Nehemiah 4:8

8 And all of them assembled together, to come to fight against Jerusalem, and to destroy it utterly.

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

7 But it came to pass, when Sanaballat and Tobia, and the Arabians, and the Ammanites, heard that the building of the walls of Jerusalem was advancing, that the breaches began to be stopped, that it appeared very grievous to them.

8 And all of them assembled together, to come to fight against Jerusalem, and to destroy it utterly.

9 So we prayed to our God and set watchmen against them day and night, because of them.

10 And Juda said, The strength of the enemies is broken, yet much rubbish, and we shall not be able to build the wall.