Nehemiah 4:8

8 They all plotted together to come and fight against Jerusalem and throw it into confusion.

Nehemiah 4:8 Meaning and Commentary

Nehemiah 4:8

And conspired all of them together
All the above men and people entered into a confederacy and combination:

to come and to fight against Jerusalem;
to bring an army with them, and by force cause the Jews to desist; the Jews ^F5 pretend they came to war, and brought with them an army of 180,000 men, which is not probable:

and to hinder it;
the building of the walls of it; or "to make a wandering for him" ^F6; for Nehemiah, or the people, or both, to, cause them to stray from their work, to frighten them from it, that they might become like men at their wits end, not knowing what to do, where to turn themselves, or what course to steer, but to wander about as persons out of their senses; so Aben Ezra. De Dieu joins this clause to the next verse, to cause everyone of them to wander, we prayed

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FOOTNOTES:

F5 Pirke Eliezer, c. 38.
F6 (hewt wl twvel) "ad faciendum ei errorem", Montanus; "ei aberrationem", Genevenses; "vagationem et palationem", alii apud De Dieu.

Nehemiah 4:8 In-Context

6 So we rebuilt the wall until the entire wall was joined together up to half its [height], for the people had the will to keep working.

7 When Sanballat, Tobiah, and the Arabs, Ammonites, and Ashdodites heard that the repair to the walls of Jerusalem was progressing and that the gaps were being closed, they became furious.

8 They all plotted together to come and fight against Jerusalem and throw it into confusion.

9 So we prayed to our God and stationed a guard because of them day and night.

10 In Judah, it was said: The strength of the laborer fails, since there is so much rubble. We will never be able to rebuild the wall.