Nehemiah 2:17

Then said I unto them ,.... The priests and princes of the Jews:

you see the distress that we are in ; lie open to our enemies, and exposed to their insults:

how Jerusalem lieth waste, and the gates thereof are burnt with fire , Nehemiah 1:3 ,

come, and let us build up the wall of Jerusalem that we be no more a reproach ; to their neighbours about them, who scoffed at them as a defenceless people and frequently came in upon them, and spoiled and plundered them of their goods and substance.