [Gen 2:9 ; 3:24 ; 1 John 5:5 ] Message to Smyrna 8 “And to the angel (divine messenger) of the church in e Smyrna write: “ T hese are the words of the First and the Last [absolute Deity, the Son of God] who died and came to life [again]: [Is 44:6 ] 9 ‘I know your suffering and your poverty (but you are rich), and how you are blasphemed and slandered by those who say they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan [they are Jews only by blood, and do not believe and truly honor the God whom they claim to worship]. 10 ‘Fear nothing that you are about to suffer.

• From Paul and Palestinian Judaism (40th Anniversary Edition) (2017)

  2] I Enoch 357 And now I show unto you that light and darkness, day and night, see all your sins. Be not godless in your hearts, and lie not and alter not the words of uprightness, nor charge with lying the words of the Holy Great One, nor take account of your idols .... ( 104.8-9) 23 Yet in keeping with the general apocalyptic view, we are not told how an individual might transfer from the group of the unrighteous to the righteous. The lines are drawn without taking account of individual transgression and atonement; the author's concern is to promise the righteous a reward and the wicked punishment, and the individual transgressions of the righteous are even less in mind than the possibility of the conversion of the un- righteous. From the Greek fragments of this section, it appears that the author used indiffer- ently the terms 'righteous' (tsaddiqim), 'holy' (qedoshim) and 'pious' (~asidim) (or the Aramaic equivalents). In 100.5a he speaks of the righteous and holy (dikaioi and hagioi), and they are apparently the same as the pious or godly of 100.5d (eusebeis). Here eusebeis (which, as we have seen, translates tsaddiqim in Ben Sirach) apparently translates ~asidim. This is also probably the case in 102.4, which reads in Greek, 'Be of good courage, souls of the righteous (dikaioi = tsaddiqim) that are dead, the righteous and pious (dikaioi = tsaddiqim; eusebeis, probably= ~asidim).' Eusebeis also occurs in 102.6 and 103.3 (Greek: 'souls of the dead eusebeis' for Charles's 'spirits of those who have died in righteousness'). In 103.9, where the dikaioi and hosioi are mentioned (Charles: 'righteous and good'), hosioi probably represents ~asidim. This is also probably the case in 104. 12: dikaioi = tsaddiqim; hosioi = ~asidim; phronimoi = ~akamim. (Cf. 'piety', hosiotes, 102. 5; Charles, 'goodness'.) There appear to be two views in this section on how and when the righteous will be rewarded and the wicked punished. On the one hand, a cataclysmic event on earth is depicted, perhaps a war, during which the righteous themselves will wreak vengeance on the wicked, repaying them for their persecution in kind: Fear not the sinners, ye righteous; For again will the Lord deliver them into your hands, That ye may execute judgement upon them according to your desires. (95.3; similarly 96.1) Woe to you who love the deeds of unrighteousness (adikia): wherefore do ye hope for good hap unto yourselves? Know that ye shall be delivered into the hands of the righteous, and they shall cut off your necks and slay you, and have no mercy upon you. (98.12) 23 IOI 3 would be relevant here if we could be sure of the reading. Charles's translation of the Ethio- pic: 'If he sends his anger upon : JU •.. , ye cannot petition him; for ye spake proud and insolent words against His righteousness.'

• From Another Country (1962)

  “Well, you got it to look forward to, whether you like it or not,” LeRoy said. He put one hand on Eric’s neck. “But I guess you know what I got to look forward to.” And Eric felt that he wished to say more, but did not know how. They walked on a few seconds in silence and LeRoy’s opportunity came. A cream-colored roadster, bearing six young people, three white boys and three white girls, came up the road in a violent swirl and wake of dust. Eric and LeRoy did not have time to move apart, and a great laugh came from the car, and the driver beat out a mocking version of the wedding march on his horn—then kept his entire palm on it as the car shot down the road, away. All of the people in the car were people with whom Eric had grown up. He felt his face flame and he and LeRoy moved away from each other; and LeRoy looked at him with a curiously noncommittal pity. “Now that’s what you supposed to be doing,” he said—he said it very gently, looking at Eric, licking his lower lip—“and that’s where you supposed to be. You ain’t supposed to be walking around this damn country road with no nigger.” “I don’t give a damn about those people,” Eric said—but he knew that he was lying and he knew that LeRoy knew it, too—“those people don’t mean a thing to me.” LeRoy looked more pitying than ever, and also looked exasperated. The road now was empty, not a creature moved on it; it was yellow-red and brown and trees leaned over it, with fire falling through the leaves; and the road now began to drop beneath them, toward the railroad tracks and the warehouse. This was the town’s dividing line and they always turned off the road at this point, into a clump of trees and a rise which overlooked a stream. LeRoy now turned Eric into this haven. His touch was different today; insistent, gentle, ferocious, and resigned. “Besides,” said Eric, helplessly, “you’re not a nigger, not for me, you’re LeRoy, you’re my friend, and I love you.” The words took his breath away and tears came to his eyes and they paused in the fiery shadow of a tree. LeRoy leaned against the tree, staring at Eric, with a terrible expression on his black face. The expression on LeRoy’s face frightened him, but he labored upward against his fear, and brought out, “I don’t know why people can’t do what they want to do; what harm are we doing to anybody?”

