Day 52 Israel-Hamas War

Lead me, Lord, in your righteousness

    because of my enemies—

    make your way straight before me.

 

Not a word from their mouth can be trusted;

    their heart is filled with malice.

Their throat is an open grave;

    with their tongues they tell lies.

Declare them guilty, O God!

    Let their intrigues be their downfall.

Banish them for their many sins,

    for they have rebelled against you.

 

But let all who take refuge in you be glad;

    let them ever sing for joy.

Spread your protection over them,

    that those who love your name may rejoice in you.

Surely, Lord, you bless the righteous;

    you surround them with your favor as with a shield.

Psalm 5: 8-12

It is a cold, wet day today here in Israel, perfect for writing blogs! My cat angrily and very vocally decided it was not an outdoor day (he blames me for the rain), and is now tucked up in my bed. Oh for the life of a spoiled cat! I would love to join him, but there is work to do. 

THE HOSTAGE RELEASE

Today is the 52nd day of the war and the 4th day of the so-called 'ceasefire'.  We are all suffering deep emotional turmoil. On one hand we are happy to see some of the hostages being returned, but even that is mixed with sorrow as we know that some are injured and ill, and others are coming back only to learn that their parents or other loved ones were cruelly murdered and their homes destroyed. Some have left mothers or fathers behind in cruel captivity still. We know too that even those hostages who have been returned have endured deep trauma and their road to recovery will be long and hard. 

On the other hand our fears increase with every passing day for those still being held hostage by Hamas . The smallest babies, including one aged only 10 months, and their mothers have not yet been released. There are at least another 170 men, women and children still being held captive in the cold, damp tunnels under the Strip, and we have heard that food is running out and they are not receiving any medical care. Every day their conditions worsen.  I cannot even begin to imagine the pain their waiting, ever waiting, loved ones are going through. With every group of released hostages, the fears for the remaining ones increase. 

As I write we are anxiously waiting for the 4th group of hostages to arrive in Israel. Reports are that 9 children and 2 mothers are now in the hands of the Red Cross. As has happened on other days, Hamas failed to carry out the agreements by not including all the mothers of the children being released, and this has caused long delays while negotiations are held.  It is now 8PM which means today's release was 4 hours late. Can you imagine how agonizing that is for both the hostages and the families waiting for them?  

Reports are coming in that there are negotiations taking place to extend the ceasefire allowing for the release of more hostages.  There are still around 170 hostages in Gaza, men, women and children. At least 10 children will remain after today's release. Now too we are learning that at least 50 of the hostages are not actually in the hands of Hamas but scattered throughout the Strip being held by Islamic Jihadists and even by individual crime families. Their exact whereabouts are unknown. We do not know if they are alive or dead. We are negotiating with the Devil, and he is playing psychological games with us. He cannot be trusted. He is the father of lies and of unimaginably heartless cruelty.

Today information is slowly being released about how the released hostages were treated in captivity.  They were not treated well. They all lost about 7 kg weight because they received very little food, only rice and pita bread once a day. The elderly, the sick (including a woman suffering from cancer) and the injured received no medicine. One of the hostages, a woman 85 years old, released in the first round is fighting for her life in hospital. She arrived in Israel with a heart rate of 44 and a temperature of 28 degrees F. A young woman who had been shot in the leg had had her leg operated on in Gaza but sepsis had set in and had not been treated. She has undergone surgery since arrival in Israel and is expected to recover.  The hostages were held in dirty tunnels with little, if any, access to hygiene facilities.  This all raises grave concerns for the welfare and fate of the many hostages remaining. 

 An Israeli-Russian dual national was released yesterday by the intervention of Russian President, Putin. He had at one point escaped when the building he was being held in was bombed by Israeli forces and collapsed. For 4 days he tried to find his way back to Israel, but Palestinian citizens caught him and handed him back to Hamas.  There are several other Israeli-Russian dual nationals amongst the hostages. I do not know why they were not also released. (I should explain that most immigrants to Israel retain their original nationality alongside their Israeli citizenship, therefore many of the hostages have dual nationality).

WHERE TO FROM HERE?

For every day of the ceasefire that passes, the harder it will be for Israel to 'restart' the war, not because of military reasons but because of the steady and increasing international pressure being exerted upon Israel.  Israel however has no real choice. With or without international support we MUST destroy Hamas once and for all. The alternative is unthinkable. Hamas has already boasted that the massacre of October 7th will be repeated over and over. They must be stopped, not only for Israel's sake but also for the sake of the Palestinian people, whom they have brutally oppressed for 16 years, and for the sake of all the world. Their ultimate goal is not only the total destruction of Israel but the destruction of the Western world and world domination.  They are a cancer that must be cut out. 

