They said to me, “The remnant who are left of the captivity there in the province are in great affliction and reproach. The wall of Jerusalem is also broken down, and its gates are burned with fire.”
Parallel Translations
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They said to me, “The remnant who are left of the captivity there in the province are in great affliction and reproach. The wall of Jerusalem is also broken down, and its gates are burned with fire.”
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And they said unto me, The remnant that are left of the captivity there in the province are in great affliction and reproach: the wall of Jerusalem also is broken down, and the gates thereof are burned with fire.
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And they said unto me: 'The remnant that are left of the captivity there in the province are in great affliction and reproach; the wall of Jerusalem also is broken down, and the gates thereof are burned with fire.'
Cross-references (28)
Passages linked to Nehemiah 1:3 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Nehemiah 2:17 Then I said to them, “You see the bad situation that we are in, how Jerusalem lies waste, and its gates are burned with fire. Come, let’s build up the wall of Jerusalem, that we won’t be disgraced.”
- 2 Kings 25:10 All the army of the Chaldeans, who were with the captain of the guard, broke down the walls around Jerusalem.
- Ezra 5:8 Be it known to the king that we went into the province of Judah, to the house of the great God, which is built with great stones, and timber is laid in the walls. This work goes on with diligence and prospers in their hands.
- Nehemiah 2:3 I said to the king, “Let the king live forever! Why shouldn’t my face be sad, when the city, the place of my fathers’ tombs, lies waste, and its gates have been consumed with fire?”
- Nehemiah 2:13 I went out by night by the valley gate, even toward the jackal’s well, then to the dung gate, and inspected the walls of Jerusalem, which were broken down, and its gates were consumed with fire.
- Nehemiah 7:6 These are the children of the province who went up out of the captivity of those who had been carried away, whom Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon had carried away, and who returned to Jerusalem and to Judah, everyone to his city,
- Nehemiah 9:36-37 “Behold, we are servants today, and as for the land that you gave to our fathers to eat its fruit and its good, behold, we are servants in it. It yields much increase to the kings whom you have set over us because of our sins. Also they have power over our bodies and over our livestock, at their pleasure, and we are in great distress.
- 1 Kings 9:7 then I will cut off Israel out of the land which I have given them; and I will cast this house, which I have made holy for my name, out of my sight; and Israel will be a proverb and a byword among all peoples.
- Ezra 2:1 Now these are the children of the province, who went up out of the captivity of those who had been carried away, whom Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon had carried away to Babylon, and who returned to Jerusalem and Judah, everyone to his city;
- Nehemiah 11:3 Now these are the chiefs of the province who lived in Jerusalem; but in the cities of Judah everyone lived in his possession in their cities: Israel, the priests, the Levites, the temple servants, and the children of Solomon’s servants.
- Esther 1:1 Now in the days of Ahasuerus (this is Ahasuerus who reigned from India even to Ethiopia, over one hundred twenty-seven provinces),
- Psalms 44:11-14 You have made us like sheep for food, and have scattered us among the nations. You sell your people for nothing, and have gained nothing from their sale. You make us a reproach to our neighbors, a scoffing and a derision to those who are around us. You make us a byword among the nations, a shaking of the head among the peoples.
- Psalms 79:4 We have become a reproach to our neighbors, a scoffing and derision to those who are around us.
- Psalms 137:1-3 By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down. Yes, we wept, when we remembered Zion. On the willows in that land, we hung up our harps. For there, those who led us captive asked us for songs. Those who tormented us demanded songs of joy: “Sing us one of the songs of Zion!”
- Isaiah 5:5 Now I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard. I will take away its hedge, and it will be eaten up. I will break down its wall, and it will be trampled down.
- Isaiah 32:9-14 Rise up, you women who are at ease! Hear my voice! You careless daughters, give ear to my speech! For days beyond a year you will be troubled, you careless women; for the vintage will fail. The harvest won’t come. Tremble, you women who are at ease! Be troubled, you careless ones! Strip yourselves, make yourselves naked, and put sackcloth on your waist. Beat your breasts for the pleasant fields, for the fruitful vine. Thorns and briers will come up on my people’s land; yes, on all the houses of joy in the joyous city. For the palace will be forsaken. The populous city will be deserted. The hill and the watchtower will be for dens forever, a delight for wild donkeys, a pasture of flocks,
- Isaiah 43:28 Therefore I will profane the princes of the sanctuary; and I will make Jacob a curse, and Israel an insult.”