• From Henry Miller on Writing (1964)

  To become utterly human, the compassionate fiend incarnate, the locksmith of the great door leading beyond and away and forever isolate…. Men founder like ships. Children also. There are children who settle to the bottom at the age of nine, carrying with them the secret of their betrayal. There are perfidious monsters who look at you with the bland, innocent eyes of youth; their crimes are unregistered, because we have no names for them. Why do lovely faces haunt us so? Do extraordinary flowers have evil roots? Studying her morsel by morsel, feet, hands, hair, lips, ears, breasts, traveling from navel to mouth and from mouth to eyes, the woman I fell upon, clawed, bit, suffocated with kisses, the woman who had been Mara and was now Mona, who had been and would be other names, other persons, other assemblages of appendages, was no more accessible, penetrable, than a cool statue in a forgotten garden of a lost continent. At nine or earlier, with a revolver that was never intended to go off, she might have pressed a swooning trigger and fallen like a dead swan from the heights of her dream. It might well have been that way, for in the flesh she was dispersed, in the mind she was as dust blown hither and thither. In her heart a bell tolled, but what it signified no one knew. Her image corresponded to nothing that I had formed in my heart. She had intruded it, slipped it like thinnest gauze between the crevices of the brain in a moment of lesion. And when the wound closed the imprint had remained, like a frail leaf traced upon a stone. Haunting nights when, filled with creation, I saw nothing but her eyes and in those eyes, rising like bubbling pools of lava, phantoms came to the surface, faded, vanished, reappeared, bringing dread, apprehension, fear, mystery. A being constantly pursued, a hidden flower whose scent the blood-hounds never picked up. Behind the phantoms, peering through the jungle brush, stood a shrinking child who seemed to offer herself lasciviously. Then the swan dive, slow, as in motion pictures, and snow-flakes falling with the falling body, and then phantoms and more phantoms, the eyes becoming eyes again, burning like lignite, then glowing like embers, then soft like flowers; then nose, mouth, cheeks, ears looming out of chaos, heavy as the moon, a mask unrolling, flesh taking form, face, feature. Night after night, from words to dreams, to flesh, to phantoms. Possession and depossession.

• From Another Country (1962)

  There was suddenly a tremendous commotion at the door, sobbing and screaming, but Eric did not react until he saw the change in Richard’s face, and heard Cass’ cry. Then Richard and Eric stood up and the children came pounding into the room. Michael was sobbing and blood dripped from his nose and mouth onto his red-and-white-striped T-shirt. Paul was behind him, pale and silent, with blood on his knuckles and smeared across his face; and his white shirt was torn. “It’s all right, Cass,” Richard said, quickly, “it’s all right. They’re not dead.” Michael ran to his father and buried his bloody face in his father’s belly. Richard looked at Paul. “What the hell’s been going on?” Cass pulled Michael away and looked into his face. “Come on, baby, let me wash this blood away and see what’s happened to you.” Michael turned to her, still sobbing, in a state of terror. Cass held him. “Come on, darling, everything’s all right, hush now, darling, come on.” Michael was led away, his hand in Cass’ trembling hand, and Richard looked briefly at Eric, over Paul’s head. “Come on,” he said to Paul, “what happened? You get into a fight or did you beat him up, or what?” Paul sat down, pressing his hands together. “I don’t really know what happened.” He was on the edge of tears himself; his father waited. “We had been playing ball and then we were getting ready to come home, we weren’t doing anything, just fooling around and walking. I wasn’t paying much attention to Mike, he was behind me with some friends of his. Then”—he looked at his father—“some colored—colored boys, they came over this hill and they yelled something, I couldn’t hear what they yelled. One of them tripped me up as he passed me and they started beating up the little kids and we came running down to stop them.” He looked at his father again. “We never saw any of them before, I don’t know where they came from. One of them had Mike down on the ground, and was punching him, but I got him off.” He looked at his bloody fist. “I think I knocked a couple teeth down his throat.” “Good for you. You didn’t get hurt yourself? How do you feel?” “I feel all right.” But he shuddered. “Stand up, come over here, let me look at you.” Paul stood up and walked over to his father, who knelt down and stared into his face, prodding him gently in the belly and the chest, stroking his neck and his face. “You got a pretty bad crack in the jaw, didn’t you?” “Mike’s hurt worse than I am.” But he suddenly began to cry. Richard’s lips puckered; he gathered his son into his arms. “Don’t cry, Paul, it’s all over now.” But Paul could not stop, now that he had begun. “Why would they want to do a thing like that, Daddy? We never even saw them before!”