THE THIRD FRONT - JUDAH AND SAMARIA (THE WEST BANK)

The ceasefire is holding and we have had a welcome respite from the continual volleys of incoming rockets and missiles, coming from the Gaza Strip and also from Lebanon.  There have however been many violent 'incidents' in the West Bank (Samaria and Judah), resulting in the 'neutralization' and arrest of many terrorists there, some of whom were attacking our forces and others who were preparing to carry out terror attacks against Israelis. 

THE FOURTH FRONT - YEMEN

Also of concern is the more-or-less daily firing of cruise missiles and armed suicide drones from the Houthis in Yemen aimed at southern Israel, especially the city of Eilat. Thankfully all these missiles and drones have been shot down either by US, Saudi or Israeli defense systems before they entered Israeli airspace. The cruise missiles, should they manage to get through, carry massive warheads capable of  destroying whole city blocks. It is in Eilat where many of the evacuees, around 50,000, from the towns around the Gaza strip have taken refuge. There are also approximately 50,000 permanent residents living in Eilat. 

Three ships with links to Israel have been taken hostage or attacked by the Houthis of Yemen, another fanatical Muslim terror organization supported by Iran. Although partly owned by Israeli interests these ships are not registered in Israel, have no Israelis amongst the crew and are neither travelling to nor from Israel.  A day or two ago the Houthis also fired missiles at an US Aircraft carrier though they missed and no damage was done. These ongoing incidents threaten shipping in the Arabian Sea and through the Suez Canal.  This could precipitate a widening of the arena of war, even potentially a world war. The Suez Canal carries 12% of the world's trade.

     THE 5TH FRONT - THE WAR OF WORDS

Multitudes, multitudes

    in the valley of decision!

For the day of the Lord is near

    in the valley of decision.

Joel 3: 14

       The world's media and social networks are being flooded with lies, misinformation and fake news. I plead with all my readers to filter the information they receive and double check everything before passing it on. Hamas and its supporters are master propagandists and have no scruples whatsoever about twisting truth, making false claims, fake videos and uttering downright lies. Israel on the other hand, is at a big disadvantage because we try to stick to the truth and we protect our citizens, especially those already suffering deep trauma,  by not publishing the worst of Hamas' atrocities. For example, Israel has not made public the footage from captured Hamas terrorists' own body cams, showing women being 'gang' raped until their pelvises are broken, babies being beheaded or a pregnant woman being ripped open while still alive and her fetus being shot to death. This video footage has been shown only to Knesset members and some diplomats and media persons. Many of those who saw it vomited and some had to have medical treatment afterwards. You don't forget those images - ever. 

If you are a Christian believer you have a responsibility in these days to pray for Israel and speak out on her behalf. Silence is assent. 

Are you sitting on the fence? 

14 

 Not sure whether you should support Israel or the 'poor, oppressed Palestinians'? Do you want to 'be fair', and 'see both sides'? 

 I want to warn you that very soon this position will become untenable. You are going to have to choose sides. This goes against our Western mentality, even our 'Judeo-Christian'  sense of 'fair play' and our tendency to support the 'underdog'. It is hard for us to take sides.  But, I ask you, does God take sides? And the short answer is a resounding 'yes'. 

This is a war between good and evil. At its essence it is a spiritual war, between the God of Israel, Yahweh, and the false god of Islam, Allah. On whose side do you stand?

I want to make it very clear that this war is not between Israel and the Palestinian or Gazan people, it is a war between Israel and the fanatical, fundamentalist Islamic ideology espoused by the terror organizations of Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis all of whom are funded, equipped, trained and controlled by  Iranian regime. It is a war between spiritual realms. It is a war between good and evil, between savagery and civilization, and between truth and lies. 

 The whole of human history has been a battle between the realms of good and evil, and God raised up and chose the little nation of Israel to play the key role. When God called Abram out of Ur and told him to go to the land of Canaan, He said,  

“I will make you into a great nation,

    and I will bless you;

I will make your name great,

    and you will be a blessing.

3 

I will bless those who bless you,

    and whoever curses you I will curse;

and all peoples on earth

    will be blessed through you.”

