נחמיה, פרק ג׳, פסוק ל״ו

Facing the harsh mockery of their enemies, the builders of Jerusalem's walls find themselves deeply humiliated. In response to this relentless ridicule, Nehemiah turns directly to God, offering a passionate prayer that asks Him to deal with these mockers exactly as they deserve.

He begins his plea by crying out for God to listen and witness how the Jewish people have been reduced to an object of absolute disgust and disgrace [אבן עזרא]. The builders are enduring intense scorn, and Nehemiah wants God to see the depth of their public humiliation [רש״י, מצודת דוד, ביאור שטיינזלץ].

Rather than simply asking for relief, Nehemiah demands a punishment that perfectly matches the crime. He asks God to take the very shame the enemies tried to inflict and bring it crashing down upon their own heads. Because these adversaries used contempt as a weapon to disrupt the work of rebuilding, Nehemiah prays that they receive exact payment for their cruelty [מלבי״ם, ביאור שטיינזלץ]. Furthermore, he asks that they be handed over to be looted and disgraced, becoming helpless plunder themselves [אבן עזרא, מצודת דוד].

When specifying where this punishment should take place, commentators offer two distinct perspectives. The primary approach among commentators views this as a request for the future. In this view, Nehemiah prays that the enemies will suffer the exact same fate as the Israelites—that they will be exiled from their homes as captives [רש״י, ביאור שטיינזלץ] and thoroughly plundered by their captors in a foreign land [רלב״ג]. Conversely, another perspective suggests that this request relates to the enemies' current reality. According to this view, these adversaries are already living in a state of captivity, having been previously uprooted from their native lands by Assyrian kings and relocated to the cities of Samaria [רב סעדיה גאון].