They all made plans to come and fight against Jerusalem and throw us into confusion.
Parallel translations
- WEB and they all conspired together to come and fight against Jerusalem, and to cause confusion among us.
- KJV And conspired all of them together to come and to fight against Jerusalem, and to hinder it.
- BSB and all of them conspired to come and fight against Jerusalem and create a hindrance.
- NKJV and all of them conspired together to come and attack Jerusalem and create confusion.
- NASB So all of them conspired together to come to fight against Jerusalem and to cause confusion in it.
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
The surrounding peoples form a united plot to attack Jerusalem and throw the builders into confusion. Opposition has escalated from mockery to a coordinated conspiracy.
Overview
Sanballat, Tobiah, and their allies move from ridicule (4:1-3) to active conspiracy as the wall rises. Their aim is not only military assault but to spread fear and disorder among the workers. This pattern of intensifying opposition against God's work reminds believers that faithful obedience often provokes resistance, and that God's purposes advance despite hostile schemes.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 5
- Ps 83:3–11They conspire with cunning against your people. They plot against your cherished ones.
- Ps 2:1–3Why do the nations rage, and the peoples plot a vain thing?
- Acts 23:12–13When it was day, some of the Jews banded together, and bound themselves under a curse, saying that they would neither eat nor drink until they had killed Paul.
- Isa 8:9–10Make an uproar, you peoples, and be broken in pieces! Listen, all you from far countries: dress for battle, and be shattered! Dress for battle, and be shattered!
- Jer 20:10For I have heard the defaming of many, “Terror on every side! Denounce, and we will denounce him!” say all my familiar friends, those who watch for my fall. “Perhaps he will be persuaded, and we shall prevail against him, and we shall take our revenge on him.”
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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 4:8 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
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