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.

Now it came to pass, when Sanaballat heard that we were building the wall, that it was grievous to him, and he was very angry, and railed against the Jews.

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]

And he said before his brethren (that [is] the army of the Samaritans) [Is it true] that these Jews are building their city? do they indeed offer sacrifices? will they prevail? and will they this day restore the stones, after they have been burnt and made a heap of rubbish?

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!”

And Tobias the Ammanite came near to him, and said to them, Do they sacrifice or eat in their place? shall not a fox go up and pull down their wall of stones?

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!

Hear, O our God, for we have become a scorn; and return you their reproach upon their head, and make them a scorn in a land of captivity,

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!”

and do not cover [their] iniquity.

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.

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.

But it came to pass, when Sanaballat and Tobia, and the Arabians, and the Ammanites, heard that the building of the walls of Jerusalem was advancing, [and] that the breaches began to be stopped, that it appeared very grievous to them.

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

And all of them assembled together, to come to fight against Jerusalem, and to destroy it utterly.

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

So we prayed to our God and set watchmen against them day and night, because of them.

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.

And Juda said, The strength of the enemies is broken, yet [there is] much rubbish, and we shall not be able to build the wall.

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]!’”

And they that afflicted us said, They shall not know, and they shall not see, until we come into the midst of them, and kill them, and cause the work to cease.

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!”

And it came to pass, when the Jews who lived near them came, that they said to us, They are coming up against us from every quarter.

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].

So I set [men] in the lowest part of the place behind the wall in the lurking-places, I even set the people according to their families, with their swords, their spears, and their bows.

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!”

And I looked, and arose, and said to the nobles, and to the captains, and to the rest of the people, Be not afraid of them: remember our great and terrible God, and fight for your brethren, your sons, your daughters, your wives, and your houses.

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.

And it came to pass, when our enemies heard that it was made known to us, and God had frustrated their counsel, that we all returned to the wall, [every] man to his work.

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.

And it came to pass from that day [that] half of them that had been driven forth, wrought the work, and half of them kept guard; and [there were] spears, and shields, and bows, and breastplates, and rulers behind the whole house of Juda,

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.

even of them that were building the wall: —and those who carried the burdens [were] under arms: [each] with one hand wrought his work, and with the other held his dart.

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.

And the builders [wrought] each man having his sword girded upon his loins, and so they built: and the trumpeter with his trumpet next to him.

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.

And I said to the nobles, and to the rulers, and to the rest of the people, The work [is] great and abundant, and we are dispersed upon the wall, each at a great distance from his brother.

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

In whatever place you shall hear the sound of the cornet, there gather yourselves together to us; and our God shall fight for us.

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].

So we [continued] laboring at the work: and half of them held the spears from the rising of the morning until the stars appeared.

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.”

And at that time I said to the people, Lodge you every man with his servant in the midst of Jerusalem, and let the night be a watch-time to you, and the day a work-time.

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.

And I was [there], and the watchmen behind me, and there was not a man of us that put off his garments.