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.”
Parallel Translations
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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.”
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Then said I unto them, Ye see the distress that we are in, how Jerusalem lieth waste, and the gates thereof are burned with fire: come, and let us build up the wall of Jerusalem, that we be no more a reproach.
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Then said I unto them: 'Ye see the evil case that we are in, how Jerusalem lieth waste, and the gates thereof are burned with fire; come and let us build up the wall of Jerusalem, that we be no more a reproach.'
Cross-references (16)
Passages linked to Nehemiah 2:17 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Ezekiel 5:14 “ ‘Moreover I will make you a desolation and a reproach among the nations that are around you, in the sight of all that pass by.
- Isaiah 35:3-4 Strengthen the weak hands, and make the feeble knees firm. Tell those who have a fearful heart, “Be strong! Don’t be afraid! Behold, your God will come with vengeance, God’s retribution. He will come and save you.
- Nehemiah 1:3 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.”
- Psalms 79:4 We have become a reproach to our neighbors, a scoffing and derision to those who are around us.
- Lamentations 3:45-46 You have made us an off-scouring and refuse in the middle of the peoples. “All our enemies have opened their mouth wide against us.
- Lamentations 3:51 My eye affects my soul, because of all the daughters of my city.
- Psalms 89:50-51 Remember, Lord, the reproach of your servants, how I bear in my heart the taunts of all the mighty peoples, With which your enemies have mocked, Yahweh, with which they have mocked the footsteps of your anointed one.
- Lamentations 2:8-9 Yahweh has purposed to destroy the wall of the daughter of Zion. He has stretched out the line. He has not withdrawn his hand from destroying; He has made the rampart and wall lament. They languish together. Her gates have sunk into the ground. He has destroyed and broken her bars. Her king and her princes are among the nations where the law is not. Yes, her prophets find no vision from Yahweh.
- Ezekiel 22:4-5 You have become guilty in your blood that you have shed, and are defiled in your idols which you have made! You have caused your days to draw near, and have come even to your years. Therefore I have made you a reproach to the nations, and a mocking to all the countries. Those who are near, and those who are far from you, will mock you, you infamous one, full of tumult.
- Ezra 5:1-2 Now the prophets, Haggai the prophet and Zechariah the son of Iddo, prophesied to the Jews who were in Judah and Jerusalem. They prophesied to them in the name of the God of Israel. Then Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and Jeshua the son of Jozadak rose up and began to build God’s house which is at Jerusalem; and with them were the prophets of God, helping them.
- Psalms 44:13 You make us a reproach to our neighbors, a scoffing and a derision to those who are around us.
- Psalms 79:12 Pay back to our neighbors seven times into their bosom their reproach with which they have reproached you, Lord.
- 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.
- Lamentations 2:2 The Lord has swallowed up all the dwellings of Jacob without pity. He has thrown down in his wrath the strongholds of the daughter of Judah. He has brought them down to the ground. He has profaned the kingdom and its princes.
- Ezra 10:2-4 Shecaniah the son of Jehiel, one of the sons of Elam, answered Ezra, “We have trespassed against our God, and have married foreign women of the peoples of the land. Yet now there is hope for Israel concerning this thing. Now therefore let’s make a covenant with our God to put away all the wives, and those who are born of them, according to the counsel of my lord, and of those who tremble at the commandment of our God. Let it be done according to the law. Arise; for the matter belongs to you, and we are with you. Be courageous, and do it.”
- 1 Samuel 11:2 Nahash the Ammonite said to them, “On this condition I will make it with you, that all your right eyes be gouged out. I will make this dishonor all Israel.”
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (9 sources)
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Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain That is, contemned of other nations, as though God…
That is, contemned of other nations, as though God had forsaken us.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Neh 2:17 Then said I unto them, Ye see…
Neh 2:17 Then said I unto them, Ye see the distress that we [are] in, how Jerusalem [lieth] waste, and the gates thereof are burned with fire: come, and let us build up the wall of Jerusalem, that we be no more a reproach.
Ver. 17. Then said I unto them] Then, when I saw it a fit season to say it. It is an excellent skill to time a word, Isa 50:4. To circumstantiate it aright, Pro 25:11. That it may run as upon wheels: Nehemiah’s words do so, notably. Verba prius ad limam revocata, quam ad linguam, words well weighed ere uttered. Nescit paenitenda loqui qui proferenda prius sue tradidit examini, He cannot but speak wisely who speaketh warily.
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Jerusalem lieth waste] i.e., open to the spoiler; as the pope made account this land was in Henry VIII’s time, when he had given it primo occupaturo, to him that should first invade and seize it.
