Joy

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 188 of 299 · 20 per page

• From Amplified Holy Bible (2015)

  20 ‘Their children too will be as in former times, And their congregation will be established before Me; And I will punish all their oppressors. 21 ‘Their prince will be one of them, And their ruler will come forward from among them. I will bring him near and he shall approach Me, For who is he who would have the boldness and would dare [on his own initiative] to risk his life to approach Me?’ says the LORD . 22 ‘Then you shall be My people, And I will be your God.’ ” [Jer 7:23 ] 23 Behold, the tempest of the LORD ! Wrath has gone forth, A sweeping and gathering tempest; It will burst on the head of the wicked. 24 The fierce (righteous) anger of the LORD will not turn back Until He has fulfilled and until He has accomplished The intent of His heart (mind); In the latter days you will understand this. Jeremiah 31 Israel’s Mourning Turned to Joy 1 “A T THAT time,” says the LORD , “I will be the God of all the families of Israel, and they shall be My people.” 2 Thus says the LORD , “The people who survived the sword Found grace in the wilderness [of exile]— Israel (the Northern Kingdom), when it went to find its rest.” 3 The LORD appeared to me (a Israel) from ages past, saying, “I have loved you with an everlasting love; Therefore with lovingkindness I have drawn you and continued My faithfulness to you. [Deut 7:8 ] 4 “Again I will build you and you will be rebuilt, O Virgin Israel! You will again be adorned with your tambourines and b timbrels And go out to the dances of those who celebrate. [Is 37:22 ; Jer 18:13 ] 5 “Again you will plant vineyards On the mountains of Samaria; The planters will plant And enjoy the [abundant] fruit [in peace]. 6 “For there will be a day when the watchmen On the hills of Ephraim cry out, ‘Arise, and let us go up to Zion, To the LORD our God.’ ” 7 For thus says the LORD , “Sing aloud with gladness for Jacob, And shout for the first and foremost of the nations [the chosen people, Israel]; Proclaim, give praise and say, ‘O LORD save Your people, The remnant of Israel!’ 8 “Behold, I am bringing them from the north country, And I will gather them from the remote parts of the earth, Among them [will be] the blind and the lame, The woman with child and she who labors in childbirth, together; A great company, they will return here [to Jerusalem].

• From Amplified Holy Bible (2015)

  8 “And other seed fell into good soil, and as the plants grew and increased, they yielded a crop and produced thirty, sixty, and a hundred times [as much as had been sown].” 9 And He said, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear and heed My words.” 10 As soon as He was alone, those who were around Him, together with the twelve [disciples], began asking Him about [the interpretation of] the parables. 11 He said to them, “The mystery of the kingdom of God has been given to you [who have teachable hearts], but those who are outside [the unbelievers, the spiritually blind] get everything in parables, 12 so that THEY WILL CONTINUALLY LOOK BUT NOT SEE , AND THEY WILL CONTINUALLY HEAR BUT NOT UNDERSTAND , OTHERWISE THEY MIGHT TURN [from their rejection of the truth] AND BE FORGIVEN .” [Is 6:9 , 10 ; Matt 13:11–15 ] Explanation 13 Then He said to them, “Do you not understand this parable? How will you understand and grasp the meaning of all the parables? [Matt 13:18–23 ; Luke 8:11–15 ] 14 “The sower sows the word [of God, the good news regarding the way of salvation]. 15 “These [in the first group] are the ones along the road where the word is sown; but when they hear, Satan immediately comes and takes away the word which has been sown in them. 16 “In a similar way these [in the second group] are the ones on whom seed was sown on rocky ground, who, when they hear the word, immediately receive it with joy [but accept it only superficially]; 17 and they have no real root in themselves, so they endure only for a little while; then, when trouble or persecution comes because of the word, immediately they [are offended and displeased at being associated with Me and] stumble and fall away. 18 “And others are the ones on whom seed was sown among the thorns; these are the ones who have heard the word, 19 but the worries and cares of the world [the distractions of this age with its worldly pleasures], and the deceitfulness [and the false security or glamour] of wealth [or fame], and the passionate desires for all the other things creep in and choke out the word, and it becomes unfruitful. 20 “And those [in the last group] are the ones on whom seed was sown on the good soil; and they hear the word [of God, the good news regarding the way of salvation] and accept it and bear fruit—thirty, sixty, and a hundred times as much [as was sown].” 21 He said to them, “A lamp is not brought in to be put under a basket or under a bed, is it? Is it not [brought in] to be put on the lampstand?

• From Lost Christianities: Christian Scriptures and the Battles over Authentication (2002)

  58 Lecture 13: The Acts of John The theme is that the spread of the gospel comes from God and that nothing can stop this mission. This early account was written by the same author as the Gospel of Luke, sometime in the latter part of the ¿ rst century. In the second and third centuries, other accounts of the lives of the apostles were written by anonymous authors. Unlike the Book of Acts, these accounts focused on the lives and exploits of individual apostles—legendary, imaginative, and entertaining accounts of the wondrous activities of Jesus’ closest followers. Along with lots of smaller fragmentary accounts, we have ¿ ve fairly complete Apocryphal Acts: the Acts of John, Peter, Paul, Andrew, and Thomas. We will not be able to examine all these apocryphal accounts in this course, but we will look at three of the most interesting ones. The Acts of John concerns the adventures of John, the son of Zebedee. John was one of Jesus’ closest disciples in the gospels of the New Testament. He is an important ¿ gure in the history of the early church, according to the Book of Acts in the New Testament, but he drops out of sight early on in that narrative. Our late-second-century Acts of John gives a fuller account of his activities. Unfortunately, this text has not survived intact but only in fragments that scholars have had to piece together from various manuscripts. In this account, we learn of many of John’s exploits. His activities are principally in Asia Minor, in and around Ephesus. There, he engages in numerous miraculous activities as he spreads the gospel of Christ, as narrated in entertaining stories. He is portrayed as having a unique ability to raise the dead. This is seen in an account involving Lycomedes, the commander-in- chief of the Ephesians, and his beautiful young wife, Cleopatra, who has died prematurely, but whom John raises to the joy and wonder of the entire city. Later in the account is the even more bizarre narrative of the raising of Drusiana, the chaste and beautiful wife of Andronicus—a narrative that involves almost unheard-of chastity and crass immorality, a tale of attempted necrophilia, supernatural intervention, miraculous resurrection, and conversion to the life of purity. These stories show commitment to Christ as being more important than love or sex.

• From Amplified Holy Bible (2015)

  17 A man who is burdened with the guilt of human blood (murder) Will be a fugitive until death; let no one support him or give him refuge. 18 He who walks blamelessly and uprightly will be kept safe, But he who is crooked (perverse) will suddenly fall. 19 He who cultivates his land will have plenty of bread, But he who follows worthless people and frivolous pursuits will have plenty of poverty. 20 A faithful (right-minded) man will abound with blessings, But he who hurries to be rich will not go unpunished. [Prov 13:11 ; 20:21 ; 23:4 ; 1 Tim 6:9 ] 21 To have regard for one person over another and to show favoritism is not good, Because for a piece of bread a man will transgress. 22 He who has an evil and envious eye hurries to be rich And does not know that poverty will come upon him. [Prov 21:5 ; 28:20 ] 23 He who [appropriately] reprimands a [wise] man will afterward find more favor Than he who flatters with the tongue. 24 He who robs his father or his mother And says, “This is no sin,” Is [not only a thief but also] the companion of a man who destroys. 25 An arrogant and greedy man stirs up strife, But he who trusts in the LORD will be blessed and prosper. 26 He who trusts confidently in his own heart is a [dull, thickheaded] fool, But he who walks in [skillful and godly] wisdom will be rescued. [James 1:5 ] 27 He who gives to the poor will never want, But he who shuts his eyes [from their need] will have many curses. [Deut 15:7 ; Prov 19:17 ; 22:9 ] 28 When the wicked rise [to power], men hide themselves; But when the wicked perish, the [consistently] righteous increase and become great. [Prov 28:12 ] Proverbs 29 Warnings and Instructions 1 H E WHO hardens his neck and refuses instruction after being often reproved (corrected, criticized), Will suddenly be broken beyond repair. 2 When the righteous are in authority and become great, the people rejoice; But when the wicked man rules, the people groan and sigh. 3 A man who loves [skillful and godly] wisdom makes his father joyful, But he who associates with prostitutes wastes his wealth. 4 The king establishes (stabilizes) the land by justice, But a man who takes bribes overthrows it. 5 A man who flatters his neighbor [with smooth words intending to do harm] Is spreading a net for his own feet. 6 By his wicked plan an evil man is trapped, But the righteous man sings and rejoices [for his plan brings good things to him]. 7 The righteous man cares for the rights of the poor, But the wicked man has no interest in such knowledge.

• From Amplified Holy Bible (2015)

