Then Judah said, “The strength of the laborers is failing, and there is so much rubbish that we are not able to build the wall.”
Parallel translations
- WEB Judah said, “The strength of the bearers of burdens is fading, and there is much rubble; so that we are not able to build the wall.”
- KJV And Judah said, The strength of the bearers of burdens is decayed, and there is much rubbish; so that we are not able to build the wall.
- BSB Meanwhile, the people of Judah said: “The strength of the laborer fails, and there is so much rubble that we will never be able to rebuild the wall.”
- NASB And so in Judah it was said: “The strength of the burden bearers is failing, Yet there is much rubble; And we ourselves are unable To rebuild the wall.”
- NLT Then the people of Judah began to complain, “The workers are getting tired, and there is so much rubble to be moved. We will never be able to build the wall by ourselves.”
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Judah grows discouraged: the laborers are exhausted, the rubble is overwhelming, and the work feels impossible. Internal weariness threatens the project as much as external enemies.
Overview
Halfway through the task, the people's strength fails amid heaps of debris and a still-unfinished wall. Discouragement is a real and common danger in God's work, often arising when difficulty mounts and progress feels slow. Such moments call God's people to renewed reliance on the One who supplies strength to the weary (Isaiah 40:29-31).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 6
- Hag 1:2“This is what Yahweh of Armies says: These people say, ‘The time hasn’t yet come, the time for Yahweh’s house to be built.’”
- 2 Chr 2:18He set seventy thousand of them to bear burdens, eighty thousand who were stone cutters in the mountains, and three thousand six hundred overseers to assign the people their work.
- Num 13:31But the men who went up with him said, “We aren’t able to go up against the people; for they are stronger than we.”
- Ps 11:1–2For the Chief Musician. By David. In Yahweh, I take refuge. How can you say to my soul, “Flee as a bird to your mountain!”
- Num 32:9For when they went up to the valley of Eshcol, and saw the land, they discouraged the heart of the children of Israel, that they should not go into the land which Yahweh had given them.
- Ezek 29:18Son of man, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon caused his army to serve a great service against Tyre: every head was made bald, and every shoulder was worn; yet had he no wages, nor his army, from Tyre, for the service that he had served against it.
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Christ at the center
The rebuilt walls and renewed covenant community foreshadow the greater builder who gathers and secures a people for God, the one who declares 'I will build my church.'
How Nehemiah 4:10 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.