- Isaiah 64:10-11 Your holy cities have become a wilderness. Zion has become a wilderness, Jerusalem a desolation. Our holy and our beautiful house where our fathers praised you is burned with fire. All our pleasant places are laid waste.
- Jeremiah 5:10 “Go up on her walls, and destroy; but don’t make a full end. Take away her branches, for they are not Yahweh’s.
- Jeremiah 24:9 I will even give them up to be tossed back and forth among all the kingdoms of the earth for evil; to be a reproach and a proverb, a taunt and a curse, in all places where I will drive them.
- Jeremiah 29:18 I will pursue after them with the sword, with the famine, and with the pestilence, and will deliver them to be tossed back and forth among all the kingdoms of the earth, to be an object of horror, an astonishment, a hissing, and a reproach among all the nations where I have driven them,
- Jeremiah 39:8 The Chaldeans burned the king’s house, and the houses of the people, with fire, and broke down the walls of Jerusalem.
- Jeremiah 42:18 For Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel, says: ‘As my anger and my wrath has been poured out on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so my wrath will be poured out on you, when you enter into Egypt; and you will be an object of horror, an astonishment, a curse, and a reproach; and you will see this place no more.’
- Jeremiah 44:8-12 in that you provoke me to anger with the works of your hands, burning incense to other gods in the land of Egypt, where you have gone to live; that you may be cut off, and that you may be a curse and a reproach among all the nations of the earth? Have you forgotten the wickedness of your fathers, and the wickedness of the kings of Judah, and the wickedness of their wives, and your own wickedness, and the wickedness of your wives, which they committed in the land of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem? They are not humbled even to this day, neither have they feared, nor walked in my law, nor in my statutes, that I set before you and before your fathers.’ “Therefore Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel, says: ‘Behold, I will set my face against you for evil, even to cut off all Judah. I will take the remnant of Judah, that have set their faces to go into the land of Egypt to live there, and they will all be consumed. They will fall in the land of Egypt. They will be consumed by the sword and by the famine. They will die, from the least even to the greatest, by the sword and by the famine. They will be an object of horror, an astonishment, and a curse, and a reproach.
- Jeremiah 52:14 All the army of the Chaldeans, who were with the captain of the guard, broke down all the walls of Jerusalem all around.
- Lamentations 1:7 Jerusalem remembers in the days of her affliction and of her miseries all her pleasant things that were from the days of old; when her people fell into the hand of the adversary, and no one helped her. The adversaries saw her. They mocked at her desolations.
- Lamentations 3:61 You have heard their reproach, Yahweh, and all their plans against me,
- Lamentations 5:1 Remember, Yahweh, what has come on us. Look, and see our reproach.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (14 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
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Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain Meaning, in Judea.
Meaning, in Judea.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Neh 1:3 And they said unto me, The remnant…
Neh 1:3 And they said unto me, The remnant that are left of the captivity there in the province [are] in great affliction and reproach: the wall of Jerusalem also [is] broken down, and the gates thereof are burned with fire.
Ver. 3. Are in great affliction and reproach] The Church is heir of the cross, saith Luther, Ecclesia est haeres crucis, and it was ever the portion of God’s people to be reproached, as David was by Doeg with devouring words, Psa 52:1. Their breath as fire shall devour you, Isa 33:11.
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The wall of Jerusalem also is broken down] So that thieves and murderers came in, in the night, saith Comestor here, and slew many of them.
And the gates thereof are burnt with fire] They were burnt by the Chaldeans, and never yet repaired. And to keep a continual great watch was too great a charge and trouble.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain In the province, i.e. in Judea, which was now…
In the province, i.e. in Judea, which was now made a province under the Persian monarchs: See Poole "Ezr 5:8".
In great affliction and reproach; despised and distressed by the neighbouring nations.
