Nehemiah 4
1 When Sanballat heard that we were rebuilding the city wall, he was very angry. He was enraged/furious. He made fun of us Jews.
Men da Sanballat hørte, at vi byggede paa Muren, blev han vred og harmfuld; og han spottede Jøderne
2 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]
og sagde i Paahør af sine Brødre og Samarias Krigsfolk: »Hvad er det, disse usle Jøder har for? Vil de overlade Gud det? Vil de ofre? Kan de gøre det færdigt endnu i Dag? Kan de kalde Stenene i disse Grusdynger til Live, naar de er forbrændt?«
3 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!”
Og Ammoniten Tobija, der stod ved siden af ham, sagde: »Lad dem bygge, saa meget de vil; en Ræv kan rive deres Stenmur ned, blot den springer derop!«
4 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!
Hør, vor Gud, hvorledes vi er blevet haanet! Lad deres Spot falde tilbage paa deres eget Hoved, og lad dem blive haanet som Fanger i et Fremmed Land!
5 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!”
Skjul ikke deres Brøde og lad ikke deres Synd blive udslettet for dit Aasyn, thi med deres Ord krænkede de dem, der byggede!
6 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.
Men vi byggede paa Muren, og hele Muren blev bygget færdig i halv Højde, og Folket arbejdede med god Vilje.
7 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.
Da nu Sanballat og Tobija og Araberne, Ammoniterne og Asdoditerne hørte, at det skred fremad med Istandsættelsen af Jerusalems Mure, og at Hullerne i Muren begyndte at lukkes, blev de meget vrede,
8 They all planned to come and fight against the people of Jerusalem [MTY] and to cause trouble.
og de sammensvor sig alle om at drage hen og angribe Jerusalem og fremkalde Forvirring der.
9 But we prayed to our God [to protect us], and we put men [around the walls] to guard [the city] day and night.
Da bad vi til vor Gud og satte Vagt baade Dag og Nat for at værne os imod dem.
10 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.
Men Jøderne sagde: Lastdragernes Kræfter svigter, og Grusdyngerne er for store; vi kan ikke bygge paa Muren!
11 “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]!’”
Og vore Fjender sagde: De maa ikke mærke noget, før vi staar midt iblandt dem og hugger dem ned og saaledes faar Arbejdet til at gaa i Staa!
12 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!”
Da nu de Jøder, der boede dem nærmest, Gang paa Gang kom og lod os vide, at de rykkede op imod os fra alle Steder, hvor de boede,
13 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].
og da Folkene kun turde stille sig op paa Steder, der laa lavere end Pladsen bag Muren, i Kælderrum, saa opstillede jeg Folket Slægt for Slægt, væbnet med Sværd, Spyd og Buer;
14 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!”
og da jeg saa det, traadte jeg frem og sagde til Stormændene og Forstanderne og det øvrige Folk: Frygt ikke for dem! Kom den store, frygtelige Gud i Hu og kæmp for eders Brødre, Sønner og Døtre, eders Hustruer og Huse!
15 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.
Men da vore Fjender hørte, at vi havde faaet det at vide, og at Gud gjorde deres Raad til intet, vendte vi alle tilbage til Muren, hver til sit Arbejde.
16 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.
Men fra den Tid af arbejdede kun den ene Halvdel af mine Folk, medens den anden Halvdel stod væbnet med Spyd, Skjolde, Buer og Brynjer; og Øversterne stod bag ved alle de Jøder,
17 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.
der byggede paa Muren. Ogsaa Lastdragerne var væbnet; med den ene Haand arbejdede de, og med den anden holdt de Spydet;
18 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.
og de, der byggede, havde under Arbejdet hver sit Sværd bundet til Lænden. Ved Siden af mig stod Hornblæseren;
19 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.
og jeg sagde til de store og Forstanderne og det øvrige Folk: »Arbejdet er stort og omfattende, og vi er spredt paa Muren langt fra hverandre;
20 If you hear the man blowing the trumpet, gather around us at that place. [Remember that] our God will fight for us!”
hvor I nu hører Hornet gjalde, skal I samles om os; vor Gud vil stride for os!
21 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].
Saaledes udførte vi Arbejdet, idet Halvdelen af os holdt Spydene rede fra Morgengry til Stjernernes Opgang.
22 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.”
Samtidig sagde jeg ogsaa til Folket: Enhver skal sammen med sin Dreng overnatte i Jerusalem, for at vi kan have dem til Vagt om Natten og til Arbejde om Dagen!«
23 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.
Og hverken jeg eller mine Brødre eller mine Folk eller Vagten, der fulgte mig, afførte os vore Klæder, og enhver, der blev sendt efter Vand, havde Spydet med.
