Nehemiah 4:2

2 And he said before his brethren, and the multitude of Samaritans, What do the feeble Jews? Whether heathen men shall suffer them? Whether they shall [ful]fill, and make sacrifice in one day? Whether they may build stones of the heaps of the dust, which be burnt? (And he said before his kinsmen, and the multitude of the Samaritans, What do these feeble Jews think they be doing? Do they think they can rebuild the whole city? Do they believe they can just make a sacrifice, and then finish it all in one day? Can they make stones out of heaps of rubble, which be all burned up?)

Nehemiah 4:2 Meaning and Commentary

Nehemiah 4:2

And he spake before his brethren
Tobiah the Ammonite, and Geshem the Arabian, and perhaps some other governors of the king of Persia in those parts:

and before the army of Samaria:
which, and the inhabitants of it, were implacable enemies of the Jews:

and said, what do these feeble Jews?
what do they pretend to do, or what can they do?

will they fortify themselves?
by building a wall about their city; can they think they shall ever be able to do this, or that it will be allowed?

will they sacrifice?
meaning not their daily sacrifice, as Jarchi, that they had done a long time, but for the dedication of their building, as Aben Ezra:

will they make an end in a day?
they seem to be in as great a hurry and haste as if they meant it; and indeed, unless they can do it very quickly, they never will: they will soon be stopped:

will they revive the stones out of the heaps of the rubbish which are
burnt?
where will they find materials? do they imagine that they can make burnt stones firm and strong again, or harden the dust and rubbish into stones, or make that, which is as if dead, alive? to do this is the same as to revive a dead man, and they may as well think of doing the one as the other; burnt stones being reckoned as dead, as Eben Ezra observes.

Nehemiah 4:2 In-Context

1 And it was done, when Sanballat had heard, that we builded the wall, he was full wroth, and he was stirred greatly, and he scorned the Jews. (And it was done, when Sanballat heard, that we were rebuilding the wall, he was very angry, and was greatly stirred up, and he scorned the Jews.)

2 And he said before his brethren, and the multitude of Samaritans, What do the feeble Jews? Whether heathen men shall suffer them? Whether they shall [ful]fill, and make sacrifice in one day? Whether they may build stones of the heaps of the dust, which be burnt? (And he said before his kinsmen, and the multitude of the Samaritans, What do these feeble Jews think they be doing? Do they think they can rebuild the whole city? Do they believe they can just make a sacrifice, and then finish it all in one day? Can they make stones out of heaps of rubble, which be all burned up?)

3 And also Tobiah (the) Ammonite, his neighbour, said, Build they; if a fox go up, he shall over-leap their stone wall. (And Tobiah the Ammonite, who was beside him, said, Let them build; for if a fox shall go up there, he shall just leap over their stone wall.)

4 And Nehemiah said (in prayer), Our God, hear thou, for we be made despising (for we be despised); turn thou the shame upon their own head(s), and give thou them into despising in the land of captivity;

5 cover thou not the wickedness of them, and their sins be not done away before thy face; for they scorned the builders.