Come, and let us build, &c.] With forces united, with one shoulder, Multorum manibus grande levatur onus.
That we be no more a reproach] Quam multa quam paucis! How much in a little! said Cicero of Brutus’s laconical epistle; and the like may we say of this pithy and pathetic speech. Those that love to hear themselves talk, saith Bishop Pilkington upon this text, and with many words to colour their ill meaning, may here learn how a simple truth, plainly told in few words, worketh more in good men’s hearts than a painted tale that hath little truth and less good meaning in it. An honest matter speaketh for itself, and needeth no colouring; and he that useth most flattering and subtle words maketh wise men mistrust the matter to be ill. A few words well placed are much better than a long unsavoury tale. Thus he.
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.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain Then I told them of the hand of my…
Then I told them of the hand of my God which was good upon me..... Of the kind providence of God in exalting him in the court of the king of Persia, in giving him an opportunity of laying the sad case of Jerusalem before him, and in inclining his heart to show favour to him, and grant his request:
as also the king's words that he had spoken to me; what passed between them on this subject, the commission he gave him, and the letters he sent by him to his governors on this side the river:
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and they said, let us rise up and build; encouraged by this account of things, they proposed to set about the work immediately:
so they strengthened their hands for this good work; animated and encouraged one another to proceed to it at once with cheerfulness, and to go on in it with spirit and resolution.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Neh 2:17-18. That we be no more a reproach…
Neh 2:17-18. That we be no more a reproach — Exposed to the scorn and insults of the people around about. I told them of the hand of my God, &c. — That is, he informed them how favourable God had made the king to him, and what discourse he had had with him, and what authority and commission he had received from him. They said, Let us rise up and build — Let us begin and proceed with vigour, diligence, and resolution, as those that are determined to go through with the work. They strengthened their hands — Their own and one another’s.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain PREPARATIONS TO BUILD, Neh_2:17-18.
PREPARATIONS TO BUILD, Neh_2:17-18.
17. Ye see the distress — The same word is rendered affliction in Neh_1:3. Nehemiah had now seen with his own eyes that the report was true which informed him in Shushan of the desolation of Jerusalem. The distress to which the Jews were subjected by inability to rebuild their city, so long desolate, could be regarded by them in no other light than as a reproach.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 17. Nehemiah’s appeal. It is implied that Nehemiah having…
17. Nehemiah’s appeal. It is implied that Nehemiah having satisfied himself as to the practicability of his plan called an assembly of those mentioned in the previous verse. How soon after his nocturnal ride is not stated.
the distress] R.V. the evil case, the same word as in Neh_1:1
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Jerusalem lieth waste, &c.] Cf. Neh_2:3.
that we be no more a reproach] See Neh_1:3, where the words ‘affliction’ and ‘reproach’ are the same as the ‘distress’ or ‘evil case,’ and ‘reproach’ in this verse.
a reproach] i.e. an object of reproach by reason of our inability to defend ourselves, cf. Psa_22:6, ‘a reproach of men, and despised of the people;’ Joe_2:19, ‘I will no more make you a reproach among the nations.’ Eze_22:4.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (17) Then.—There is no note of time. When his…
(17) Then.—There is no note of time. When his plans were matured, Nehemiah made an earnest appeal to their patriotism.
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 Then said I unto them. Ewald boldly assumes that…
Then said I unto them. Ewald boldly assumes that this happened the next day; but there is nothing to show that it was so soon. The original contains, no note of time not even the word "then." Nehemiah simply says, "And I said to them." The distress. Or "affliction," as the word is translated in Neh_1:3. No special suffering seems to be intended, beyond that of lying open to attack, and being a "reproach" in the sight of the heathen. Lieth waste. On this hyperbole see the comment upon ver. 3.
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 You see the trouble
You see the trouble
Here "you" is plural, referring to all the people mentioned in Nehemiah 02:16. (See: Forms of You)
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its gates have been destroyed by fire
This can be stated in active form. AT: "how our enemies destroyed its gates by fire" (See: Active or Passive)
so we will no longer be in disgrace
"so we will no longer be ashamed"
the good hand of my God was on me
God's "good hand" represents his "favor." AT: "my God's favor was upon me" (See: Metonymy)
rise up and build
This is an idiom. AT: "begin building" (See: Idiom)
So they strengthened their hands for the good work
The phrase "strengthened their hands" means to prepare to do something. AT: "So they prepared do this good work" (See: Idiom)
translationWords
trouble
Jerusalem
ruin
gate
fire
good
hand
God
king
word
raise
works
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.