Nehemiah 4:1

1 And it cometh to pass, when Sanballat hath heard that we are building the wall, that it is displeasing to him, and he is very angry and mocketh at the Jews,

Nehemiah 4:1 Meaning and Commentary

Nehemiah 4:1

But it came to pass, that when Sanballat heard that we
builded the wall
Or were building it; for as yet it was not finished, see ( Nehemiah 4:6 ) ,

he was wroth, and took great indignation;
inwardly, though outwardly he pretended to treat the work with contempt, as if it never would be accomplished, which yet he feared:

and mocked the Jews;
as a set of foolish builders, and unable to finish what they had begun.

Nehemiah 4:1 In-Context

1 And it cometh to pass, when Sanballat hath heard that we are building the wall, that it is displeasing to him, and he is very angry and mocketh at the Jews,

2 and saith before his brethren and the force of Samaria, yea, he saith, `What [are] the weak Jews doing? are they left to themselves? do they sacrifice? do they complete in a day? do they revive the stones out of the heaps of the rubbish? -- and they burnt!'

3 And Tobiah the Ammonite [is] by him and saith, `Also, that which they are building -- if a fox doth go up, then it hath broken down their stone wall.'

4 Hear, O our God, for we have been despised; and turn back their reproach on their own head, and give them for a spoil in a land of captivity;

5 and do not cover over their iniquity, and their sin from before Thee let not be blotted out, for they have provoked to anger -- over-against those building.