| Nehemiah 4:2
| And said before his brethren, and the multitude of the Samaritans: What are the silly Jews doing? Will the Gentiles let them alone? will they sacrifice and make an end in a day? are they able to raise stones out of the heaps of the rubbish, which are burnt?
| Multitude. Hebrew and Septuagint, "army." (Calmet) --- Silly. Literally, "feeble." (Haydock) --- Sacrifice, at the dedication. (Tirinus) --- Day, in so short a time, as their present vigorous proceedings seem to promise, notwithstanding their feeble condition, and the paucity of their numbers. (Haydock) --- But no: we shall have time enough to hinder them, (Menochius) if the nature of their materials do it not for us. (Haydock) --- Raise. Hebrew, "revive;" a word used for reparations of walls, etc. (Calmet) (Delrio, adag. 221.) --- Septuagint, "heal." God's providence did not permit the enemy to rage, till the work was greatly advanced; so infidels laugh at the attempts of poor priests to restore religion, which nevertheless flourishes. (Worthington)
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