Genesis 12: 2-3

Many times throughout history, Israel sinned against God, and God used various nations to punish her, but God will always repay those nations for what they have done to Israel. Israel is the 'apple of God's eye', not because she is perfect or better than the other nations, but rather because she is chosen and bears His Name.  Whoever dares to touch Israel calls upon himself a curse and will be judged.

 For this is what the Lord Almighty says: “After the Glorious One has sent me against the nations that have plundered you—for whoever touches you touches the apple of his eye—  I will surely raise my hand against them so that their slaves will plunder them. Then you will know that the Lord Almighty has sent me. 

Zechariah 2: 8-9

In the times of the end, the nations will all be judged on the basis of how they have treated Israel. 

“In those days and at that time,

    when I restore the fortunes of Judah and Jerusalem,

2 

I will gather all nations

    and bring them down to the Valley of Jehoshaphat.

There I will put them on trial

    for what they did to my inheritance, my people Israel,

because they scattered my people among the nations

    and divided up my land...

Joel 3:  1-2

God will judge every nation according to how it has treated Israel. The prophecy goes on to specifically mention 'Tyre and Sidon' (Lebanon) and the 'regions of Philistia' (the Gaza Strip) :

“Now what have you against me, Tyre and Sidon and all you regions of Philistia? Are you repaying me for something I have done? If you are paying me back, I will swiftly and speedily return on your own heads what you have done... 

But the Lord will be a refuge for his people,

    a stronghold for the people of Israel....

“Then you will know that I, the Lord your God,

    dwell in Zion, my holy hill.

Jerusalem will be holy;

    never again will foreigners invade her.

 

“In that day the mountains will drip new wine,

    and the hills will flow with milk;

    all the ravines of Judah will run with water.

A fountain will flow out of the Lord’s house

    and will water the valley of acacias.

1 

But Egypt will be desolate,

    Edom a desert waste,

because of violence done to the people of Judah,

    in whose land they shed innocent blood.

20 

Judah will be inhabited forever

    and Jerusalem through all generations.

21 

Shall I leave their innocent blood unavenged?

    No, I will not.”

The Lord dwells in Zion!

Joel 3

In a Fox News interview, shortly after the October 7 massacre, a friend of mine, Tal Hartuv, herself a victim of a brutal terror attack, put it this way, " We are talking about a war where there are two sides, and the sides are this: it's savagery or civilization, it's a war against (sic: between) evil and good, it's dark against light, it's cruelty against kindness, and it's death against life... I am now absolutely convinced... that (the media) by giving a platform in the name of balance and hearing both sides, that is irresponsible, and it could be the death blow to Western civilization, and I mean that with all seriousness". To see the whole interview go to

https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/#inbox/FMfcgzGwHfqTsKNFxHfGZbhzZQqTSgSL?projector=1

If you do not speak out in your churches, communities, and nations, you become complicit in the evil. If you don't understand what is happening, study your Bible and then filter the news through it. If you do not pray against this tide of darkness, you may very soon be overcome by it. This is a time of reckoning. Do you stand with God or against Him? With God's chosen people or against them? There is no middle ground. We must all choose our sides. 

 DAY 31 ISRAEL-HAMAS WAR

"Silence in the face of evil, is in itself evil. God will not hold us guiltless. Not to speak it, is to speak. Not to act, is to act"

Dietrich Bonhoeffer

For several days now I have been trying to write an update on the situation here in Israel, but how to start? How to express the shock? The horror? The atrocities? 

On the morning of Shabbat, October 7, around 3000 heavily armed, amphetamine-crazed Hamas operatives broke through about 28 places in the Gaza border fence and invaded Israeli towns and settlements along the border region killing, dismembering, raping, and torturing anyone they could find, men, women, children and even babies. They burned whole families alive in their homes. They decapitated babies, they cut pregnant women open in front of their families, and they raped women so viciously they broke their pelvises. They cut off the hands and feet of children while still alive. These things they did while laughing and even sitting down to eat the food of their victims. Simultaneously Hamas also fired some 3200 rockets into Israel that day.

 Words cannot convey the evil. If you were to watch the videos that have been released, they will haunt you forever. That Black Sabbath morning these depraved monsters killed 1400 Israelis, and wounded 4229 more, most of them unarmed civilians. Around 240 of the dead were young people attending a rave music festival in the desert. Hamas also took an unknown number of hostages back into Gaza. The official figure stands at 242 hostages with 4 released and one rescued by the IDF, but there are still tens of others still unaccounted for. All these atrocities were committed in the name of Allah!

