נחמיה 4
| ויהי כאשר שמע סנבלט כי אנחנו בונים את החומה ויחר לו ויכעס הרבה וילעג על היהודים | 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.
| ויאמר לפני אחיו וחיל שמרון ויאמר מה היהודים האמללים עשים היעזבו להם היזבחו היכלו ביום היחיו את האבנים מערמות העפר והמה שרופות | 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]
| וטוביה העמני אצלו ויאמר גם אשר הם בונים--אם יעלה שועל ופרץ חומת אבניהם | 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!”
| שמע אלהינו כי היינו בוזה והשב חרפתם אל ראשם ותנם לבזה בארץ שביה | 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!
| ואל תכס על עונם וחטאתם מלפניך אל תמחה כי הכעיסו לנגד הבונים | 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!”
| ונבנה את החומה ותקשר כל החומה עד חציה ויהי לב לעם לעשות | 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.
| ויהי כאשר שמע סנבלט וטוביה והערבים והעמנים והאשדודים כי עלתה ארוכה לחמות ירושלם--כי החלו הפרצים להסתם ויחר להם מאד | 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.
| ויקשרו כלם יחדו לבוא להלחם בירושלם ולעשות לו תועה | 8 |
They all planned to come and fight against the people of Jerusalem [MTY] and to cause trouble.
| ונתפלל אל אלהינו ונעמיד משמר עליהם יומם ולילה מפניהם | 9 |
But we prayed to our God [to protect us], and we put men [around the walls] to guard [the city] day and night.
| ויאמר יהודה כשל כח הסבל והעפר הרבה ואנחנו לא נוכל לבנות בחומה | 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.
| ויאמרו צרינו לא ידעו ולא יראו עד אשר נבוא אל תוכם והרגנום והשבתנו את המלאכה | 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]!’”
| ויהי כאשר באו היהודים הישבים אצלם ויאמרו לנו עשר פעמים מכל המקמות אשר תשובו עלינו | 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!”
| ואעמיד מתחתיות למקום מאחרי לחומה--בצחחיים (בצחחים) ואעמיד את העם למשפחות עם חרבתיהם רמחיהם וקשתתיהם | 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].
| וארא ואקום ואמר אל החרים ואל הסגנים ואל יתר העם--אל תיראו מפניהם את אדני הגדול והנורא זכרו והלחמו על אחיכם בניכם ובנתיכם נשיכם ובתיכם | 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!”
| ויהי כאשר שמעו אויבינו כי נודע לנו ויפר האלהים את עצתם ונשוב (ונשב) כלנו אל החומה איש אל מלאכתו | 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.
| ויהי מן היום ההוא חצי נערי עשים במלאכה וחצים מחזיקים והרמחים המגנים והקשתות והשרינים והשרים--אחרי כל בית יהודה | 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.
| הבונים בחומה והנשאים בסבל עמשים באחת ידו עשה במלאכה ואחת מחזקת השלח | 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.
| והבונים--איש חרבו אסורים על מתניו ובונים והתוקע בשופר אצלי | 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.
| ואמר אל החרים ואל הסגנים ואל יתר העם--המלאכה הרבה ורחבה ואנחנו נפרדים על החומה רחוקים איש מאחיו | 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.
| במקום אשר תשמעו את קול השופר שמה תקבצו אלינו אלהינו ילחם לנו | 20 |
If you hear the man blowing the trumpet, gather around us at that place. [Remember that] our God will fight for us!”
| ואנחנו עשים במלאכה וחצים מחזיקים ברמחים מעלות השחר עד צאת הכוכבים | 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].
| גם בעת ההיא אמרתי לעם--איש ונערו ילינו בתוך ירושלם והיו לנו הלילה משמר והיום מלאכה | 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.”
| ואין אני ואחי ונערי ואנשי המשמר אשר אחרי--אין אנחנו פשטים בגדינו איש שלחו המים | 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.
