But Judah said: This verse begins with the Hebrew connective conjunction (see Ezra 1.1). Here it is adversative (so Revised Standard Version), or it signals concurrent action (so Contemporary English Version and New International Version with “Meanwhile”). Although the Jews prayed and took precautions, there was a problem of morale at the same time. Judah said is an example of a figure of speech called metonymy. Judah refers to the people of Judah or the Judeans.

The Jews repeated a slogan or popular song in the form of a four-line lamentation with a 3+2, 3+2 meter. In Hebrew the four lines are literally as follows:

Failing is the strength of the bearers [last word hassabal in Hebrew],
and much rubbish.
And we not are able [last word nukal in Hebrew]
to build on the wall.

There is an internal rhyme at the end of the three-beat lines (hassabal … nukal). The brief statement But Judah said implies that the words that are quoted were cited repeatedly by many people. This may have been as a refrain or song, as is indicated by Good News Translation “The people of Judah had a song they sang.” Contemporary English Version describes their song as “a sorrowful song.” One translation has “The people of Judah murmured.” Some commentators suggest that the workmen sang this as a working song while they worked on the wall. In cultures where the work song is a recognized genre, that is the appropriate form for the translation of this song.

Good News Translation, Traduction œcuménique de la Bible, New American Bible, Nouvelle Bible Segond and other versions present the song in the format of poetry. But poetry format alone does not create a poem as can be seen from the rendering of New American Bible:

Slackened in the bearers’ strength,
there is no end to the rubbish;
Never shall we be able
the wall to rebuild.

The restructured poem of Contemporary English Version is perhaps more successful since it creates eight-syllable rhythm in the first and last lines with final syllable rhyme as follows:

So much rubble for us to haul!
Worn out and weary,
will we ever finish this wall?

The following is a translation from an African language, though unfortunately it cannot reveal the long vowels and consonants with its internal and line final rhyming that make it a poem (Deftere Allah):

The strength of the carriers is ending,
rubbish heaps from the ruins are many.
Alone by ourselves we are wearing out,
building the wall is difficult.

The strength of the burden-bearers is failing, and there is much rubbish: Burden-bearers is a compound construction referring to the people who were doing the rebuilding. The rubble that they were moving was heavy and they were becoming weak from the fatigue of the labor. It is not specified what loads they were carrying in this song. However, the poetic parallelism suggests a relationship between the burden-bearers of the first line and the rubbish of the second line (see the comments at verse 17 below). Their strength was “giving out” (New International Version) and there was so much rubble to clear away!

We are not able to work on the wall: In the Hebrew the first person plural pronoun we is in the position of emphasis stressing their inability to complete the work. The pronoun subject may be emphasized in English by saying “we ourselves” (so New American Standard Bible). This should be interpreted as an exclusive first person plural pronoun because the song recounts the plight of the singers (so Deftere Allah). Good News Translation and Contemporary English Version both use a rhetorical question here to express the impossibility of the task.

Quoted with permission from Noss, Philip A. and Thomas, Kenneth J. A Handbook on Nehemiah. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2005. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .