The word ma is the negation here. puñña is “merit”. bhāyati is “being afraid”.
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Agreed. And the Pali is very broad. It allows both understandings.
I know that some fear that they are unworthy of good deeds and kindness. This happens in abusive relationships. The Pali is a gift to those who are abused. All are worthy of good deeds and kindness.
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Definitely. Even if this Sutta just speaks of making merit and reaping the results.
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In Karl’s defense, one could read the Buddha’s example of happily reaping the results as demonstrating the second kind of “merit non-fear.”
[EDIT: Though, there are Jatakas where the Bodhisatta renounces his throne and becomes a mendicant, so… 
]
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This is so interesting…and now as I read more closely, the Buddha doesn’t actually say that it is his own good deeds he benefits from. The wording is a bit peculiar in that a self is not mentioned. In particular, the following can also be understood as “good deeds benefit all”.
Sukhassetaṁ, bhikkhave, adhivacanaṁ yadidaṁ puññāni. Variant: yadidaṁ puññāni → yadidaṁ puññanti (bj); yadidaṁ puññānanti (sya-all, pts1ed, csp1ed)
I recall undergoing for a long time the likable, desirable, and agreeable results of good deeds performed over a long time.
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Hmm … 
While it is certainly true that good deeds benefit all, I can’t remember the Buddha teaching that you reap the result of other people’s deeds in your next life … be it good or bad.
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Yet, by the same token, perhaps we should not assume the Buddha said we reap only the results of our own deeds unless we can point to a definitive Pali phrase saying something like “when I did this, this happened to me” or something like that.
Oh WAIT! I remember some Sariputta sutta where this is discussed… let me look
OK. here it is:
AN4.171:7.5: Take the case of the reincarnation where both one’s own and others’ intentions are effective. Those sentient beings pass away from that realm due to both their own and others’ intentions.
So I think we need another example here as well. Perhaps “others’ intentions”? That finds two suttas. “Intentions” is a bit broad with 42 suttas.
AN4.171:6.5: There is a reincarnation where both one’s own and others’ intentions are effective.
AN4.171:6.6: There is a reincarnation where neither one’s own nor others’ intentions are effective.
AN4.171:7.5: Take the case of the reincarnation where both one’s own and others’ intentions are effective. Those sentient beings pass away from that realm due to both their own and others’ intentions.
AN4.171:7.6: But sir, in the case of the reincarnation where neither one’s own nor others’ intentions are effective, what kind of gods does this refer to?”
DN33:1.11.183: There is a reincarnation where both one’s own and others’ intentions are effective.
DN33:1.11.184: There is a reincarnation where neither one’s own nor others’ intentions are effective.
Side note: segment 7.6 is quite remarkable. It describes the reincarnation of gods.
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I haven’t really understood this fully, I must admit.
More down to earth, we find for example:
AN3.36:5.4: Taṁ kho pana te etaṁ pāpakammaṁ neva mātarā kataṁ, na pitarā kataṁ, na bhātarā kataṁ, na bhaginiyā kataṁ, na mittāmaccehi kataṁ, na ñātisālohitehi kataṁ, na devatāhi kataṁ, na samaṇabrāhmaṇehi kataṁ;
That bad deed wasn’t done by your mother, father, brother, or sister. It wasn’t done by friends and colleagues, by relatives and kin, by the deities, or by ascetics and brahmins.
AN3.36:5.5: atha kho tayāvetaṁ pāpakammaṁ kataṁ, tvaññevetassa vipākaṁ paṭisaṁvedissasī’ti.
That bad deed was done by you alone, and you alone will experience the result.’
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Excellent quote. And a quote about bad deeds.
Good deeds are another matter. For example, we know that the words of the Buddha are good. And we also know that this is important:
AN2.126:1.3: The words of another and proper attention.
Therefore, by proper attention, we benefit from the Buddha’s good deeds. In the context of AN7.62, we can also understand that we need not fear the Buddha’s words.
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I have still added “die Absicht anderer”, which is the counterpart of “others’ intentions”, added by Karl; and “was done by you alone | ganz allein von dir begangen”.
