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Nehemiah 2:17

in Nehemiah 2

Then I said to them, “You see the trouble we are in. Jerusalem lies in ruins, and its gates have been burned down. Come, let us rebuild the wall of Jerusalem, so that we will no longer be a disgrace.”

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

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.

KJV

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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This verse in Nehemiah 2

Commentary

2 notes on this verse
Then said I unto them,.... The priests and princes of the Jews: you see the distress that we are in; lie open to our enemies, and exposed to their insults: how Jerusalem lieth waste, and the gates thereof are burnt with fire, Neh 1:3, come, and let us build up the wall of Jerusalem that we be no more a reproach; to their neighbours about them, who scoffed at them as a defenceless people and frequently came in upon them, and spoiled and plundered them of their goods and substance.

This site's exposition

let us build up the wall

on Nehemiah 2:17-18

Nehemiah finally speaks what three days of silence and one night's ride had prepared: come, and let us build up the wall of Jerusalem, that we be no more a reproach, naming the shared distress before naming the plan. He gives the reason last rather than first, the hand of my God which was good upon me and the king's own words granting leave, evidence stacked before the ask is made. The people answer in kind, let us rise up and build, and the text records the plainest possible outcome, they strengthened their hands for this good work. Matthew Henry notes that a good plan often needs only someone willing to move it first, since the city had lain in the same waste through every year that no one had spoken.

The words behind it

23 Hebrew words

Every Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.

  • וָאוֹמַ֣רand I said

    vaomarH559 →5305 times

  • אֲלֵהֶ֗םto them

    ʾalehemH413 →5510 times

  • אַתֶּ֤םyou

    ʾatemH859 →1094 times

  • רֹאִים֙[are] seeing

    roimH7200 →1300 times

  • הָרָעָה֙the trouble

    haraahH7451 →662 times

  • אֲשֶׁ֣רwhich

    ʾasherH834 →5497 times

  • אֲנַ֣חְנוּwe

    ʾanachnuH587 →120 times

  • בָ֔הּ[are] in it

    vah

  • אֲשֶׁ֤רthat

    ʾasherH834 →5497 times

  • יְרוּשָׁלִַ֙ם֙Jerusalem

    yerushalimH3389 →643 times

  • חֲרֵבָ֔ה[is] desolate

    charevahH2720 →

  • וּשְׁעָרֶ֖יהָand gates its

    usheareihaH8179 →374 times

  • נִצְּת֣וּthey have been burned

    nitzetuH3341 →

  • בָאֵ֑שׁwith <the> fire

    vaeshH784 →378 times

  • לְכ֗וּcome

    lekhuH1980 →1546 times

  • וְנִבְנֶה֙so we may rebuild

    venivnehH1129 →376 times

  • אֶת־<obj.>

    ʾet-H853 →10935 times

  • חוֹמַ֣ת[the] wall of

    chomatH2346 →133 times

  • יְרוּשָׁלִַ֔םJerusalem

    yerushalimH3389 →643 times

  • וְלֹא־and not

    velo'-H3808 →5168 times

  • נִהְיֶ֥הwe will be

    nihyehH1961 →3559 times

  • ע֖וֹדagain

    odH5750 →

  • חֶרְפָּֽה׃a reproach

    cherpahH2781 →73 times

A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.

Related verses

18 in all, six open

The number beside each verse is how many compiled reference works tie it to this one. The strongest six stand open.