  15 “I will abundantly bless her provisions; I will satisfy her poor with bread. 16 “Her priests also I will clothe with salvation, And her godly ones will shout aloud for joy. 17 “There I will make the horn (strength) of David grow; I have prepared a lamp for My anointed [fulfilling the promises]. [1 Kin 11:36 ; 15:4 ; 2 Chr 21:7 ; Luke 1:69 ] 18 “His enemies I will clothe with shame, But upon himself shall his crown shine.” Psalm 133 The Excellency of Brotherly Unity. A Song of a Ascents. Of David. 1 B EHOLD, HOW good and how pleasant it is For brothers to dwell together in unity! 2 It is like the precious oil [of consecration] poured on the head, Coming down on the beard, Even the beard of Aaron, Coming down upon the edge of his [priestly] robes [consecrating the whole body]. [Ex 30:25 , 30 ] 3 It is like the dew of [Mount] Hermon Coming down on the hills of Zion; For there the LORD has commanded the blessing: life forevermore. Psalm 134 Greetings of Night Watchers. A Song of a Ascents. 1 B ehold, bless and praise the LORD , all servants of the LORD (priests, Levites), Who stand and serve by night in the house of the LORD . [1 Chr 9:33 ] 2 Lift up your hands to the sanctuary And bless the LORD . 3 May the LORD bless you from Zion, He who made heaven and earth. Psalm 135 Praise the LORD ’s Wonderful Works. Vanity of Idols. 1 P RAISE THE LORD ! (Hallelujah!) Praise the name of the LORD ; Praise Him, O servants of the LORD (priests, Levites), 2 You who stand in the house of the LORD , In the courts of the house of our God, 3 Praise the LORD , for the LORD is good; Sing praises to His name, for it is gracious and lovely. 4 For the LORD has chosen [the descendants of] Jacob for Himself, Israel for His own special treasure and possession. [Deut 7:6 ] 5 For I know that the LORD is great And that our Lord is above all gods. 6 Whatever the LORD pleases, He does, In the heavens and on the earth, in the seas and all deeps— 7 Who causes the clouds to rise from the ends of the earth; Who makes lightning for the rain, Who brings the wind from His storehouses; 8 Who struck the firstborn of Egypt, Both of man and animal; [Ex 12:12 , 29 ; Ps 78:51 ; 136:10 ] 9 Who sent signs and wonders into your midst, O Egypt, Upon Pharaoh and all his servants. 10 Who struck many nations And killed mighty kings, 11 Sihon, king of the Amorites, Og, king of Bashan, And all the kingdoms of Canaan; 12 And He gave their land as a heritage, A heritage to Israel His people.

• From Vox (1992)

  162 "Are your legs spread apart?" "Yes." "Oh, and you're stroking that clit?" "Yes." "Okay, so I'd take one last long up-lick on your pussy and then I'd straighten up, and I'd still be cupping your ass in my hands, and you'd be completely visible by now, wide open, sopping wet, and I'd take my cock in one hand and kind of vibrate it over your clit, and you'd slide your hands down and hold your lips apart with your fingers, and then I'd push my cock down and I'd feel how hot you were and I'd have to slide myself slowly all the way in, and then I'd pull almost all the way out again and slide in, into that nice nasturtium, and each time I pulled out I'd be able to see your hand circling your clit, and I'd slide in until my pubic bone thumped against you, and I'd watch your breasts move each time I reached this limit, and we would be fucking, sliding in and out. . ." "Oh!" "And your finger would be flying over your clit, your hand would be lifted and your finger would be flying back and forth, and I'd have your asscheeks cupped in both my hands, so you could feel a pulling on your asshole, and I would be sliding with long strokes out, and in, and out, and in, and I'd see your tits moving each time ..." "Oh! Oh!" "Oh, I'm starting to come for you, my cock is pump ing inside you ..." 163 "Ohl Nnnnnnnn! Nnn! Nnn! Nnn! Nnn! Nnn! Nnn!" "It's spurting out! I can't help it! Ah! Ah! Oooooo." There was a pause. "Oh man," she said. "Wow. You there?" "I think so. " He swallowed. "Let me catch my breath. " "That was—that was—man" she said. "I saw the great seal of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts when I came. " "I heard you come and I came," he said. "Whoo! How long have we been talking?" "Hours and hours." "Hours and hours and hours," she said. "My mouth is chapped. Too much making out." "Is your voice sore?" "It really is. Whoo! Gee, I'm going to have to call in sick again. I'll sleep all day, mm, sounds delightful. The hiss on the phone is very loud now, isn't it? That com panionable hiss. It's always louder at the end of conver sations. " "Oh, is it the end already?" he said. "Couldn't we just fade out somehow, talking and talking? I can't think of a better way to invest my life savings. Not that I'm much of a saver." "You're quite a téléphoner, though." "You are too! I mean it! I think really this is one of the nicest conversations I've ever had." "I liked it too," she said. "I don't know, though—do you think we talked enough about sex?"

• From Beyond Respectability: The Intellectual Thought of Race Women (2017)

  I believe if a woman could dance or swim a half hour everyday, her span of life would be greatly lengthened, her health materially improved, and the joy of living decidedly increased. 59 Terrell argues here that Black women have the right to joy. Moreover, she locates that joy in an active notion of unapologetic embodiment and bodily movement, whether through dance or swimming. She rejects the idea that Black women’s pursuit of pleasure and joy is “unseemly.” Her ownership of her body as a site of creativity, pleasure, and joy challenges existing Black feminist attempts to locate genealogies of Black female pleasure solely within the blues tradition. Apparently, even respectable race ladies liked to dance, too! Terrell’s rebellious use of embodied discourse in her political autobiography created a context for her—and us—to think more expansively about how Black women used their bodies in mischievous, subversive, and pleasurable ways to achieve both personal and political ends.