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The wall is broken down, and the gates thereof are burned, i.e. the walls and gates continue in the same woeful plight in which Nebuchadnezzar left them; the Jews not being yet in a condition to rebuild them, nor having commission from the kings of Persia to do so, but only to build the temple and their own private houses. And this made their enemies scorn them; who also would have ruined them, but for fear of offending the Persian king.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain And they said unto me, the remnant that are…
And they said unto me, the remnant that are left of the captivity there in the province,.... In Judea, now reduced to a province of the Persian empire:
are in great affliction and reproach; harassed and distressed, calumniated and vilified, by their enemies the Samaritans:
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the wall of Jerusalem also is broken down, and the gates thereof are burnt with fire; that is, its wall and gates were in the same condition in which Nebuchadnezzar had left them, for since his times as yet they had never been set up; for this is not to be understood of what was lately done by their adversaries, which is not at all probable.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain The province - In Judea, now a province under…
The province - In Judea, now a province under the Persian monarchs. The wall, &c. - The walls and gates continue as Nebuchadnezzar left them; the Jews not being in a condition to rebuild them, nor having commission from the kings of Persia to do so.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 3. The wall of Jerusalem also is broken…
Verse 3. The wall of Jerusalem also is broken down] This must refer to the walls, which had been rebuilt after the people returned from their captivity: for it could not refer to the walls which were broken down and levelled with the dust by Nebuchadnezzar; for to hear of this could be no news to Nehemiah.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Neh 1:3. They said, The remnant that are left…
Neh 1:3. They said, The remnant that are left in the province — In Judea, which was now made a province under the Persian kings; are in great affliction and reproach — Despised and distressed by the neighbouring nations. The wall of Jerusalem also is broken down, &c. — The walls and gates continue as the Chaldeans left them after their conquest of the city, the Jews not being in a condition to rebuild them, nor having commission from the kings of Persia to do so, but only to build the temple, and their own private houses. This made their condition both very despicable, under the abiding marks of poverty and slavery, and very dangerous, for their enemies might, when they pleased, make an easy prey of them.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain The attempt to rebuild the wall in the time…
The attempt to rebuild the wall in the time of the Pseudo-Smerdis Ezr 4:12-24 had been stopped. It still remained in ruins. The Assyrian sculptures show that it was the usual practice to burn the gates.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain Province of Judea, subject to the Persians, as it…
Province of Judea, subject to the Persians, as it was afterwards to the Romans; though, at present, they were allowed to have governors of their own nation. (Menochius) --- Reproach, on account of the surrounding enemies. (Haydock) --- Fire, recently; (Menochius. See 1 Esdras iv. 12., and xi. 9.) or rather by Nabuchodonosor; as the kings of Persia would not suffer the city to be fortified, for fear of a fresh rebellion. (Lyranus) (Tirinus) --- We find that little progress (chap. ii., and iv.; Calmet) had at least been made in the work, though the blame must rather be laid on the enemies of Israel, than on several of the kings of Persia, who seem to have authorized the undertaking, which Cambyses, or Smerdis, had for a time interrupted. They only specify, indeed, that leave was granted to build the temple. But they allowed them to erect houses for themselves, which could not have been done to any purpose, among so many enemies, unless they had been defended by some sort of fortifications. (Haydock)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 3. There in the province — The province of…
3. There in the province — The province of Judea. Comp. Ezr_5:8.
In great affliction and reproach — From the time of the arrival there of Zerubbabel and the first body of exiles until this date, the returned Jews had been vexed and troubled by neighbouring enemies — the descendants of the nations whom the eastern kings had settled in the cities of Samaria.
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And though by the favour of the Persian kings they had succeeded in rebuilding the temple, they were still in a comparatively weak and helpless state, and their now implacable enemies, the Samaritans, would naturally take every opportunity that offered to trouble and distress them.
The wall… broken down, and the gates… burned — This partly explains their affliction and reproach. The returned exiles had never been able to rebuild the walls and gates of their loved city; and because they still remained in the ruined condition to which the Chaldean army had reduced them more than a century before, (2Ki_25:9-10,) it was a standing affliction and reproach to the Jews.