Isaiah 58:12Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins; you will restore the age-old foundations; you will be called Repairer of the Breach, Restorer of the Streets of Dwelling.11 worksEzekiel 5:14I will make you a ruin and a disgrace among the nations around you, in the sight of all who pass by.9 worksIsaiah 35:3–4Strengthen the limp hands and steady the feeble knees!8 worksNehemiah 1:3And they told me, “The remnant who survived the exile are there in the province, in great trouble and disgrace. The wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and its gates are burned with fire.”8 worksPsalms 79:4We have become a reproach to our neighbors, a scorn and derision to those around us.7 worksLamentations 3:51My eyes bring grief to my soul because of all the daughters of my city.7 works
The other 12 cross-references, with their words ▾
Lamentations 3:45–46You have made us scum and refuse among the nations.7 worksPsalms 89:50–51Remember, O Lord, the reproach of Your servants, which I bear in my heart from so many people—5 worksEzekiel 22:4–5you are guilty of the blood you have shed, and you are defiled by the idols you have made. You have brought your days to a close and have come to the end of your years. Therefore I have made you a reproach to the nations and a mockery to all the lands.5 worksLamentations 2:8–9The LORD determined to destroy the wall of the Daughter of Zion. He stretched out a measuring line and did not withdraw His hand from destroying. He made the ramparts and walls lament; together they waste away.5 worksNehemiah 2:13So I went out at night through the Valley Gate toward the Well of the Serpent and the Dung Gate, and I inspected the walls of Jerusalem that had been broken down and the gates that had been destroyed by fire.5 worksPsalms 44:13You have made us a reproach to our neighbors, a mockery and derision to those around us.4 worksEzra 5:1–2Later, the prophets Haggai and Zechariah son of Iddo prophesied to the Jews in Judah and Jerusalem in the name of the God of Israel, who was over them.4 worksLamentations 2:2Without pity the Lord has swallowed up all the dwellings of Jacob. In His wrath He has demolished the fortified cities of the Daughter of Judah. He brought to the ground and defiled her kingdom and its princes.4 worksPsalms 79:12Pay back into the laps of our neighbors sevenfold the reproach they hurled at You, O Lord.4 worksJeremiah 24:9I will make them a horror and an offense to all the kingdoms of the earth, a disgrace and an object of scorn, ridicule, and cursing wherever I have banished them.4 worksEzra 10:2–4Then Shecaniah son of Jehiel, an Elamite, said to Ezra: “We have been unfaithful to our God by marrying foreign women from the people of the land, yet in spite of this, there is hope for Israel.3 worksPsalms 51:18In Your good pleasure, cause Zion to prosper; build up the walls of Jerusalem.3 works

The walk

8 stops

Each card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.

  • Through

    Psalms 79:4

    We have become a reproach to our neighbors, a scorn and derision to those around us.

    it leads to

    • Psalms 80:6

      You make us contend with our neighbors; our enemies mock us.

    • Ezekiel 36:15

      I will no longer allow the taunts of the nations to be heard against you, and you will no longer endure the reproach of the peoples or cause your nation to stumble, declares the…

    • Psalms 89:41

      All who pass by plunder him; he has become a reproach to his neighbors.

    • Lamentations 5:1

      Remember, O LORD, what has happened to us. Look and see our disgrace!

  • Through

    Ezekiel 5:14

    I will make you a ruin and a disgrace among the nations around you, in the sight of all who pass by.

    it leads to

    • Psalms 74:3–10

      Turn Your steps to the everlasting ruins, to everything in the sanctuary the enemy has destroyed.

    • Psalms 79:1–4

      The nations, O God, have invaded Your inheritance; they have defiled Your holy temple and reduced Jerusalem to rubble.

    • Ezekiel 22:4

      you are guilty of the blood you have shed, and you are defiled by the idols you have made. You have brought your days to a close and have come to the end of…

  • Through

    Lamentations 3:51

    My eyes bring grief to my soul because of all the daughters of my city.

    it leads to

    • Jeremiah 19:9

      I will make them eat the flesh of their sons and daughters, and they will eat one another’s flesh in the siege and distress inflicted on them by their enemies who seek their lives.’

Where this verse is studied

About Nehemiah

Nehemiah Views the Ruins of Jerusalem's Walls — Gustave Doré, Doré's English Bible (1866), public domain
Nehemiah Views the Ruins of Jerusalem's Walls — Gustave Doré, Doré's English Bible (1866), public domain
Nehemiah: the study guide →Read Nehemiah 2 →

This page draws on John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.

Read on in Nehemiah 2 →