Nehemiah 4

1 And it came to pass, when Sanballat heard that we were building the wall, that it displeased him, and he became very angry, and he mocked at the Jews.

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 And he spoke before his brethren and the army of Samaria, and said, What are these feeble Jews doing? will people suffer them [to build]? will they sacrifice? will they complete it in one day? will they revive the stones out of the heaps of the rubbish, seeing that they have been burnt?

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 And Tobiyah the 'Ammonite was near him, and he said, Even what they are building, if a fox were to run up, he would readily break through their stone wall.

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 Hear, O our God! how we are become a scorn; and bring their reproach back upon their own head, and give them up for prey in the land of captivity.

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 And cover not up their iniquity, and let not their sin be blotted out from before thee; for they have taunted [us] in the presence of the builders.

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 But we built the wall; and all the wall was joined together up to the half thereof; for the people had a heart to work.

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 And it came to pass, when Sanballat and Tobiyah, and the Arabians, and the 'Ammonites, and the Ashdodites, heard that the walls of Jerusalem were restored, and that the breaches began to be closed up, that it displeased them greatly.

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 And they conspired all of them together to come to fight against Jerusalem, and to do it an injury.

They all planned to come and fight against the people of Jerusalem [MTY] and to cause trouble.

9 But we prayed unto our God, and set a watch over them day and night, because of the others.

But we prayed to our God [to protect us], and we put men [around the walls] to guard [the city] day and night.

10 And Judah said, The strength of the bearers of the burden is failing, and there is much rubbish; and we are not able to build on the wall.

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 And our adversaries said, “They shall not know, nor see until we come in the midst of them, and slay them, and so stop the work.”

“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 And it came to pass, when the Jews who dwelt near them came, that they said unto us ten times, “From all places whence ye may return home [they intend to come] over us.”

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 I placed therefore on the lower parts of the place on the naked rocks behind the wall—there I placed the people after their families with their swords, their spears, and their bows.

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 And I looked [about], and rose up, and said unto the nobles, and to the rulers, and to the rest of the people, Be not afraid of them: think on the Lord, the great and terrible, and fight for your brethren, your sons, and your daughters, your wives, and your houses.

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 And it came to pass, that, when our enemies heard that it was known unto us, God frustrated their counsel: and we returned, all of us, to the wall, every one unto his work.

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 And it came to pass from that day forth, that the half of my young men wrought at the work, while the other half of them were holding the spears, the shields, and the bows, and the coats of mail; and the princes stood behind all the house of Judah.

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 Those that built on the wall, and those that bore burdens, with those that loaded, —every one with one of his hands wrought on the work, and with the other hand held a weapon.

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 And the builders had every one his sword fastened around his loins while they were building; and he that blew the cornet stood alongside of me.

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 And I said unto the nobles, and to the rulers, and to the rest of the people, The work is great and extensive, and we are separated upon the wall, distant one from another.

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 In what place [then] ye hear the sound of the cornet, thither must ye assemble unto us: our God will fight for us.

If you hear the man blowing the trumpet, gather around us at that place. [Remember that] our God will fight for us!”

21 So we labored at the work, while the half of them were holding the spears from the rising of the morning-dawn till the stars appeared.

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 Likewise at the same time said I unto the people, Let every one with his young man lodge within Jerusalem, so that they may be in the night a guard to us, and during the day for the labor.

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 And neither I, nor my brothers, nor my young men, nor the men of the guard who followed me—none of us took off our clothes, no one leaving them off even for washing himself.

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.