Ezra 4:4
◄  Ezra 4:4  ►
New International Version (©2011)
Then the peoples around them set out to discourage the people of Judah and make them afraid to go on building.

New Living Translation (©2007)
Then the local residents tried to discourage and frighten the people of Judah to keep them from their work.

English Standard Version (©2001)
Then the people of the land discouraged the people of Judah and made them afraid to build

New American Standard Bible (©1995)
Then the people of the land discouraged the people of Judah, and frightened them from building,

King James Bible (Cambridge Ed.)
Then the people of the land weakened the hands of the people of Judah, and troubled them in building,

Holman Christian Standard Bible (©2009)
Then the people who were already in the land discouraged the people of Judah and made them afraid to build.

International Standard Version (©2012)
After this, the non-Israeli inhabitants of the land undermined the people of Judah, harassing them in their construction work

NET Bible (©2006)
Then the local people began to discourage the people of Judah and to dishearten them from building.

GOD'S WORD® Translation (©1995)
Then the people of that region discouraged the people of Judah and made them afraid to continue building.

King James 2000 Bible (©2003)
Then the people of the land weakened the hands of the people of Judah, and troubled them in building,

American King James Version
Then the people of the land weakened the hands of the people of Judah, and troubled them in building,

American Standard Version
Then the people of the land weakened the hands of the people of Judah, and troubled them in building,

Douay-Rheims Bible
Then the people of the land hindered the hands of the people of Juda, and troubled them in building.

Darby Bible Translation
And the people of the land weakened the hands of the people of Judah, and troubled them in building;

English Revised Version
Then the people of the land weakened the hands of the people of Judah, and troubled them in building,

Webster's Bible Translation
Then the people of the land weakened the hands of the people of Judah, and troubled them in building,

World English Bible
Then the people of the land weakened the hands of the people of Judah, and troubled them in building,

Young's Literal Translation
And it cometh to pass, the people of the land are making the hands of the people of Judah feeble, and troubling them in building,

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

4:1-5 Every attempt to revive true religion will stir up the opposition of Satan, and of those in whom he works. The adversaries were the Samaritans, who had been planted in the land of Israel, 2Ki 17. It was plain that they did not mean to unite in the worship of the Lord, according to his word. Let those who discourage a good work, and weaken them that are employed in it, see whose pattern they follow.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 4. - Then the people of the land (i.e. the Samaritans) weakened the hands of the people of Judah. As aiding is called "strengthening the hands (infra, Ezra 6:22; Isaiah 35:3; Jeremiah 23:14; Ezekiel 16:49, etc.), so hindering is expressed by "weakening the hands" (Jeremiah 38:4), though this latter phrase is, comparatively speaking, unusual. And troubled them in building. Probably as Sanballat and his followers troubled the builders of the wall in Nehemiah's time (Nehemiah 4:1-12).

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Then the people of the land weakened the hands of the people of Judah, and troubled them in building. By threatening them, or by dissuading the workmen from going on, by endeavouring to hinder their having materials from the Tyrians and Zidonians, or money out of the king's revenues to bear the expenses as ordered; see Ezra 6:4.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

4, 5. Then the people of the land weakened the hands of the people of Judah, &c.—Exasperated by this repulse, the Samaritans endeavored by every means to molest the workmen as well as obstruct the progress of the building; and, though they could not alter the decree which Cyrus had issued regarding it, yet by bribes and clandestine arts indefatigably plied at court, they labored to frustrate the effects of the edict. Their success in those underhand dealings was great; for Cyrus, being frequently absent and much absorbed in his warlike expeditions, left the government in the hands of his son Cambyses, a wicked prince, and extremely hostile to the Jews and their religion. The same arts were assiduously practised during the reign of his successor, Smerdis, down to the time of Darius Hystaspes. In consequence of the difficulties and obstacles thus interposed, for a period of twenty years, the progress of the work was very slow.

Ezra 4:4 Parallel Commentaries

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Adversaries Hinder the Work
…3But Zerubbabel, and Jeshua, and the rest of the chief of the fathers of Israel, said to them, You have nothing to do with us to build an house to our God; but we ourselves together will build to the LORD God of Israel, as king Cyrus the king of Persia has commanded us. 4Then the people of the land weakened the hands of the people of Judah, and troubled them in building, 5And hired counsellors against them, to frustrate their purpose, all the days of Cyrus king of Persia, even until the reign of Darius king of Persia.

2 Samuel 4:1 When Ish-Bosheth son of Saul heard that Abner had died in Hebron, he lost courage, and all Israel became alarmed.
Ezra 3:3 Despite their fear of the peoples around them, they built the altar on its foundation and sacrificed burnt offerings on it to the LORD, both the morning and evening sacrifices.
Ezra 4:5 They bribed officials to work against them and frustrate their plans during the entire reign of Cyrus king of Persia and down to the reign of Darius king of Persia.