Nehemiah 2:17

17 Then said I unto them, Ye see the distress that we are in, how Jerusalem lies waste and its gates are burned with fire; come, and let us build up the wall of Jerusalem, that we be no longer in reproach.

Nehemiah 2:17 Meaning and Commentary

Nehemiah 2:17

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,
( Nehemiah 1:3 ) ( Nehemiah 2:3 Nehemiah 2:13 ) ,

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.

Nehemiah 2:17 In-Context

15 Then went I up in the night by the brook and considered the wall and turned back and entered by the gate of the valley and so returned.

16 And the rulers did not know where I had gone or what I had done; neither had I as yet told it to the Jews nor to the priests nor to the nobles nor to the rulers nor to the rest that did the work.

17 Then said I unto them, Ye see the distress that we are in, how Jerusalem lies waste and its gates are burned with fire; come, and let us build up the wall of Jerusalem, that we be no longer in reproach.

18 Then I told them how the hand of my God was good upon me and likewise the king’s words that he had spoken unto me. And they said, Let us rise up and build. So they comforted their hands for good.

19 But when Sanballat, the Horonite, and Tobiah, the slave, the Ammonite, and Geshem, the Arabian, heard it, they laughed us to scorn and despised us and said, What is this thing that ye do? Will ye rebel against the king?