• From Beyond Respectability: The Intellectual Thought of Race Women (2017)

  Certainly, Terrell’s privileged class background and the very place of her micro-rebellion—Oberlin College—undercut the broad historical impact of a quotidian form of resistance like dance. But her insistence on including something so potentially trivial within an already expansive tome suggests that, in fact, Terrell pushed, both during her young womanhood and in her latter years, to insist on the importance of creating a space of pleasure in the midst of doing race work. Well into her late seventies, she discussed her love of dancing. In fact, it became a kind of framing narrative for her autobiography because she returns to it in the final chapter of her book, “Carrying On”: I can dance as long and as well as I ever did, although I get very few chances to do so. There seems to be a sort of tradition that after a woman reaches a certain age she should not want to trip the light fantastic and that even if she is anachronistic enough to wish to do such an unseemly thing, she should not be allowed to indulge in this healthful and fascinating exercise. I believe if a woman could dance or swim a half hour everyday, her span of life would be greatly lengthened, her health materially improved, and the joy of living decidedly increased.59 Terrell argues here that Black women have the right to joy. Moreover, she locates that joy in an active notion of unapologetic embodiment and bodily movement, whether through dance or swimming. She rejects the idea that Black women’s pursuit of pleasure and joy is “unseemly.” Her ownership of her body as a site of creativity, pleasure, and joy challenges existing Black feminist attempts to locate genealogies of Black female pleasure solely within the blues tradition. Apparently, even respectable race ladies liked to dance, too! Terrell’s rebellious use of embodied discourse in her political autobiography created a context for her—and us—to think more expansively about how Black women used their bodies in mischievous, subversive, and pleasurable ways to achieve both personal and political ends.

• From The Beautiful Room Is Empty (1988)

  always keep running into Irish boys? Punishment for being a Lit—tle—Bit—Pig—gy in my last life, you think?” When the new semester started I had my own room in a boardinghouse and I was free from all supervision for the first time in my life. I’d moved out of the fraternity house, although I continued to take my meals there. Indeed, I continued to juggle all these elements—fraternity brothers, Beats, Chinese, and my anonymous, half-seen lovers. I painted everything in my room white except the old desk I’d bought at a junk store, which had a tiny escritoire that folded out and a small oval mirror placed high above my head on a ladder-back of carved black pegs that inscribed the wall with an abacus of shadows. There I did my homework; everything else in my life was so chaotic that I needed to receive good grades. I covered the bed with a white blanket bordered in whitest, widest ribbon and I’d lie on it and watch the sunlight singing to itself out of that small Irish mouth of a mirror. I met a pretty Korean (“Forget Koreans,” William hissed angrily, “it’s clit size”) who lived next door. Whenever the mechanical world frustrated him—if his bike jammed or the laundry machine swallowed his coins, or his key snapped off in a lock—he’d ring my bell, trudge in, take off his clothes, fold them neatly on my white wooden chair, and lie face down on my white bed. He’d take it like a man, bite the pillow if I hurt him, and nothing had ever felt quite so good as those small taut muscles under that chamois-soft skin, the color of cinnamon when it’s sprinkled on cappuccino. That’s my way of saying that a low fire, a pilot light, burned under that glove-smooth skin, and that he smelled excitingly of that foul fermented cabbage the Koreans like to snack on. The minute it was over he’d dress and leave, his eyebrows raised in painful doubt as though he didn’t quite understand what had just happened. He had the whitest teeth. And then, after I closed and locked the door, I was alone. I had a record player and twelve records, which I played over and over again, especially the Bartók violin concerto, its harmonies edgy enough to make me feel modern but its sweep romantic enough to hurl me back on the bed in a flood of ardor. Until then I’d always wanted to write, but when I did, I wrote down nothing but the time and key signatures of my feelings or the chords. Most of the melody, as it were, remained in my head, and all the orchestration. Endless scenes of he said-she said poured forth from my pen, the automatic transcription of what I was currently living through, but my characters remained voices in the dark. I never described them or said what I was feeling.

• From Lost Christianities: Christian Scriptures and the Battles over Authentication (2002)

  126 setoN lacihpargoiB important for his anti-heretical writings. A bitter opponent of both Gnostics and Marcionites, he is one of our best sources of information concerning what these groups, especially the latter, believed. His (cid:191) ve-volume attack on Marcion, for example, still survives and is our principal means of access to Marcion’s life and teaching. Thecla: It is dif(cid:191) cult to know whether Thecla was a historical person or a legendary (cid:191) gure. The earliest references to her are in the Apocryphal Acts of Paul, which provide a highly (cid:191) ctionalized account of her conversion, based on the ascetic preaching of the apostle Paul, and her subsequent escapades, as she travels, sometimes in Paul’s company, on Christian mission. In these accounts, she twice escapes execution ordered on the grounds of her refusal to participate in the social life of her pagan world, for example, when her (cid:191) ancé, whom she spurns to devote herself to the gospel, hands her over to the authorities on charges of being a Christian. Thecla became venerated as a sacred virgin in Christian tradition, and tales of her life were in wide circulation throughout the Middle Ages. Valentinus: Valentinus was probably the best known gnostic Christian of the second century. Born in Egypt, he was educated in Alexandria before coming to Rome around 136 A.D. Valentinus was a rhetorically powerful and charismatic person, who developed his theological views in light of Platonic and other philosophical traditions dominant in the world at the time. Tradition indicates that he wanted to receive a high of(cid:191) ce in the church of Rome (aspiring to be its bishop), but that he was spurned by the church leadership and broke off from it to start churches of disciples who accepted his gnosticized understanding of the faith. Valentinian Gnosticism developed in a variety of ways among his followers after his death and became one of the primary targets for attack by heresiologists, such as Irenaeus and Tertullian. We have few writings that survive from Valentinus himself, but many scholars think that the Gospel of Truth discovered at Nag Hammadi may derive directly from him. If it does, then it shows Valentinus at his best, rhetorically effective and (cid:191) lled with joy at the thought of the salvation that had been graciously given by the true God.

