Psalm 94:1..O LORD GOD, to Whom vengeance belongs — O GOD, to Whom vengeance belongs, shine forth!
2 Rise up, O Judge of the earth; Render punishment to the proud.
3 LORD, how long will the wicked, How long will the wicked triumph?
4 They utter speech, and speak insolent things; All the workers of iniquity boast in themselves.
5 They break in pieces Your people, O LORD, And afflict Your heritage.
6 They slay the widow and the stranger, And murder the fatherless.
7 Yet they say, “The LORD does not see, Nor does the GOD of Jacob understand.”
8 Understand, you senseless among the people; And you fools, when will you be wise?

9 He who planted the ear, shall He not hear? He who formed the eye, shall He not see?
10 He who instructs the nations, shall He not correct, He who teaches man knowledge?
11 The LORD knows the thoughts of man, That they are futile.
12 Blessed is the man whom You instruct, O LORD, And teach out of Your law,
13 That You may give him rest from the days of adversity, Until the pit is dug for the wicked.
14 For the LORD will not cast off His people, Nor will He forsake His inheritance.
 
Is40:17..All nations before Him are as nothing, And they are counted by Him less than nothing and worthless.

Ps105..6 O seed of Abraham His servant, You children of Jacob, His chosen ones!
7 He is the LORD our GOD; His judgments are in all the earth.
8 He remembers His covenant forever, The word which He commanded, for a thousand generations,
9 The covenant which He made with Abraham, And His oath to Isaac,

10 And confirmed it to Jacob for a statute, To Israel as an everlasting covenant,
11 Saying, “To you I will give the land of Canaan As the allotment of your inheritance,”
12 When they were few in number, Indeed very few, and strangers in it.

Joel Singer is a partner in the Washington, D.C., office of Sidley & Austin. In 1993, while he was legal adviser to the Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs and a chief negotiator of the Oslo Agreements for the Rabin-Peres government, he authored the Israel-PLO Mutual Recognition Agreement.

Gen16..11 And the Angel of the LORD said to her: "Behold, you with child, and you shall bear a son. You shall call his name Ishmael, because the LORD has heard your affliction.

12 He shall be a wild man; his hand against every man, and every man's hand against him. And he shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren."

Jam4..1 Where do wars and fights come from among you? Do they not come from your desires for pleasure that war in your members?
2 You lust and do not have. You murder and covet and cannot obtain. You fight and war. Yet you do not have because you do not ask.

3 You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures.
4 Adulterers and adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with GOD? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of GOD.

    This is adapted from an email sent to friends by Mr. Hoodbhoy on Oct. 12, four days after an earthquake hit northern Pakistan and Kashmir.
 
    Islamic groups from across the country have arrived in vast numbers. Some bring relief supplies, others simply harangue poor goat-herders and simple tillers of the soil to tell them that their misdeeds brought about this catastrophe. None seem to have an explanation for why God's wrath was especially directed to mosques, madrassas and schools -- all of which have collapsed in huge numbers. And none say why thousands of the faithful have been buried alive in this sacred month of fasting.
 
    For me personally, there was a sense of déjà vu. In 1974 a powerful earthquake had flattened towns along the Karakorum Highway killing nearly 10,000 people. I had traveled with a university team into the same mountains for similar relief work. Hundreds of millions of dollars in relief funds received from abroad mysteriously disappeared. Some well-informed people believe that those funds were used to kick off Pakistan's secret nuclear program.
 
    There are simply not enough tents, blankets and warm clothes to go around. Hundreds of tent clusters have come up, but thousands of families remain out under the skies. Those without shelter will die.