Nechemyah 6:9

9 For they all were trying to make us afraid, saying, Their hands shall get too weakened for the melachah, that it be not completed. Now therefore, strengthen my hands!

Nechemyah 6:9 Meaning and Commentary

Nehemiah 6:9

For they all made us afraid
Or you all, as Aben Ezra interprets it; or all the Heathen nations, as Jarchi; this was the design of all those scandalous reports, to intimidate them, and with this they pleased themselves, as follows:

their hands shall be weakened from the work, that it be not done;
this they hoped would be the effect of those reports sent to them:

now, therefore, O God, strengthen my hands;
and let them not have what they will, and hope for; according to Aben Ezra, these words are directed to Sanballat, that if he was a friend, as he pretended, that instead of weakening, he would strengthen his hands by a sincere reconciliation; so Vatablus; but they are an address to God, such short ejaculations being usual with Nehemiah.

Nechemyah 6:9 In-Context

7 And thou hast also appointed nevi’im to make this proclamation about thee at Yerushalayim, saying, There is a Melech in Yehudah! Now this report will get back to HaMelech. Come now therefore, and let us take counsel together.

8 Then I sent unto him, saying, There are no such devarim (things) done as thou sayest, but thou inventest them out of thine own lev.

9 For they all were trying to make us afraid, saying, Their hands shall get too weakened for the melachah, that it be not completed. Now therefore, strengthen my hands!

10 Afterward I came unto the bais Shemayah ben Delayah ben Mehetave’el, who was confined; and he said, Let us meet together in the Bais HaElohim, within the Heikhal, and let us close the dalatot of the Heikhal, for they will come to slay thee; yea, tonight they come to slay thee.

11 And I said, Should such a man as I flee? And who is there, that, being as I am, would go into the Heikhal to save his life? I will not go in.