Nehemiah 4
1 Toe kaicae mah tapang ka thungh o let boeh, tiah Sanballat mah thaih naah, palungphui hmai baktiah amngaeh pae moe, Judahnawk to pahnuithuih.
When Sanballat heard that we were rebuilding the city wall, he was very angry. He was enraged/furious. He made fun of us Jews.
2 Anih mah angmacae ampuinawk hoi Samaria misatuh kaminawk hmaa ah, Thacak ai Judah kaminawk loe timaw sak atim o? Angmacae abuephaih tapang to a sak o moe, angbawnhaih sak han a thuih o maw? Nihcae mah nito thungah tapang to pacoeng o thai tih maw? Hmai mah kangh ih anghnoeng baktiah angpop sut thlung hoiah maw nihcae mah tapang to sah o tih? tiah thuih.
While his colleagues and officials of the army troops who had come from Samaria were listening, he said, “What do these feeble/pathetic Jews [think they] are doing? Do they think that if they offer enough/many sacrifices, [their gods will hear them and enable] them to finish building the wall in one day? The stones [that were in the wall previously have been weakened by] being burned in a fire. Those stones that they are pulling out of the rubbish/garbage heaps—do they think that they can make them strong again?” [RHQ]
3 Anih taengah kaom Ammon kami Tobiah mah, Nihcae mah sak ih tapang loe tasui mah mataeng doeh a nui hoiah cawh nahaeloe, amtim rup tih takhae, tiah a naa.
Tobiah was [standing] beside Sanballat. He said, “That stone wall [that they are building] is very weak; so if even a fox climbed up on it, the wall would fall down!”
4 Toe Aw kaicae ih Sithaw, tahngai ah; minawk mah hnaphnaehaih ka tongh o boeh: nichae mah padaeng ih lok loe angmacae lu nuiah krah nasoe; nihcae misong ah naehhaih to om nasoe:
Then I prayed. I said, “Our God, hear us, because they are ridiculing us! Cause the words of their insults to fall back on them! Allow their enemies to come and capture them and force them to go to a foreign land!
5 nihcae mah tapang sah kaminawk to khet patoek o pongah, a sak o ih zaehaihnawk to pakaa pae hmah; nihcae zaehaih to na hmaa hoiah takhoe pae ving hmah, tiah lawk ka thuih.
They are guilty; they have [said things that] caused you to be angry while the people here who are building the wall are listening; so punish them!”
6 Toe tapang to ka sak o; kaminawk loe toksakhaih bangah palung ang paek o pongah, tapang ahap khoek to sak pacoeng o.
But after some time, we finished building the wall around the whole city, up to half as high as the first wall had been. We were able to do that because we worked very hard.
7 Toe Jerusalem tapang to pathoep o moe, akhawnawk doeh pading o let boeh, tiah Saballat, Tobiah, Arab kaminawk, Ammon kaminawk hoi Ashod kaminawk mah thaih o naah, paroeai palungphui o,
But when Sanballat, Tobiah, the men from Arabia, the people from the Ammon [people-group] and from Ashdod [city] heard that the work on the wall was continuing and that we were filling in the gaps in the wall, they became very angry.
8 nihcae loe Jerusalem to tuk moe, raihaih paek hanah, amkhueng moe, lok aram o.
They all planned to come and fight against the people of Jerusalem [MTY] and to cause trouble.
9 Toe kaicae loe kaimacae Sithaw khaeah lawk ka thuih o moe, nihcae pongah, aqum athun misa ka toep o.
But we prayed to our God [to protect us], and we put men [around the walls] to guard [the city] day and night.
10 To naah thoemto Judah kaminawk hoi toksah kaminawk loe thazok o, kamro thlung to pop hmoek pongah, tapang to ka sah o thai ai boeh, tiah a thuih o.
Then the people of [MTY] Judah started to say, “The men who are working [on the wall] are becoming very tired. There is a lot of [heavy] rubble that we must remove; we ourselves cannot finish the work.
11 Ka misanawk mah, Judah kaminawk mah hnuk o han ai, panoek o han ai ah, nihcae salakah akun si loe, nihcae to hum si, to tiah a sak o ih tok to pakaa pae si, tiah a thuih o.
“Besides, our enemies are saying, ‘Before the Jews see us, we will swoop down on them and kill them and stop their work [on the wall]!’”
12 To naah nihcae taengah kaom Judahnawk to angzoh o moe, misa mah ahmuen kruek hoiah nangcae tuk hanah amsak o, tiah vai hato ang thuih o.
