Nehemiæ 4
1 Factum est autem, cum audisset Sanaballat quod ædificaremus murum, iratus est valde: et motus nimis subsannavit Judæos,
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 et dixit coram fratribus suis, et frequentia Samaritanorum: Quid Judæi faciunt imbecilles? num dimittent eos gentes? num sacrificabunt, et complebunt in una die? numquid ædificare poterunt lapides de acervis pulveris, qui combusti sunt?
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 Sed et Tobias Ammanites, proximus ejus, ait: Ædificent: si ascenderit vulpes, transiliet murum eorum lapideum.
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 Audi, Deus noster, quia facti sumus despectui: converte opprobrium super caput eorum, et da eos in despectionem in terra captivitatis.
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 Ne operias iniquitatem eorum, et peccatum eorum coram facie tua non deleatur, quia irriserunt ædificantes.
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 Itaque ædificavimus murum, et conjunximus totum usque ad partem dimidiam: et provocatum est cor populi ad operandum.
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 Factum est autem, cum audisset Sanaballat, et Tobias, et Arabes, et Ammanitæ, et Azotii, quod obducta esset cicatrix muri Jerusalem, et quod cœpissent interrupta concludi, irati sunt nimis.
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 Et congregati sunt omnes pariter ut venirent, et pugnarent contra Jerusalem, et molirentur insidias.
They all planned to come and fight against the people of Jerusalem [MTY] and to cause trouble.
9 Et oravimus Deum nostrum, et posuimus custodes super murum die ac nocte contra eos.
But we prayed to our God [to protect us], and we put men [around the walls] to guard [the city] day and night.
10 Dixit autem Judas: Debilitata est fortitudo portantis, et humus nimia est, et nos non poterimus ædificare murum.
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 Et dixerunt hostes nostri: Nesciant, et ignorent donec veniamus in medium eorum, et interficiamus eos, et cessare faciamus opus.
“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 Factum est autem venientibus Judæis qui habitabant juxta eos, et dicentibus nobis per decem vices, ex omnibus locis quibus venerant ad nos,
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 statui in loco post murum per circuitum populum in ordinem cum gladiis suis, et lanceis, et arcubus.
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 Et perspexi atque surrexi: et aio ad optimates et magistratus, et ad reliquam partem vulgi: Nolite timere a facie eorum: Domini magni et terribilis mementote, et pugnate pro fratribus vestris, filiis vestris, et filiabus vestris, et uxoribus vestris, et domibus vestris.
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 Factum est autem, cum audissent inimici nostri nuntiatum esse nobis, dissipavit Deus consilium eorum. Et reversi sumus omnes ad muros, unusquisque ad opus suum.
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 Et factum est a die illa, media pars juvenum eorum faciebat opus, et media parata erat ad bellum: et lanceæ, et scuta, et arcus, et loricæ, et principes post eos in omni domo Juda.
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 Ædificantium in muro, et portantium onera, et imponentium: una manu sua faciebat opus, et altera tenebat gladium:
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 ædificentium enim unusquisque gladio erat accinctus renes. Et ædificabant, et clangebant buccina juxta 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 Et dixi ad optimates, et ad magistratus, et ad reliquam partem vulgi: Opus grande est et latum, et nos separati sumus in muro procul alter ab altero:
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 loco quocumque audieritis clangorem tubæ, illuc concurrite ad nos: Deus noster pugnabit pro nobis.
If you hear the man blowing the trumpet, gather around us at that place. [Remember that] our God will fight for us!”
21 Et nos ipsi faciamus opus, et media pars nostrum teneat lanceas ab ascensu auroræ donec egrediantur astra.
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 In tempore quoque illo dixi populo: Unusquisque cum puero suo maneat in medio Jerusalem, et sint nobis vices per noctem et diem ad operandum.
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 Ego autem et fratres mei, et pueri mei, et custodes, qui erant post me, non deponebamus vestimenta nostra: unusquisque tantum nudabatur ad baptismum.
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.
