What Does Nehemiah 2:19 Mean?
But when Sanballat the Horonite, and Tobiah the servant, the Ammonite, and Geshem the Arabian heard it, they laughed at us and despised us, and said, "What is this word that you are doing? Will you rebel against the king?"
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
But when Sanballat the Horonite, and Tobiah the servant, the Ammonite, and Geshem the Arabian, heard it, they laughed us to scorn, and despised us, and said, What is this thing that ye do? will ye rebel against the king?THE KEY
They make reconstruction sound like revolt by ridiculing it before its purpose can be heard.
THE MEANING
This verse speaks into work of repair now: visible rebuilding can meet ridicule, contempt, and a charge of disloyalty. The accusation tries to name the work before its purpose is heard. The mockery records the accusers’ stance; it does not prove their charge.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
Ridicule and an accusation of disloyalty do not, by themselves, prove that a rebuilding effort is wrong.
THE ROOT
וַיִּלְעֲגוּ
vayyilʿagû
GROWS FROM
לעג
To mock or deride.
“laughed to scorn” in this verse is vayyilʿagû. The Hebrew verb carries derision, so the laughter is not simply amusement: it makes the builders and their work an object of scorn. The same root appears in Psalm 22:7, where ridicule is shown through lips and shaking heads.
ALSO GROWS
laʿag: Mockery, derision.
לַעַג
This noun names the scorn carried by the verb in the verse.
loʿeg: A mocker; one who derides.
לֹעֵג
This participle makes visible the person taking part in the act of scorn.
וַיִּבְזוּ
vayyivzû
GROWS FROM
בזה
To despise or treat as contemptible.
“despised” in this verse is vayyivzû. The verse moves from mocking the builders to devaluing them. English can make these sound like a single reaction, while the Hebrew gives the contempt its own force: the accusers do not merely laugh at the work; they belittle its makers.
ALSO GROWS
bāzāh: To despise.
בָּזָה
This verb is the lexical form of the action expressed in the verse.
nibzeh: Despised, contemptible.
נִבְזֶה
This form shows how the root can describe someone made the object of contempt.
מֹרְדִים
mōrədîm
GROWS FROM
מרד
To rebel or revolt.
“rebel” in this verse is mōrədîm. The accusation shifts the meaning of rebuilding from a visible act into a charge of revolt against the king. The root identifies what the speakers allege; it does not make their allegation the truth of the work.
ALSO GROWS
mārad: To rebel, revolt.
מָרַד
This verb is the root action named in the accusation.
mōrēd: A rebel, one who revolts.
מוֹרֵד
This participle names a person by the charge made against the builders.
THE PATTERN
Ridicule can make a contested person or work look dismissible before its claim is heard.
All who see me mock me; they open their lips, they shake the head.O LORD, you have coaxed me, and I was coaxed. You are stronger than I, and you have prevailed. I have become laughter all the day; everyone mocks me.And the people stood watching. And the rulers with them also turned up their noses at him, saying, He delivered others; let him deliver himself, if he is the Anointed One, the chosen of God.THE THREAD
All who see me mock me; they open their lips, they shake the head.The Hebrew verb for “laugh to scorn” in both passages comes from לעג (laʿag, mockery). Psalm 22 makes that contempt visible in lips and shaken heads, showing how scorn tries to make its target seem dismissible.
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