It is all a bit surreal, like living in an apocalyptic movie. But, sadly, it is all too real. Funerals are taking place and families are mourning. The whole nation is mourning with them. Others wait anxiously for news, any news, of their missing loved ones. Sirens are blaring and people are running for shelter as thousands of rockets and missiles pepper the southern regions including the large cities of Ashkelon, Ashdod, Beer Sheva and Tel Aviv. Young, and not so young, men and women have taken up arms and are fighting for their lives, and ours. Their wives, husbands and children are trying to cope alone with the separation, the anxiety while still taking care of the practicalities of life.  About 500,000 Israelis are internally displaced, leaving their homes, their crops and businesses, their farm animals and, and in some cases, pets, and all their possessions. Those who are not with family or friends are being housed in the safer areas, in the hotels now emptied of tourists. For 31 days now we have been pummeled with rockets and missiles, round after round.  We are all wondering what the future will hold for our nation, our families, our children, ourselves, and indeed the world. 

I do not forget, either, the population of Gaza. Israel has no desire or interest in killing any civilian in Gaza. Our war is against Hamas, not the people of Gaza. Millions of leaflets in Arabic were dropped on Gaza city warning all the inhabitants to go to the south of the Strip. Around 2/3 of the inhabitants of the city, some 600,000 people, have done so but the other 300,000 remain. Some of those did try to leave but were stopped by Hamas' roadblocks and they were even fired upon by Hamas to force them to remain. Hamas is using the Palestinian population as human shields. Sadly many of these are likely to be caught in the crossfire in the coming days. Hamas has located its military installations under schools, hospitals and residential buildings. Its main center of operations is located under the largest hospital in Gaza, the Shifa Hospital, in which are sheltering not only the sick and injured, but many of the local refugees too. 

The situation of the Gaza population is dire and the world blames Israel, but the fault lies wholly with Hamas. Instead of building homes, schools, hospitals and infrastructure with all the millions of dollars of aid it has received (It could have been the Dubai of the Mediterranean), it has stolen all this money from the people to build hundreds of kilometers of concrete-lined tunnels, stockpiled weapons and ammunition, oil and food for their own use towards their sole goal which is to destroy Israel. They do not care for their own people, and I suspect a sizeable proportion of the people want to see them destroyed as much as we do, though of course they cannot openly say so. 

It astounds me that the world is still largely unconcerned about what is happening here.  What is it going to take for everyone to wake up? This war between Israel and Hamas, may seem far away from you, but what happened here may happen in your town tomorrow, in your streets and to your children, if radical Islamic fundamentalism is not somehow stopped. They already have operatives in every country and sleeper cells are right now preparing their attacks. 

Below are some excerpts from the Hamas Charter. The full text, translated into English, can be seen on https://www.memri.org/reports/covenant-islamic-resistance-movement-%E2%80%93-hamas

""The Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) is one of the wings of the Muslim Brotherhood in Palestine. The Muslim Brotherhood movement is a global organization and is the largest of the Islamic movements in modern times.....  (Article 2)

Muslims who adopt the way of the Islamic Resistance Movement are found in all countries of the world, and act to support [the movement], to adopt its positions and to reinforce its jihad. Therefore, it is a world movement, and it is qualified for this [role] owing to the clarity of its ideology, the loftiness of its purpose and the exaltedness of its goals. It is on this basis that it should be regarded and evaluated; it is on this basis that its role should be recognized... (Article 7)

The ultimate goal of Hamas and all the other radical, Islamic movements, such as Hezbollah, the Islamic Jihad, the Houthis in Yemen, ISIS and the Muslim Brotherhood, is Jihad and world domination based on the principles of the Koran. Hamas' charter begins by quoting the Koran thus:

"You are the best nation that has been brought out for mankind. You command good and forbid evil and believe in Allah. If only the people of the Book [i.e., Jews and Christians] had believed, it would have been well for them. Some of them believe, but most of them are iniquitous. They will never be able to do you serious harm, they will only be an annoyance. If they fight you, they will turn their backs and flee, and will not be succored. Humiliation is their lot wherever they may be, except where they are saved from it by a bond with Allah or by a bond with men. They incurred upon themselves Allah's wrath, and wretchedness is their lot, because they denied Allah's signs and wrongfully killed the prophets, and because they disobeyed and transgressed." (Koran, 3:110-112).