• From Another Country (1962)

  Once or twice a week, sometimes, or once every two or three weeks, she went to Harlem, never inviting him to come along. Or she was sitting in with some musicians in Peekskill or Poughkeepsie or Washington or Philadelphia or Baltimore or Queens. He drove down with her once, with the other musicians, to a joint in Washington. But the atmosphere was deadly; the musicians had not wanted him along. The people in the joint had liked him well enough but had also seemed to wonder what he was doing there—or perhaps it was only he who wondered it; and Ida had sung only two songs, which did not seem much after such a long trip, and she had not sung them well. He felt that this had something to do with the attitude of the musicians, who seemed to want to punish her, and with the uneasy defiance with which she forced herself to face their judgment. It was only too clear that if he had been a powerful white man, their attitudes would have been modified by the assumption that she was using him; but it was obvious that, as things were, he could do her no good whatever and, therefore, he must be using her. Neither did Ida have the professional standing which would force them to accept him as the whim, the house pet, or husband of a star. He had no function, they did: they pulled rank on him, they closed ranks against him. There was speedily accumulating, then, between Ida and Vivaldo, great areas of the unspoken, vast minefields which neither dared to cross. They never spoke of Washington, nor did he ever again accompany her on such out-of-town jaunts. They never spoke of her family, or of his. After his long, tormenting Wednesday night, Vivaldo found that he lacked the courage to mention the name of Steve Ellis. He knew that Ellis was sending her to a more exclusive and celebrated singing teacher, as well as to a coach, and intended to arrange a recording date for her. Ida and Vivaldo buried their disputes in silence, in the mined field. It seemed better than finding themselves hoarse, embittered, gasping, and more than ever alone. He did not wish to hear himself accused, again, of trying to stand between her and her career—did not wish to hear it because there was more than a little truth to this accusation. Of course, he also felt that she, although unconsciously, was attempting to stand between himself and his fulfillment. But he did not want to say this. It would have made too clear their mutual panic, their terror of being left alone.

• From Confessions of the Flesh (The History of Sexuality, Vol. 4) (2021)

  Finally, relative to the other vices fornication has a certain ontological privilege, which confers a particular ascetic importance on it. Like gluttony, it has its roots in the body. Impossible to vanquish it without subjecting it to austerities. Whereas anger or dejection are combated “by the soul’s industry alone,” it cannot be rooted out without “corporeal mortification, vigils, fasts, work that breaks the body.”76 Which doesn’t exclude, on the contrary, the struggle that one must conduct against oneself, since fornication can spring from thoughts, images, memories: “The demon through his subtle cunning has insinuated in our heart the memory of woman, starting with our mother, our sisters, our relatives or certain pious women, we must as quickly as possible rid ourselves of this memory, for fear that if we delay too long, the tempter will seize the occasion to make us think of other women before we realize it.”77 However, fornication presents a major difference from gluttony. The combat against the latter must be waged with moderation since one cannot give up all nourishment: One must exercise “the control necessary for life […] lest the body should be injured by our fault and unable to fulfill its spiritual and necessary duties.”78 We have to keep this natural penchant for nourishment at a distance, cope with it, not try to root it out: it has a natural legitimacy; to totally deny it, fatally so, that is, would be to “burden one’s soul with a crime.”79 On the other hand, there is no limit in the struggle against the spirit of fornication; everything that leads us in that direction must be extirpated, and no natural inclination can justify, in this domain, the satisfaction of an urge. So it’s a matter of completely doing away with a penchant whose elimination does not cause the death of our body. Fornication is the only one of the eight vices that is at the same time innate, corporeal in origin, and that must be entirely destroyed like those vices of the soul—avarice and pride. A radical mortification, consequently, which lets us live in our body while liberating us from the flesh. “Leave the body while remaining in the body.”80 It’s to that beyond-nature, in earthly existence, that the struggle against fornication gives us access. It “pulls us out of the earthly mire.” It allows us to live in this world a life that is not of this world. Because it is the most radical, this mortification brings us, already here below, the highest promise: “in the fragile flesh” it confers “the citizenship which the saints have the promise of possessing once they are delivered from carnal corruptibility.”81 So one can see how fornication, while being one of the eight components of the table of the vices, is in a special position relative to the others: the head of the causal chain, at the origin of the falls and the combat, one of the most difficult and most decisive points of the ascetic struggle. —

