How much longer will this wickedness rejoice?
How much longer will this evil have a voice?
How much longer will the terror prevail?
How much longer will the truth fail?
Why should this entity be allowed to exist?
Why does injustice keep going on like this?
Why do those among us insist on supporting the other side?
Why do we forsake the memory of those of us who’ve died?
We’ve had many enemies over the years
But none as persistent as these
We can’t let them keep inflicting fears
We won’t let them make us live on our knees.
The world might be on their side
But the Creator of the world is on ours
As soon as with this we’ve identified
All these enemies will lose their power.
Never again will the wicked rejoice
Never again will we hear the evil voice
Never again will the terror prevail
Never again will the truth fail
Never again will we just sit still
Never again will they be able to kill
For we won’t bend over backwards—we’ll stand tall and proud
And we will do what must be done now.
©2023 The Hesh Inc.
This is another song written during the "second intifada" era of the early 2000s, when I was living at the Jersey Shore but keenly aware of what was happening in Israel. I would say that it "eerily presaged" what is going on at the Gaza border as I write this, but sadly and frustratingly enough, nothing was presaged ... only that the same bullshit that was happening then is still happening now.
But rather than wallow in the self-pity of wondering why these evil things are happening, the song offers some words of encouragement and strength.
"How long will the wickedness rejoice?" comes from the words of King David, in Psalms 94:3. The "Never again" refrain and the last line, "And we will do what must be done now" comes from the anthem of the Jewish Defense League from the early 1970s.
We and all good people must be strong and of great courage, and then these songs and the necessity of writing them will become obsolete.