The very word "Hamas" in Hebrew means 'violence'. Psalm 11: 5 says this, 

The Lord examines the righteous,

    but the wicked, those who love violence,

    he hates with a passion.

The word translated here as 'violence' is the Hebrew word, 'hamas'. 

Don't get me wrong. I am not saying all Muslims are evil or violent but there is at the heart of Islam a core of hatred and violence against the 'other', namely the Christian and the Jew, as the quote from the Koran above illustrates. 

When news of the events of October 7 began to reach the world, there was an outpouring of sympathy and support for Israel the scale of which I had never seen before. But sadly, once Israel began to respond, all too quickly that support has waned and is now morphing into criticism, opposition and antisemitism on a scale not seen since the Third Reich.  

I think that part of the problem here is that the Western mind just cannot conceive of evil of this kind. Western leaders still persist in thinking that we can negotiate peace with Hamas-led Palestinians. They still think that deep down these people want peace. They think they care about their people and their own children. They do not.  Mothers rejoice when their sons and daughters go out to kill Jews and are killed as a result. They call them martyrs. Kindergarten kids are taught to aspire to be martyrs and they long to kill lots of Jews. 

One Gazan woman, who had been brought to Israel with her son who was given heart surgery here during (!) the 2014 Gaza-Israel war, summed it up with these words, " The difference between you (Israelis) and us (Palestinians) is that you honor life and we honor death". 

Golda Meir, Israel's fourth Prime Minister (from 1969 to 1974), said this, 

“We can forgive the Arabs for killing our children. We cannot forgive them for forcing us to kill their children. We will only have peace with the Arabs when they love their children more than they hate us”.

For the 16 years that Hamas has controlled Gaza, we in Israel have been subjected to endless rounds of rocket and missile attacks across the border. At times this has escalated into armed confrontation, but each time, Israel has been pulled back from defeating Hamas by calls from the nations for 'proportionality', 'negotiation' and 'humanitarian concerns'. This approach has not worked, it has only created the monster we are facing today. The monster must be destroyed totally or it will not only eat up Israel, but the USA, Europe and the so-called free world. 

This time, Hamas crossed a red line and there is no going back. There will be no 'ceasefire', in which we cease and they fire. A ceasefire would be surrender. You must not make peace with evil. Israel is fighting for its very survival. 

A few days ago, on October 24, on LBCTV (Lebanon) Ghazi Hamad of the Hamas political bureau said, that Hamas is prepared to repeat the October 7 " Al-Aqsa Flood Operation time and again until Israel is annihilated', adding that the Palestinians are willing to pay the price and that they are "proud to sacrifice martyrs." Hamad said that Palestinians are the victims of the occupation, therefore no one should blame them for the events of October 7 or anything else, adding: "Everything we do is justified."... "Israel is a country that has no place on our land. We must remove that country, because it constitutes a security, military, and political catastrophe to the Arab and Islamic nation, and must be finished. We are not ashamed to say this, with full force..."We must teach Israel a lesson, and we will do this again and again. The Al-Aqsa Flood is just the first time, and there will be a second, a third, a fourth, because we have the determination, the resolve, and the capabilities to fight. Will we have to pay a price? Yes, and we are ready to pay it. We are called a nation of martyrs, and we are proud to sacrifice martyrs.

https://www.memri.org/tv/hamas-official-ghazi-hamad-we-will-repeat-october-seven-until-israel-annihilated-victims-everything-we-do-justified

When Hamad speaks of occupation he is meaning not the (non-existent) occupation of Gaza, but the 'occupation' of the whole land of Israel. According to the Koran, it is forbidden for any Muslim to relinquish, or even sell, any land conquered by Islam to a non-Muslim for any reason. Muslims see the land now controlled by the State of Israel as Muslim land and therefore all Israelis are 'occupiers'.  

It is now Day 31 of the Israel-Hamas war of 2023. It is a beautiful, sunny autumn day and here in the Judean mountains it is quiet, too quiet. It is hard to believe that not far away our brave soldiers are fighting in the streets and alleys of Gaza, and in the tunnels below. As of 5 days ago, the IDF (Israel Defense Force) has hit over 11,000 military targets, rocket and missile launching sites, command centers, communication centers and weapons caches. I do not have a more recent update. The southern region including the cities of Ashkelon, Ashdod, Rehovot, Ramat Gan, Tel Aviv and also Beer Sheva are still being pounded several times a day by rockets and missiles. At least 25 towns and kibbutzim close to the Gaza Strip and 29 towns, including the city of Kiryat Shmona, along the northern border have been compulsorily evacuated. The northern front is escalating daily.  Last night Kiryat Shmona was hit by at least 12 missiles fired by Hezbollah in Lebanon. 