The Jews who were living near our enemies came and told us many times, “You should leave the city and go to other places, in order that your enemies will not attack you!”
13 To pongah tapang hnuk bang ih ahmuen kahnaem hoi hmuensang ah sumsen, tayae hoi kalii sin kaminawk to angmacae imthung takoh kaminawk hoi nawnto ka ohsak.
So I put guards at the places where the wall was not very high yet and at places where there were gaps in the wall. I put guards to protect each of their family groups. I gave the guards daggers, spears, and bows [and arrows].
14 Hmuennawk ka khet pacoengah, angraengnawk hoi ukkungnawk, kanghmat kaminawk to ka kawk moe, Misanawk to zii o hmah, Lensawk zitthok, Angraeng to panoek oh, nam nawkamyanawk, na capanawk, na canunawk, na zunawk hoi na imthung takohnawk hanah misa to tuh oh, tiah ka thuih pae.
Then after I inspected everything, I summoned the leaders and [other] officials and [many of] the other people, and I said to them, “Do not be afraid of our enemies! Think about [what] Yahweh, who is great and glorious, [can do]! And fight to protect your friends, your families, and your homes!”
15 Nihcae mah pacaeng ih hmuen to kaicae mah panoek boeh, tiah misanawk mah panoek o naah, Nihcae amsakhaih to Sithaw mah amrosak, to naah tapang sakhaih ahmuen ah kam laem o, kami boih angmacae toksakhaih ahmuen ah caeh o let.
Our enemies heard that we knew what they were planning to do and that God had (spoiled their plans/prevented them from doing what they planned). [But we were sure that God would defend us, ] so we all started to work on the wall again.
16 To pacoeng hoi kamtong, ka tamna ahap kaminawk toksak o naah, ahap kaminawk mah maiphaw maica, tayae, angvaenghaih aphaw, kalii hoiah misa to toep o; ukkungnawk mah Judahnawk to abomh.
But after that, only half of the men who were working for me worked on the wall. The others stood there on guard, holding their spears, shields, bows [and arrows], and [wearing their] coats made of metal plates. [To encourage the people] were building the wall, their leaders stood behind them.
17 Tapang sah kaminawk loe ban maeto hoiah tok to a sak o moe, ban maeto hoiah maiphawmaica to sinh o.
Those who carried [baskets of supplies on their heads/shoulders] and those who built the wall did their work with one hand, and held a weapon with the other hand.
18 Tapang sah kaminawk loe sumsen avak hoiah tapang to a sak o. Toe mongkah ueng kami loe ka taengah oh.
All those who were building [the wall] had a dagger fastened to their side. The man who would blow the trumpet [if our enemies attacked] was standing at my side.
19 To naah kai mah, angraengnawk, ukkugnnawk hoi to ah kaom anghmat kaminawk khaeah, Toksakhaih ahmuen paroeai kawk pongah, tapang nuiah toksah kaminawk loe maeto hoi maeto kangthla ah ni na oh o.
Then I said to the officials, the other important men, and the other people, “This wall is very long, and we are far apart from each other along the wall.
20 Naa ih ahmuen hoiah doeh mongkah lok to na thaih o nahaeloe, kaicae khaeah angcuu oh, aicae ih Sithaw mah aicae hanah misa na tuh pae tih, tiah ka naa.
If you hear the man blowing the trumpet, gather around us at that place. [Remember that] our God will fight for us!”
21 To tiah tok ka sak o; thoemto kaminawk loe akhawnbang hoi cakaeh amtueng khoek to tayae sinh hoiah tok to a sak o.
So we continued to work. Half of the men continued to hold their spears all day, from when the sun rose [in the morning] until the stars appeared [at night].
22 To naah kaminawk khaeah, Kami boih aqum ah angmah ih tamna hoiah nawnto iip o nasoe, to tiah ni tamnanawk loe athun ah thoksah o ueloe, aqum ah aicae hanah misa toep o tih, tiah ka thuih pae.
At that time, I also said to the people, “Tell every worker and his helper that they must stay inside Jerusalem at night. By doing that, they can guard us at night, and they can work [on the wall] during the daytime.”
23 Tui amhluk nathuem khue ai ah loe, kai doeh, kam nawkamyanawk, ka tamnanawk hoi ka hnukbang kaminawk doeh, khukbuen kang khring o ai.
During that time, none of us ever took off our clothes (OR, we wore our clothes all the time)—I and my relatives and my workers and the guards who were with me. And we had our weapons with us, in our hands.