• From The Decameron (1353)

  In such and the like discourse was Ferondo entertained half a score months with eating and drinking and beating, what while the abbot assiduously visited the fair lady, without miscarriage, and gave himself the goodliest time in the world with her. At last, as ill-luck would have it, the lady found herself with child and straightway acquainted the abbot therewith, wherefore it seemed well to them both that Ferondo should without delay be recalled from purgatory to life and return to her, so she might avouch herself with child by him. Accordingly, the abbot that same night caused call to Ferondo in prison with a counterfeit voice, saying, 'Ferondo, take comfort, for it is God's pleasure that thou return to the world, where thou shalt have a son by thy wife, whom look thou name Benedict, for that by the prayers of thy holy abbot and of thy wife and for the love of St. Benedict He doth thee this favour.' Ferondo, hearing this, was exceedingly rejoiced and said, 'It liketh me well, Lord grant a good year to Seignior God Almighty and to the abbot and St. Benedict and my cheesy[196] sweet honey wife.' The abbot let give him, in the wine that he sent him, so much of the powder aforesaid as should cause him sleep maybe four hours and with the aid of his monk, having put his own clothes on him, restored him privily to the tomb wherein he had been buried. [Footnote 196: _Sic_ (_casciata_); meaning that he loves her as well as he loves cheese, for which it is well known that the lower-class Italian has a romantic passion. According to Alexandre Dumas, the Italian loves cheese so well that he has succeeded in introducing it into everything he eats or drinks, with the one exception of coffee.] Next morning, at break of day, Ferondo came to himself and espying light,--a thing which he had not seen for good ten months,--through some crevice of the tomb, doubted not but he was alive again. Accordingly, he fell to bawling out, 'Open to me! Open to me!' and heaving so lustily at the lid of the tomb with his head that he stirred it, for that it was eath to move, and had begun to move it away, when the monks, having now made an end of saying matins, ran thither and knew Ferondo's voice and saw him in act to come forth of the sepulchre; whereupon, all aghast for the strangeness of the case, they took to their heels and ran to the abbot, who made a show of rising from prayer and said, 'My sons, have no fear; take the cross and the holy water and follow after me, so we may see that which God willeth to show forth to us of His might'; and as he said, so he did.

• From Amplified Holy Bible (2015)

  13 “The remnant of Israel will do no wrong Nor speak lies, Nor will a deceitful tongue Be found in their mouths; For they will eat and lie down With no one to make them tremble and feel afraid.” 14 Shout for joy, O Daughter of Zion! Shout in triumph, O Israel! Rejoice, be in high spirits and glory with all your heart, O Daughter of Jerusalem [in that day]! 15 The LORD has taken away the judgments against you; He has cleared away your enemies. The King of Israel, even the LORD [Himself], is in your midst; You will no longer fear disaster. 16 In that day it will be said to Jerusalem: “Do not be afraid, O Zion; Do not let your hands fall limp. 17 “The LORD your God is in your midst, A Warrior who saves. He will rejoice over you with joy; He will be quiet in His love [making no mention of your past sins], He will rejoice over you with shouts of joy. 18 “I will gather those [Israelites in captivity] who grieve about the appointed feasts— They came from you, [O Zion]; On whom the reproach [of exile] is a burden. 19 “Behold, at that time I am going to deal With all your oppressors; I will save the lame And gather the scattered, And I will turn their shame into praise and renown In every land [where they have suffered]. [Mic 4:6 , 7 ] 20 “At that time I will bring you in, Yes, at the time I gather you together; For I will make you a name and a praise Among all the peoples of the earth When I restore your fortunes [and freedom] before your eyes,” Says the LORD . Zephaniah 1 a 1:1 Zephaniah’s great-great-grandfather, Hezekiah, ruled Judah (the Southern Kingdom) from 715–686 B .C . He was a godly king who restored the temple and abolished pagan worship. He was also notable as the great warrior who defended Jerusalem from the attacking Assyrians, and the great builder who developed the Siloam tunnel and reservoir to enhance the fresh water supply of Jerusalem. b 1:3 MT reads ruins . c 1:4 One of the major male gods of Canaan. His female consort was Asherah. d 1:5 The flat roofs of the houses were often used as convenient places of planetary worship (i.e. Sabeanism, astrology). e 1:9 This may have a connection to the pagan custom mentioned in 1 Sam 5:5 , or to the pagan belief that spirits resided in the threshold. f 1:10 I.e. the lower, newer part of the city. g 1:11 A shallow hollow that was a district in Jerusalem. h 1:18 God’s judgment and God’s mercy are the twin themes of the prophets. In this dramatic passage, the Lord describes the destruction that will sweep the earth in the day of His wrath.