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Adding
- interstellar space | interstellaren Raumes (4 results)
This is where the aliens live:
AN4.127:1.4: Even in the boundless desolation of interstellar space—so utterly dark that even the light of the moon and the sun, so mighty and powerful, makes no impression—an immeasurable, magnificent light appears, surpassing the glory of the gods.
AN4.127:1.5: And the sentient beings reborn there recognize each other by that light:
AN4.127:1.6: ‘So, it seems other sentient beings have been reborn here!’
More cosmology:
- galaxy | Galaxis (15 results)
Others that we already have are
- There comes a time | Es kommt eine Zeit
- after a very long period has passed | nachdem eine sehr lange Zeitspanne
It’s amazing how well the Buddha understood cosmic processes!
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Adding examples from my latest translations (already existing in English):
- durch die Versenkung geläutert
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I guess umlauts are OK. 
I just realized that I’ve been thinking that “letters” are “A-Z”. 
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Oh my … I don’t even perceive them as special in any way. To me, they are just letters … Hope they will be okay; and it’s definitely not the first case of umlaut—we have already “alberne Gespräche”, as just one example that I quickly found.
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Excellent. Thanks! 
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Continuing:
- Einheit des Geistes
It’s fascinating how:
- Geist is a ghost
- Geiste is a spirit
- Geistes is mind
It reminds me of someone who said, “when you say ‘mind’, you touch your head. When we say ‘mind’, we touch our hearts”
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More examples:
-
sacrificial post | Opferpfahl (5 results)
Number one result is AN 7.47, where the Buddha explains how to make a proper sacrifice, without killing many animals. The term also connects the different texts (except the Jataka) mentioned in this interesting essay about the future Buddha Metteyya, some really awkward Brahmanical rituals, horses, kings, and the effort to make someone smile …
In other words: cool mythological stuff! -
Schmuck und ein Bestandteil (EN already there)
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good, sister | gut, Schwester (2 results)
Points to AN 7.53, a Sutta with the amazing lay practitioner Veḷukaṇṭakī, Nanda’s mother; and still to MN 146 which reports a talk given to the nuns.
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a Realized One exists after death | ein Klargewordener besteht nach dem Tod (17 results)
which is the first of the famous “undeclared points” that the Buddha did not teach.
-
vielleicht nicht mein (EN already there)
-
einnicken (EN already there)
-
ob bei Tag oder bei Nacht (EN already there)
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nichts ist es wert, daran festzuhalten (EN already there)
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ergreift.* nichts in der Welt (EN already there)
-
astute, competent, clever, learned | klug, fähig, verständig und gelehrt (2 results)
which are the qualities ascribed to the nun Khema; and the phrase has still another occurrence in MN 84.
I am still adding for English (non of those Suttas has been translated into German yet):
- gather all the mendicants
This points to instances where the Buddha asks Ananda to call all the mendicants together. It happens very rarely in the Suttas, only on three occasions (possibly a few more times in the Vinaya). This means these occasions are very special, and the Buddha considers it important that all the mendicants hear what he has to say.
- Two occasions are in the Mahaparinibbana Sutta DN 16. The first one is when towards the end of the Buddha’s life king Ajatasattu decides to start a war against the Vajjis, and his minister Vassakara sees that the best way to defeat them is by sewing dissent among them → the Buddha then explains to the mendicants seven principles that prevent decline.
- On the second occasion, also in DN 16, the Buddha calls together the entire Sangha after he has decided to pass away within three months and highlights to them which teachings he considers important.
- And the third occasion is in SN 54.9, where the Buddha, after many monks have killed themselves, teaches the remaining mendicants a “softer” meditation technique than the contemplation of ugliness, namely breath meditation.
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Thank you for all these new examples! 
This one in particular prompted me immediately to read DN16, which says some quite remarkable things such as:
DN16:1.7.4: As long as the mendicants don’t relish work, loving it and liking to relish it, they can expect growth, not decline.
Shall we add “relish work” as an example?
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Why not? It has a reasonable number of results, namely 11.
But in DN 16 it is also important to understand it in the context of the time and occasion, which is beautifully pointed out here by Ayya Vimalañani.
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