 Now that our ground forces have entered Gaza, little officially-verified news is filtering out, but there is plenty of disinformation, propaganda and fake news. There is no doubt that Hamas is winning the propaganda war. They have no scruples. Truth is of no concern to them (lying is also sanctioned by the Koran when it is expedient). Unlike Israel they are not concerned about causing further pain to suffering families with their words and images. My plea is that you evaluate carefully the news you receive via the news media, which is mostly biased against Israel, and the internet which is heaving with fake news and propaganda. Below are links to some trustworthy sources:

https://www.timesofisrael.com/

https://www.jpost.com/

Below are links to access a link to Israel Realtime which gives updates several times a day in English.

 Join ISRAEL REALTIME - click below and you’re in!

👉 PREFERRED Telegram link .. https://t.me/Israel_Realtime_Updates  👈

. If you only use WhatsApp, link .. https://chat.whatsapp.com/CMpiSVOEXjPGhJFMd4n8oZ

Finally, it is important to remember that this war is primarily spiritual. It is a war between the nation of Israel, chosen by God and granted this land by covenant for ever, and the powers opposed to God. Make sure you are fighting on the right side.

 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.

Ephesians 6:12

 The most important weapon at our disposal is prayer, one not limited by location, availability or skill. Your prayers matter.  The Psalms are a powerful aid and guide to prayer in these days. Here is one that resonated with me this morning:

Psalm 35. Of David. 

Contend, Lord, with those who contend with me;

    fight against those who fight against me.

2 

Take up shield and armor;

    arise and come to my aid.

3 

Brandish spear and javelin

    against those who pursue me.

Say to me,

    “I am your salvation.”

4 

May those who seek my life

    be disgraced and put to shame;

may those who plot my ruin

    be turned back in dismay.

5 

May they be like chaff before the wind,

    with the angel of the Lord driving them away;

6 

may their path be dark and slippery,

    with the angel of the Lord pursuing them.

7 

Since they hid their net for me without cause

    and without cause dug a pit for me,

8 

may ruin overtake them by surprise—

    may the net they hid entangle them,

    may they fall into the pit, to their ruin.

9 

Then my soul will rejoice in the Lord

    and delight in his salvation.

10 

My whole being will exclaim,

    “Who is like you, Lord?

You rescue the poor from those too strong for them,

    the poor and needy from those who rob them.”

11 

Ruthless witnesses come forward;

    they question me on things I know nothing about.

12 

They repay me evil for good

    and leave me like one bereaved.

13 

Yet when they were ill, I put on sackcloth

    and humbled myself with fasting.

When my prayers returned to me unanswered,

14 

    I went about mourning

    

as though for my friend or brother.

I bowed my head in grief

    as though weeping for my mother.

15 

But when I stumbled, they gathered in glee;

    assailants gathered against me without my knowledge.

    They slandered me without ceasing.

16 

Like the ungodly they maliciously mocked;

    they gnashed their teeth at me.

17 

How long, Lord, will you look on?

    Rescue me from their ravages,

    my precious life from these lions.

18 

I will give you thanks in the great assembly;

    among the throngs I will praise you.

19 

Do not let those gloat over me

    who are my enemies without cause;

do not let those who hate me without reason

    maliciously wink the eye.

20 

They do not speak peaceably,

    but devise false accusations

    against those who live quietly in the land.

21 

They sneer at me and say, “Aha! Aha!

    With our own eyes we have seen it.”

22 

Lord, you have seen this; do not be silent.

    Do not be far from me, Lord.

23 

Awake, and rise to my defense!

    Contend for me, my God and Lord.

24 

Vindicate me in your righteousness, Lord my God;

    do not let them gloat over me.

25 

Do not let them think, “Aha, just what we wanted!”

    or say, “We have swallowed him up.”

26 

May all who gloat over my distress

    be put to shame and confusion;

may all who exalt themselves over me

    be clothed with shame and disgrace.

27 

May those who delight in my vindication

    shout for joy and gladness;

may they always say, “The Lord be exalted,

    who delights in the well-being of his servant.”

28 

My tongue will proclaim your righteousness,

    your praises all day long.