• From Henry Miller on Writing (1964)

  On the right God the Father; on the left and hanging a little lower, God the Son; and between and above them the Holy Ghost. I can never forget that this holy trinity is man-made, that it will undergo infinite changes—but as long as we come out of wombs with arms and legs, as long as there are stars above us to drive us mad and grass under our feet to cushion the wonder in us, just so long will this body serve for all the tunes that we may whistle. Today it is the third or fourth day of spring and I am sitting at the Place Clichy in full sunshine. Today, sitting here in the sun, I tell you it doesn’t matter a damn whether the world is going to the dogs or not; it doesn’t matter whether the world is right or wrong, good or bad. It is— and that suffices. The world is what it is and I am what I am. I say it not like a squatting Buddha with legs crossed, but out of a gay, hard wisdom, out of an inner security. This out there and this in me, all this, everything , the resultant of inexplicable forces. A chaos whose order is beyond comprehension. Beyond human comprehension. As a human being walking around at twilight, at dawn, at strange hours, unearthly hours, the sense of being alone and unique fortifies me to such a degree that when I walk with the multitude and seem no longer to be a human being but a mere speck, a gob of spit, I begin to think of myself alone in space, a single being surrounded by the most magnificent empty streets, a human biped walking between the skyscrapers when all the inhabitants have fled and I am alone walking, singing, commanding the earth. I do not have to look in my vest pocket to find my soul; it is there all the time, bumping against my ribs, swelling, inflated with song. If I just left a gathering where it was agreed that all is dead, now as I walk the streets, alone and identical with God, I know that this is a lie. The evidence of death is before my eyes constantly; but this death of the world, a death constantly going on, does not move from the periphery in, to engulf me, this death is at my very feet, moving from me outward, my own death a step in advance of me always. The world is the mirror of myself dying, the world not dying any more than I die, I more alive a thousand years from now than this moment and this world in which I am now dying also more alive then than now though dead a thousand years.

• From The Beautiful Room Is Empty (1988)

  The commotion of happiness ringing in my head was so loud I could scarcely hear what was happening. Such moments in a whole long life are neither as rare as one fears at first nor as frequent as later one hopes. His penis was crooked when erect. It was big and veered off to one side.

• From The Beautiful Room Is Empty (1988)

  And she and all her friends loved to tease, not titter, and even played rough practical jokes on one another. Her roommate Betty, women’s tennis champ of Hong Kong, was minuscule and looked no older than fifteen, though she was finishing a doctorate in chemistry. She was wound too tight and kept gaining time; obsessively efficient, she was able all at once to run up a dress, jot down a stream of formulae, practice her backhand, bicycle to the lab, and plan an elaborate evening of amateur theatricals to spoof several friends. At the dinner, Kay decided to test how gullible and distracted a friend of hers, a Chinese grad student in physics, actually was. As we listened, she phoned him at his apartment, where she knew he’d be lost in calculations. She told him she was the operator calling to test his “unit” and, despite her heavy Chinese accent, he believed her. “I want you to walk across the room and put your unit in the top drawer of your walnut dresser, close the drawer, return to your present position, and say, ‘Wong, wong.’ ” The physicist’s compliance, coupled with the fact that dogs in China say wong-wong instead of bow-wow, made us sick with laughter. Soon Kay had him whistling, hooting, and grunting at his unit. Betty was at the same time quickly loading the table with dishes. We were drinking beers, and the cold imperious Kay had turned bright red from drink: “Autumn Moon” became her new name. Then it was Betty’s turn to be teased. She’d made the mistake of complaining that she felt fat, though she carried no more excess weight than a cricket. Kay told us how she’d recently called an exercycle company in Detroit and, in Betty’s name, asked for a free demonstration. One afternoon while Betty was deep in her chemistry book, a big blonde in black high heels clomped-clomped up the wooden fire escape, rising into Betty’s view like a sea monster. “Are you Betty Wong?” she demanded. “Yes.” “One minute please while I assemble the horse.” Before Betty could say ee, erh, san, which is one, two, three in Chinese, she’d been strapped, all eighty-five pounds of her, onto the weight-reducing demon. “That night,” Kay was saying, “when she asked me in tears how they’d come up with her name, I told her they go through the infirmary files and approach anyone who’s overweight.” The two other male guests were Chinese in white shirts, sober ties, and gray suits, smiling and nodding, knees together, hands to either side flat against the chair seat as though ready to spring up at any moment. Before long I’d grasped the underlying idea.