• From Real Life (2020)

  Et sur la colline surplombant le ravin, toute cette eau sur les feuilles luisait telles des étoiles minuscules, des micro-galaxies explosant en venant au jour. Bien vite arrivaient les fourmis, qui s’accrochaient à tout ce que la pluie avait noyé et le récupérait, bribe par bribe ; un jour, un rat a été noyé près du coin de la maison, sa fourrure blanche et grise toute emmêlée, et les fourmis entraient et sortaient de sa gueule comme de l’air, comme une respiration faite de petits corps noirs. Un autre jour, c’étaient des oisillons qui avaient été renversés de leurs nids, la peau translucide et bleue comme de la glace tout juste sortie d’un distributeur automatique, leurs petits becs roses grands ouverts. Délicats et minuscules habits de peau et de plumes, os si légers que, dans une autre vie, ils auraient pu s’envoler dans le ciel, flotter sur des courants d’air chaud ; mais en l’occurrence ils étaient écrabouillés sur le sol et démembrés par les fourmis si nombreuses qu’elles aussi constituaient une peau qui frétillait noirâtre sous les ombres des buissons, presque invisibles sauf, au moment du trépas, quand l’œil tombait dessus, dans le corps, une secousse surprise, effroyable : quelque chose ici est en train de mourir et mort déjà. C’était comme ça, les orages, qui surgissaient soudainement et disparaissaient de même, laissant derrière eux des créatures défuntes couronnées de fourmis sombres et de brume sortant des bois comme des fantômes. Pendant les orages, mes grands-parents éteignaient toutes les lumières et nous restions dans la maison, en sueur, à respirer dans la pénombre, nous efforçant de ne pas bouger, sauf nos doigts qui se tordaient et tiraient sur les fils du tapis. De la terre se glissait entre nos doigts, s’y collait tandis que nous gigotions, tentant d’être immobiles. Des mouches, grasses et noires, volaient autour de nous, frôlaient nos oreilles, et nous nous tournions les uns vers les autres, nous filions des claques pour tenter de les tuer, mais sans y arriver, car elles nous esquivaient d’un cheveu, hors de portée, mais toutes proches, si bien que nous les sentions glisser tout autour, presque jusque dans nos yeux avant de s’éloigner de nouveau.

• From Another Country (1962)

  And now he knew that his enemy was upon him. Salt burned his eyes. He dared not turn; in terror he pressed himself against the rough, wet wall, as though a wall could melt or could be entered. He had forgotten—what? how to escape or how to defeat his enemy. Then he heard the wail of trombones and clarinets and a steady, enraged beating on the drums. They were playing a blues he had never heard before, they were filling the earth with a sound so dreadful that he knew he could not bear it. Where was Ida? she could help him. But he felt rough hands on him and he looked down into Rufus’ distorted and vindictive face. Go on up, said Rufus. I’m helping you up. Go up! Rufus’ hands pushed and pushed and soon Vivaldo stood, higher than Rufus had ever stood, on the wintry bridge, looking down on death. He knew that this death was what Rufus most desired. He tried to look down, to beg Rufus for mercy, but he could not move without falling off the wall, or falling on the glass. From far away, far beyond this flood, he saw Ida, on a sloping green meadow, walking alone. The sun was beautiful on her blue-black hair and on her Aztec brow, and gathered in a dark, glinting pool at the hollow of her throat. She did not look toward him, walked in a measured way, looking down at the ground; yet, he felt that she saw him, was aware of him standing on the cruel wall, and waited, in collusion with her brother, for his death. Then Rufus came hurtling from the air, impaling himself on the far, spiked fence which bounded the meadow. Ida did not look: she waited. Vivaldo watched Rufus’ blood run down, bright red over the black spikes, into the green meadow. He tried to shout, but no words came; tried to reach out to Ida and fell heavily on his hands and knees on the rearing, uplifted glass. He could not bear the pain; yet, he felt again the random, voluptuous tug. He felt entirely helpless and more terrified than ever. But there was pleasure in it. He writhed against the glass. Don’t kill me, Rufus. Please. Please. I love you. Then, to his delight and confusion, Rufus lay down beside him and opened his arms. And the moment he surrendered to this sweet and overwhelming embrace, his dream, like glass, shattered, he heard the rain at the windows, returned, violently, into his body, became aware of his odor and the odor of Eric, and found that it was Eric to whom he clung, who clung to him. Eric’s lips were against Vivaldo’s neck and chest.