Nehemiah 4:3

3 Tobias also the Ammonite who was by him said: Let them build: if a fox go up, he will leap over their stone wall.

Nehemiah 4:3 Meaning and Commentary

Nehemiah 4:3

Now Tobiah the Ammonite was by him
Who was one of his brethren he spake before, ( Nehemiah 4:2 ) ,

and he said;
in the like contemptuous and scoffing manner;

even that which they build, if a fox go up, he shall break down their
stone wall;
signifying not only that it was so low that a fox could easily get up to it, or leap over it; but that the materials were so bad, and the work so poorly done, that the weight of a fox would break it down; of which creatures many were thereabout, since Jerusalem was desolate, see ( 5:18 ) .

Nehemiah 4:3 In-Context

1 And it came to pass, that when Sanaballat heard that we were building the wall he was angry: and being moved exceedingly he scoffed at the Jews.

2 And said before his brethren, and the multitude of the Samaritans: What are the silly Jews doing? Will the Gentiles let them alone? will they sacrifice and make an end in a day? are they able to raise stones out of the heaps of the rubbish, which are burnt?

3 Tobias also the Ammonite who was by him said: Let them build: if a fox go up, he will leap over their stone wall.

4 Hear thou our God, for we are despised: turn their reproach upon their own head, and give them to be despised in a land of captivity.

5 Cover not their iniquity, and let not their sin be blotted out from before thy face, because they have mocked thy builders.