Translations
F.O.G.MPrimary
F.O.G MessageBut from within Judah came a cry of despair: "The laborers are giving out—there's just too much rubble. We can't rebuild this wall."
F.O.GSecondary
The F.O.GAnd Yehudah said: "The strength of the burden-bearers is failing, and there is too much rubble. We cannot build the wall."
KJV
King James VersionAnd Judah said, The strength of the bearers of burdens is decayed, and there is much rubbish; so that we are not able to build the wall.
BSB
Berean Standard BibleMeanwhile, the people of Judah said: “The strength of the laborer fails, and there is so much rubble that we will never be able to rebuild the wall.”
Footnotes
The internal voice of discouragement comes from *Yehudah* itself—not the enemies outside but the tribe within. The verb *kāšal* ("failing, stumbling") depicts exhaustion to the point of collapse. The word *ʿāpār* (rendered "rubble" here) is literally "dust/soil"—the same word used in Gen. 2:7 for the dust from which humanity was formed and in Gen. 3:19 for the dust to which it returns. The builders are surrounded by the language of death and dissolution. FOG renders Judah as the subject of the speech; FOG Message frames it as a cry from within the community to heighten the pathos of internal collapse threatening to do what the enemy could not.
