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.
Esime Sanbalat se be míegbugbɔ gli la nɔ ɖoɖom la, edo dɔmedzoe ŋutɔ. Edzu mí, ɖu fewu le Yudatɔwo ŋu
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]
le xɔlɔ̃awo kple Samariatɔwo ƒe asrafoha la ŋkume be, “Nu ka Yudatɔ gblɔe siawo bu be yewole wɔwɔm? Ɖe wobu be yewoate ŋu agbugbɔ gli la aɖo le ŋkeke ɖeka me ne yewosa vɔ geɖewoa? Mikpɔ kpe ƒodzo siwo wole ɖeɖem le gli gbagbãwo me hegale wo ŋu dɔ wɔm ɖa!”
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!”
Tobia, Amonitɔ la tsi tsitre ɖe egbɔ, eye eya hã gblɔ fewuɖutɔe be, “Ne abei aɖe gɔ̃ hã zɔ woƒe gli dzi la, gli la amu gbloo!”
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!
Ale medo gbe ɖa na Mawu be, “Oo, Aƒetɔ mía Mawu, ɖo to mí, elabena wole fewu ɖum le mía ŋu. Na woƒe fewuɖuɖu natrɔ adze woawo ŋutɔ ƒe ta dzi, eye woaɖe aboyo wo ayi dzronyigba aɖe dzi.
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!”
Mègaŋe aɖaba ƒu woƒe vodadawo dzi o, eye mègatutu woƒe nu vɔ̃wo ɖa le ŋkuwò me o, elabena wodo vlo wò, to vlododo mí, ame siwo le wò gli la ɖom la me.”
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.
Mlɔeba la, míewu gli la nu ƒo xlã du blibo la wòkɔ abe tsãtɔ ƒe kɔkɔme ƒe afã ene, elabena dɔa wɔlawo wɔ dɔ sesĩe kple moveviɖoɖo.
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.
Ke esi Sanbalat kple Tobia kple Arabiatɔwo kple Amonitɔwo kple Asdodtɔwo se be dɔa le edzi yim nyuie, eye wogbugbɔ gli la ƒe gbagbãƒewo le ɖoɖom la, wodo dɔmedzoe vevie.
8 They all planned to come and fight against the people of Jerusalem [MTY] and to cause trouble.
Woɖo be yewoatsɔ aʋakɔ aɖe aho aʋa ɖe Yerusalem ŋu, eye yewoahe ʋunyaʋunya kple tɔtɔ vɛ.
9 But we prayed to our God [to protect us], and we put men [around the walls] to guard [the city] day and night.
Ke míedo gbe ɖa na míaƒe Mawu, eye míedzɔ dua ŋu zã kple keli be míanɔ dedie.
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.
Ame siwo nɔ Yuda gblɔ be, “Ŋusẽ le vɔvɔm le dɔwɔlawo ŋu, eye gli gbagbã si woli kɔe la sɔ gbɔ ale gbegbe be míate ŋu agbugbɔ gli la aɖo o.”
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]!’”
Gawu la, míaƒe futɔwo nɔ ta me ɖom be yewoadze mía dzi, awu mí ale be míaƒe dɔ la wɔwɔ natɔ.
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!”
Tete Yudatɔ siwo nɔ wo dome la va gblɔ na mí zi ewo be, “Woatso teƒe vovovowo ava dze mía dzi.”
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].
Ale meda dzɔla siwo si yi, akplɔ kple dati nɔ la tso ƒome ɖe sia ɖe me ɖe gli la megbe le teƒe siwo gli gbagbãwo meli kɔ ɖo o.
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!”
Mebu nu si le edzi yim la ŋuti nyuie, eye metsi tsitre gblɔ na bubumewo, dɔnunɔlawo kple ame haho la be, “Migavɔ̃ na wo o. Miɖo ŋku Aƒetɔ si sẽ ŋu, eye ŋɔdzi le eŋuti la dzi ne miawɔ aʋa ɖe mia nɔviŋutsuwo, mia viŋutsuwo, mia vinyɔnuwo, mia srɔ̃wo kple miaƒe aƒewo ta.”
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.
Esi míaƒe futɔwo se be míenya nu tso yewoƒe ɖoɖowo ŋu, eye be Mawu ɖe yewoƒe ɖoɖowo fia mí, eye wògblẽ wo me la, mí katã míetrɔ va yi gli la ɖoɖo dzi.
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.
Tso gbe ma gbe dzi la, dɔwɔlawo ƒe afã koe wɔa dɔ la, eye afã mamlɛa léa akplɔwo, akpoxɔnuwo, aŋutrɔwo kple lãnu bubuwo ɖe asi henɔa Yudatɔ,
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.
siwo le gli la ɖom la megbe. Ame siwo nɔ kɔ lɔm la hã wɔa dɔ kple asi ɖeka, eye woléa aʋawɔnu ɖe asi evelia.
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.
Ke ame siwo nɔ gli la ɖom ya ta yi ɖe ali hafi nɔ dɔ la wɔm. Ke kpẽkula ya nɔ nye axadzi.
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.
Meɖe eme na bubumeawo, dɔnunɔlawo kple ame haho la be, “Dɔ la keke ta, míema ɖe eŋuti ale mía dome didi tso mía nɔewo gbɔ le gli la ŋuti,
20 If you hear the man blowing the trumpet, gather around us at that place. [Remember that] our God will fight for us!”
eya ta ne mienya se kpẽa ƒe ɖiɖi ko la, miƒu du va mía gbɔ afii. Míaƒe Mawu la awɔ aʋa na mí!”
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].
Ale míeyi dɔ la wɔwɔ dzi; ŋutsu afã lé akplɔwo ɖe asi tso agudzeɣi va se ɖe esime ɣletiviwo nato.
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.”
Megblɔ na ame siwo katã le gli la godo be woava Yerusalem du la me ale be woƒe subɔlawo nate ŋu adzɔ du la ŋu le zã me, eye woawɔ dɔ le ŋkeke me.
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.
Le ɣeyiɣi sia me la, mía dometɔ aɖeke, nye ŋutɔ kple nɔvinyewo kple subɔlawo kple duŋudzɔla siwo nɔ gbɔnye la, míeɖea awu ɖi o, eye aʋawɔnuwo nɔa mía ŋu ɣe sia ɣi ne míeyi tsinoƒe gɔ̃ hã.
