REPROACH, disgrace — public shame, the state of being an object of scorn; from charaf, to taunt or revile. It is the word Nehemiah's informants use of the community in Judah (Nehemiah 1:3) and the word he uses when he finally puts the case to the people: 'let us build the wall of Jerusalem, that we may no longer be a cherpah' (2:17). The problem the book sets out to solve is not primarily military but the humiliation of a people whose city lies open. → first discussed at Nehemiah 1:3