Nehemiah 4:10 (DBY)

Passage

And Judah said, The strength of the bearers of burdens faileth, and there is much rubbish; so that we are not able to build at the wall.

Nearby Context

Nehemiah 4:8 and conspired all of them together to come to fight against Jerusalem, and to hinder it.

Nehemiah 4:9 Then we prayed to our God, and set a watch against them day and night, because of them.

Nehemiah 4:10 And Judah said, The strength of the bearers of burdens faileth, and there is much rubbish; so that we are not able to build at the wall.

Nehemiah 4:11 And our adversaries said, They shall not know, neither see, till we come into the midst of them and kill them, and put an end to the work.

Nehemiah 4:12 And it came to pass that when the Jews that dwelt by them came and told us so ten times, from all the places whence they returned to us,

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "judah", "said", "strength", "bearers", "burdens", "faileth", "much", and "rubbish". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "judah" and "said", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 9's "Then we prayed to our God and..." into verse 11's "And our adversaries said They shall not...", so "judah" and "said" 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 "judah" and "said" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.