Some critics aver that this ruinous state of the wall and gates of Jerusalem must have been caused by some recent calamity — probably by those neighbouring heathen tribes whose daughters had been married to certain Jews, but had been lately put away by Ezra’s legislation, as described in Ezra 10. They urge that the destruction effected by Nebuchadnezzar’s army more than a hundred years before could have been no news to Nehemiah. But this, like the position of these same critics on the passage in Ezr_4:6-23, (where see notes,) lacks support in the Scripture history. If the walls of Jerusalem had ever been rebuilt since their destruction by Nebuchadnezzar, it is strange that no mention of it occurs in these histories. Their rebuilding by Nehemiah was considered of such importance that a considerable portion of this book is given to a description of it, and any previous work of the kind must have been of sufficient importance to demand, at least, a passing notice. But no such notice is found. The complaint of the Jews’ enemies in Ezr_4:12-16, that the returned exiles were building up the walls of the city, was, as we have shown in the notes there, a crafty misrepresentation, a perversion of the truth, for they were rebuilding the temple, not the city. A work of such importance as the rebuilding of the walls and gates of Jerusalem needs stronger evidence than that letter of the enemies of Judah, so manifestly given to misrepresentation, as the whole context shows.
It may not have been positively news to Nehemiah to be told that the walls and gates of Jerusalem were broken down and destroyed, but this fact was mentioned as showing the great cause or occasion of the affliction and reproach of the Jews at Jerusalem, and seems to have first suggested to Nehemiah the importance of having those walls and gates rebuilt. A work of such magnitude as the rebuilding of that ancient city, and especially of its defences, could not have been undertaken without express permission from the king, and no such permit had ever yet been granted since its destruction by the king of Babylon. The proclamations of Cyrus and Darius authorized only the rebuilding of the temple, and that any thing more than this had yet been attempted by the Jews is without proof.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (3) And they said.—Nehemiah’s question and his friends answer…
(3) And they said.—Nehemiah’s question and his friends answer refer first to the people and then to the city. As to the former the terms used have a deep pathos. Those who had returned to their country—now only the province—are, in the question, the Jews that had escaped; in the answer they are the Remnant that are left: both being from the captivity.
In great affliction and reproach.—In distress because of the contempt of the people around. All these expressions are familiar in the prophets; but they are united here in a peculiar and affecting combination. As to the city, the report is that the walls were still “broken down”: lying prostrate, with partial exceptions, as Nebuchadnezzar left them a hundred and forty-two years before (2Ki_25:10), and, moreover, what had not been recorded, “the gates thereof burned with fire.” Though the Temple had been rebuilt, there is no valid reason for supposing that. the walls of the city had been in part restored and again demolished.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain The wall of Jerusalem also is broken down. It…
The wall of Jerusalem also is broken down. It has been supposed, either that the demolition of the wall here referred to was quite recent, having occurred during the space of twelve years which intervenes between the Books of Ezra and Nehemiah, or else that it belonged to a time of depression which followed shortly after the completion of the temple by Zerubbabel (Ewald, "History of Israel," vol. 5. pp. 120, 121, and 148, note 3, E. Tr.); but there is really no reason to believe that the demolition effected under the orders of Nebuchadnezzar (2Ki_25:10) had ever hitherto been repaired, or the restoration of the wall even attempted. The Samaritan accusation in Ezr_4:12 falls short of a statement that the wall was restored, and, if it asserted the fact, would be insufficient authority for it. The supposition of Ewald, that "as soon as the city was rebuilt, the attempt would be made to fortify it" (p. 121, note 3), ignores the jealousy of the Persians and their power to step in and prevent a subject town from fortifying itself.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 They said to me
They said to me
Here "They" refers to Hanani and the other people who had come from Judah.
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the province
Here "province" refers to Judah as an administrative district under the Persian Empire. AT: "the province of Judah" or "Judah" (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)
the wall of Jerusalem has been broken open, and its gates have been set on fire
This can be stated in active form. AT: "armies have broken open the wall of Jerusalem and have set its gates on fire" (See: Active or Passive)
translationWords
captive
trouble
Jerusalem
gate
fire
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 1:3 The wall of Jerusalem has been torn down:…
1:3 The wall of Jerusalem has been torn down: This probably refers to a recent setback in Jerusalem (see Ezra 4:6-23), not to the Babylonian conquest in 586 BC. • disgrace: Foreigners could gloat about the destroyed city, using it as evidence that Israel’s God was too weak to protect it (cp. Joel 2:17; Mic 7:8-10).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.