Neemias 4
1 Mas quando Sanballat ouviu que estávamos construindo o muro, ficou furioso, e ficou muito indignado, e zombou dos judeus.
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 Ele falou diante de seus irmãos e do exército de Samaria, e disse: “O que esses judeus fracos estão fazendo? Será que eles se fortificarão? Será que eles vão se sacrificar? Será que vão terminar em um dia? Reanimarão as pedras dos montes de lixo, já que estão queimadas?”
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 Now Tobias, o amonita, estava por ele, e disse: “O que eles estão construindo, se uma raposa subisse, ele derrubaria sua parede de pedra”.
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 “Ouça, nosso Deus, pois somos desprezados. Voltem a repreender a sua própria cabeça. Desista deles por um saque em uma terra de cativeiro.
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 “Não cubra sua iniqüidade. Não deixe que o pecado deles seja apagado de diante de você; pois eles insultaram os construtores”.
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 Assim, construímos o muro; e todo o muro foi unido à metade de sua altura, pois o povo tinha uma mente para trabalhar.
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 Mas quando Sambalate, Tobias, os árabes, os amonitas e os ashdoditas ouviram que o conserto dos muros de Jerusalém foi adiante e que as brechas começaram a ser preenchidas, ficaram muito irritados;
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 e todos eles conspiraram juntos para vir e lutar contra Jerusalém, e para causar confusão entre nós.
They all planned to come and fight against the people of Jerusalem [MTY] and to cause trouble.
9 Mas fizemos nossa oração ao nosso Deus, e colocamos uma vigília contra eles dia e noite por causa deles.
But we prayed to our God [to protect us], and we put men [around the walls] to guard [the city] day and night.
10 Judah disse: “A força dos carregadores de fardos está desaparecendo e há muitos escombros, de modo que não somos capazes de construir o muro”.
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 Nossos adversários disseram: “Eles não saberão ou verão, até que nós entremos no meio deles e os matemos, e façamos cessar o trabalho”.
“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 Quando os judeus que viviam por eles vieram, eles nos disseram dez vezes de todos os lugares: “Para onde quer que você se vire, eles nos atacarão”.
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 Therefore Coloco guardas nas partes mais baixas do espaço atrás da parede, nos lugares abertos. Eu coloco as pessoas por grupos familiares com suas espadas, suas lanças e seus arcos.
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 Olhei, e me levantei, e disse aos nobres, aos governantes, e ao resto do povo: “Não tenham medo deles! Lembrem-se do Senhor, que é grande e impressionante, e lutem por seus irmãos, seus filhos, suas filhas, suas esposas e suas casas”.
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 Quando nossos inimigos souberam que era do nosso conhecimento, e que Deus tinha levado seus conselhos a nada, todos nós voltamos à parede, todos ao seu trabalho.
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 Daquele tempo em diante, metade dos meus servos fez o trabalho, e metade deles segurava as lanças, os escudos, os arcos e as capas de correio; e os governantes estavam atrás de toda a casa de Judá.
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 Aqueles que construíram o muro, e aqueles que carregaram fardos se carregaram; todos com uma de suas mãos faziam o trabalho, e com a outra segurava sua arma.
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 Among os construtores, todos usavam sua espada ao seu lado, e assim construíram. Aquele que tocou a trombeta foi por mim.
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 I disse aos nobres, e aos governantes e ao resto do povo: “A obra é grande e amplamente difundida, e estamos separados na parede, longe um do outro.
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 Wherever você ouve o som da trombeta, junte-se a nós”. Nosso Deus lutará por nós”.
If you hear the man blowing the trumpet, gather around us at that place. [Remember that] our God will fight for us!”
21 So nós fizemos o trabalho. Metade das pessoas seguraram as lanças desde a subida da manhã até o aparecimento das estrelas.
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 Likewise ao mesmo tempo eu disse ao povo: “Que todos com seu servo se hospedem em Jerusalém, para que à noite possam ser nossos guardas, e possam trabalhar durante o dia”.
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 So nem eu, nem meus irmãos, nem meus servos, nem os homens da guarda que me seguiram tiraram nossas roupas. Todos levaram sua arma para a água.
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.
