Mocking laughter — the contemptuous response of the wicked toward the godly, and conversely, the LORD's response toward those who plot against His Christ. Psalm 2:4: He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision. The same word is applied to the suffering Messiah's experience at Psalm 22:7: All they that see me laugh me to scorn: they shoot out the lip, they shake the head. And again at Psalm 44:13: Thou makest us a reproach to our neighbours, a scorn and a derision to them that are round about us. The Hebrew lag (to mock, deride) and qalas (to scoff) name the disposition. Derision's direction matters: God's derision of human rebellion is the sober pronouncement of holy contempt for evil; man's derision of God's people is the inverted echo, contemptuous of what the LORD has set apart. The Christian who has been derided for the gospel's sake stands in the line of David, the prophets, and Christ Himself — and shares in their vindication.