Nehemiah 2:2

Wherefore R.V. And.

sad The Hebrew adjective which means literally -bad" is used constantly in this sense, just as we speak of -bad news" when we mean -sad news." For this usage cf. Genesis 40:7 -sadly," Proverbs 25:20 -an heavy heart."

sorrow of heart The substantive, being derived from the same root as the adjective -sad," had better have been rendered -sadness," to bring out the antithesis between -countenance" and -heart." It is so rendered in Ecclesiastes 7:3, -the sadness of the countenance."

Then I was very sore afraid See note on Nehemiah 2:1. Nehemiah's fear was very natural. The long-expected and dreaded moment had come, on which he was to plead his people's cause. Their destiny and perhaps his own life depended upon his success. The capricious temper of Persian kings was well known. Artaxerxes may very probably have been prejudiced against the Jews by such complaints as had occasioned the disastrous edict of Ezra 4:17-22.