• From Amplified Holy Bible (2015)

  25 Large crowds followed Him from Galilee and the d Decapolis and Jerusalem and Judea and the other side of the Jordan. Matthew 5 The Sermon on the Mount; The Beatitudes 1 W HEN JESUS saw the crowds, He went up on the mountain; and when He was seated, His a disciples came to Him. 2 Then He began to teach them, saying, 3 “Blessed [spiritually prosperous, happy, to be admired] are the poor in spirit [those devoid of spiritual arrogance, those who regard themselves as insignificant], for theirs is the kingdom of heaven [both now and forever]. [Luke 6:20–23 ] 4 “Blessed [forgiven, refreshed by God’s grace] are those who mourn [over their sins and repent], for they will be comforted [when the burden of sin is lifted]. [Is 61:2 ] 5 “Blessed [inwardly peaceful, spiritually secure, worthy of respect] are the b gentle [the kind-hearted, the sweet-spirited, the self-controlled], for they will inherit the earth. [Ps 37:11 ] 6 “Blessed [joyful, nourished by God’s goodness] are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness [those who actively seek right standing with God], for they will be [completely] satisfied. [Is 55:1 , 2 ] 7 “Blessed [content, sheltered by God’s promises] are the merciful, for they will receive mercy. 8 “Blessed [anticipating God’s presence, spiritually mature] are the pure in heart [those with integrity, moral courage, and godly character], for they will see God. [Ps 24:3 , 4 ] 9 “Blessed [spiritually calm with life-joy in God’s favor] are the makers and maintainers of peace, for they will [express His character and] be called the sons of God. [Heb 12:14 ] 10 “Blessed [comforted by inner peace and God’s love] are those who are persecuted for c doing that which is morally right, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven [both now and forever]. 11 “Blessed [morally courageous and spiritually alive with life-joy in God’s goodness] are you when people insult you and persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil things against you because of [your association with] Me. 12 “Be glad and exceedingly joyful, for your reward in heaven is great [absolutely inexhaustible]; for in this same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you. [2 Chr 36:16 ] Disciples and the World 13 “You are the d salt of the earth; but if the salt has e lost its taste (purpose), how can it be made salty? It is no longer good for anything, but to be thrown out and walked on by people [when the walkways are wet and slippery]. 14 “You are the light of [Christ to] the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden; 15 nor does anyone light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house.

• From The Well of Loneliness (1928)

  ‘ Nothing matters up here. You and I are so small, we're smaller than Tony -— our love’s nothing but a drop in some vast sea of love —it’s rather consoling — don’t you think so, beloved? ’ But Angela shook her head: ‘ No, my Stephen; I’m not fond of vast seas, I’m of the earth earthy,’ and then: ‘ Kiss me, Stephen.’ So Stephen must kiss her many times, for the hot blood of youth stirs quickly, and the mystical sea became Angela’s lips that so eagerly gave and took kisses. But when they got back to The Grange that evening, Ralph was there — he was hanging about in the hall. He said: “ Had a nice afternoon, you two women? Been motoring Angela round the hills, Stephen, or what? ’ He had taken to calling her Stephen, but his voice just now sounded sharp with suspicion as his rather weak eyes peered at Angela, so that for her sake Stephen must lie, and lie well — nor would this be for the first time either. ‘ Yes, thanks,’ she lied calmly, ‘ we went over to Tewkesbury and had another look at the abbey. We had tea in the town. Pm sorry we're so late, the carburettor choked, I couldn’t get it right at first, my car needs a good overhauling.’ Lies, always lies! She was growing proficient at the glib kind of lying that pacified Ralph, or at all events left him with nothing to say, nonplussed and at a distinct disadvantage. She was sud- denly seized with a kind of horror, she felt physically sick at what she was doing. Her head swam and she caught the jamb of the door for support — at that moment she remembered her father. 166 THE WELL OF LONELINESS 2 Two days later as they sat alone in the garden at Morton, Stephen turned to Angela abruptly: ‘I can’t go on like this, it’s vile some- how — it’s beastly, it’s soiling us both — can’t you see that?’ Angela was startled. * What on earth do you mean? ’ ‘You and me — and then Ralph. I tell you it’s beastly — I want you to leave him and come away with me.’ ‘ Are you mad? ’

• From Amplified Holy Bible (2015)

  2 The LORD is great in Zion, And He is exalted and magnified above all the peoples. 3 Let them [reverently] praise Your great and awesome name; Holy is He. [Rev 15:4 ] 4 The strength of the King loves justice and righteous judgment; You have established fairness; You have executed justice and righteousness in Jacob (Israel). 5 Exalt the LORD our God And worship at His footstool; Holy is He. 6 Moses and Aaron were among His priests, And Samuel was among those who called on His name; They called upon the LORD and He answered them. 7 He spoke to them in the pillar of cloud; They kept His testimonies And the statutes that He gave them. [Ps 105:9 , 10 ] 8 You answered them, O LORD our God; You were a forgiving God to them, And yet an avenger of their evil practices. 9 Exalt the LORD our God And worship at His holy hill [Zion, the temple mount], For the LORD our God is holy. Psalm 100 All Men Exhorted to Praise God. A Psalm of Thanksgiving. 1 S HOUT JOYFULLY to the LORD , all the earth. 2 Serve the LORD with gladness and delight; Come before His presence with joyful singing. 3 Know and fully recognize with gratitude that the LORD Himself is God; It is He who has made us, a not we ourselves [and we are His]. We are His people and the sheep of His pasture. [Eph 2:10 ] 4 Enter His gates with a song of thanksgiving And His courts with praise. Be thankful to Him, bless and praise His name. 5 For the LORD is good; His mercy and lovingkindness are everlasting, His faithfulness [endures] to all generations. Psalm 101 The Psalmist’s Profession of Uprightness. A Psalm of David. 1 I WILL sing of [steadfast] lovingkindness and justice; To You, O LORD , I will sing praises. 2 I will behave wisely and follow the way of integrity. When will You come to me? I will walk in my house in integrity and with a blameless heart. 3 I will set no worthless or wicked thing before my eyes. I hate the practice of those who fall away [from the right path]; It will not grasp hold of me. 4 A perverse heart shall depart from me; I will not tolerate evil. 5 Whoever secretly slanders his neighbor, him I will silence; The one who has a haughty look and a proud (arrogant) heart I will not tolerate. 6 My eyes will be on the faithful (honorable) of the land, that they may dwell with me; He who walks blamelessly is the one who will minister to and serve me. 7 He who practices deceit will not dwell in my house; He who tells lies and half-truths will not continue [to remain] in my presence.

• From Beyond Respectability: The Intellectual Thought of Race Women (2017)

  Ever the poised and eloquent speaker, Terrell began by thanking her audience for their commitment “to try to improve the conditions under which we live in the Capital of the United States of America, called the Greatest Democracy on Earth.” “We are trying,” she reminded them, “to devise ways and means of making this country a Democracy in fact as well as in name by injecting a little bit of Democracy here in Washington, D.C.” The recent ruling was a “indeed a great victory for a group to celebrate which has been humiliated, handicapped, and harassed [sic] by segregation and discrimination in the Capital of the United States for nearly 100 years!”90 She then turned her attention to the defiance of local officials. “Let us rejoice with an exceeding great joy in spite of the determined, diabolical efforts which have been made to snatch from us the fruits of that blessed victory which the law gives us the right to enjoy.”91 Invoking both Christian religious rhetoric and the rhetoric of liberal democracy, Terrell held forth their victory as both divine and legal right. Delivered in a local D.C. church, her liberal use of biblical phrases had the effect of letting her audience know that God was in fact on the side of the protesters, not on the side of the “diabolical” local officials. Even so, she reminded her audience about the kind of agitation that would be most effective: “We are not going to tear passion to tatters here tonight. We are not going to fuss and fume. But in a dignified, disgusted way we are going to say we are shocked beyond expression that Corporation Counsel West has used his power as a law-enforcement officer to encourage proprietors of hotels, restaurants, and other eating places deliberately, openly to violate the law by telling them he will not prosecute them if they do.”92 Terrell insisted on dignified, if disgusted, methods of registering collective racial protest. Despite her fiery rhetoric, her calls for dignified protest could be read as subdued. However, she had honed and articulated her theory of agitation over the course of nearly forty years. Where she had generally always insisted on a certain level of propriety with her agitation, by 1951 she had moved from proper and dignified, to dignified, disgusted, and defiant.

• From The Beautiful Room Is Empty (1988)

  “He really does want to marry me, at least we’ve spent hours lingering in front of jewelry windows and he even sashayed into one and demanded to see the costliest diamonds.” I could hear an echo of William in the way she said “costliest.” “And now we both know everything about minks, how to let them out and match skins.” At my fraternity we celebrated founder’s night, a “bachelor evening” when we all dressed in black tie, ate shrimp cocktail and well-done steaks, then went to the party room in the cellar and drank ourselves into a blackout. The style of the house was hang-dog: seasoned, weary, alcoholic. Our president, the one who looked freshly peeled, would wake up at six in the evening, climb out of his hooded sweatsuit and two pairs of athletic socks, his costume for sleeping in the unheated “fresh air” dorm, spend an hour shaving and showering and emerge, flushed, in impeccable black tie and diamond studs, his debauches betrayed only by his red nose. He mixed potent cocktails, but he refused to serve them unless every detail was perfect—correct glass correctly frosted, the right kind of garnish, the right monogrammed paper napkin. The camaraderie of founder’s night seemed doubly warm because we were all decorous and idle in a new way. At dances everyone was naturally devoted to his date, and at the weekday dinners a third of the members were missing and another third critically hung over. The rest read magazines, staged lackluster burping or farting contests, or threw bread. The house had been built by the first dean of music, and the dining room, with its minstrel gallery, had been the university’s original concert hall—Caruso had stood up there, right there, and sung, “Oh Ginnie whisky late burn air.” The shiny, very dark, and turbulently ornate woodwork made one think of hobbyists who do sculptural things with their own body wastes and keep their successes in jars. After the white wine and the red, we sang our way downstairs, underground, arm in arm. I suppose for the others there was something sad about such a gala evening without women, and obviously men alone don’t work up that glitter on their canines or press with the same suave, competitive leaning into the circle—alone they don’t even have the right excuse for joshing with each other. But for me, the tuxedos (which depersonalize waiters and lend distinction to friends), the banquet, and the toasts all permitted me for two minutes at a stretch to imagine we were a club of lovers—not the freaks at the toilets or those zombies endlessly laundering their genitals under the showers, but regular guys at ease in their skin, carelessly reaching a meaty hand back in a giant arc to scratch a shoulder blade, big panda eyes taking in the world, voices too loud for indoors. If I elaborated this fantasy it fell apart, since I knew a man stopped being desirable the moment he desired another.