Nehemiah 4:4 (ASV)

Passage

Hear, O our God; for we are despised: and turn back their reproach upon their own head, and give them up for a spoil in a land of captivity;

Nearby Context

Nehemiah 4:2 And he spake before his brethren and the army of Samaria, and said, What are these feeble Jews doing? will they fortify themselves? will they sacrifice? will they make an end in a day? will they revive the stones out of the heaps of rubbish, seeing they are burned?

Nehemiah 4:3 Now Tobiah the Ammonite was by him, and he said, Even that which they are building, if a fox go up, he shall break down their stone wall.

Nehemiah 4:4 Hear, O our God; for we are despised: and turn back their reproach upon their own head, and give them up for a spoil in a land of captivity;

Nehemiah 4:5 and cover not their iniquity, and let not their sin be blotted out from before thee; for they have provoked [thee] to anger before the builders.

Nehemiah 4:6 So we built the wall; and all the wall was joined together unto half [the height] thereof: for the people had a mind to work.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "hear", "despised", "turn", "back", "reproach", "upon", "head", and "give". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "hear" and "despised", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 3's "Now Tobiah the Ammonite was by him..." into verse 5's "and cover not their iniquity and let...", so "hear" and "despised" belong inside that flow. In Nehemiah context, the local focus is covenant, worship, and faithfulness.

A plain takeaway is to answer the verse's own emphasis on "hear" and "despised" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.