Work Is Ridiculed

[a]Now it came about that when (A)Sanballat heard that we were rebuilding the wall, he became furious and very angry, and he mocked the Jews. And he spoke in the presence of his brothers and (B)the [b]wealthy people of Samaria and said, “What are these feeble Jews doing? Are they going to restore the temple for themselves? Can they offer sacrifices? Can they finish it in a day? Can they revive the stones from the (C)heaps of rubble, even the burned ones?”

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Footnotes

  1. Nehemiah 4:1 Ch 3:33 in Heb
  2. Nehemiah 4:2 Or army

Those Against the Rebuilding

When Sanballat heard we were rebuilding the wall, he was very angry, even furious. He ·made fun of [mocked; ridiculed] the Jewish people. He said to his ·friends [colleagues; L brothers] and ·those with power in [or the army/aristocracy of] Samaria, “What are these ·weak [feeble; pathetic] Jews doing? Will they ·rebuild the wall [or leave it all to God]? Will they offer sacrifices? Can they finish it in one day? Can they ·bring stones back to life from piles of trash and ashes [revive stones from piles of rubble—burnt stones at that]?”

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