Nehemías 4
1 Pero cuando Sanbalat se enteró de que estábamos construyendo el muro, se enojó y se indignó mucho, y se burló de los judíos.
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 Habló ante sus hermanos y el ejército de Samaria y dijo: “¿Qué hacen estos débiles judíos? ¿Se van a fortificar? ¿Sacrificarán? ¿Acabarán en un día? ¿Revivirán las piedras de los montones de basura, ya que están quemadas?”
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 Junto a él estaba Tobías, el amonita, quien dijo: “Lo que están construyendo, si una zorra trepara por él, derribaría su muro de piedra.”
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 “Escucha, Dios nuestro, porque somos despreciados. Vuelve su reproche sobre su propia cabeza. Entrégalos como botín en tierra de cautiverio.
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 No cubras su iniquidad. No permitas que su pecado sea borrado ante ti; porque han insultado a los constructores.”
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 Construimos, pues, el muro, y toda la muralla se unió hasta la mitad de su altura, porque el pueblo tenía ganas de trabajar.
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 Pero cuando Sanbalat, Tobías, los árabes, los amonitas y los asdoditas se enteraron de que se había avanzado en la reparación de los muros de Jerusalén y de que se empezaban a rellenar las brechas, se enfurecieron mucho;
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 y todos ellos se conjuraron para venir a pelear contra Jerusalén y causar confusión entre nosotros.
They all planned to come and fight against the people of Jerusalem [MTY] and to cause trouble.
9 Pero nosotros hicimos nuestra oración a nuestro Dios, y pusimos guardia contra ellos día y noche a causa de ellos.
But we prayed to our God [to protect us], and we put men [around the walls] to guard [the city] day and night.
10 Judá dijo: “La fuerza de los portadores de cargas se desvanece y hay muchos escombros, de modo que no podemos construir el 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 Nuestros adversarios dijeron: “No lo sabrán ni lo verán, hasta que entremos en medio de ellos y los matemos, y hagamos cesar la obra.”
“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 Cuando llegaron los judíos que vivían junto a ellos, nos dijeron diez veces desde todos los lugares: “Dondequiera que os volváis, nos atacarán”.
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 Por eso puse guardias en las partes más bajas del espacio detrás de la muralla, en los lugares abiertos. Puse al pueblo por grupos familiares con sus espadas, sus lanzas y sus 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 Miré, me levanté y dije a los nobles, a los gobernantes y al resto del pueblo: “¡No tengan miedo de ellos! Acuérdense del Señor, que es grande y temible, y luchen por sus hermanos, sus hijos, sus hijas, sus esposas y sus 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 Cuando nuestros enemigos se enteraron de que habíamos sido informados, y de que Dios había hecho fracasar su consejo, todos nosotros volvimos al muro, cada uno a su trabajo.
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 Desde entonces, la mitad de mis siervos hacía el trabajo, y la otra mitad tenía las lanzas, los escudos, los arcos y las cotas de malla; y los jefes estaban detrás de toda la 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 Los que construían el muro y los que llevaban cargas se cargaban; cada uno con una de sus manos hacía el trabajo y con la otra sostenía su 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 Entre los constructores, todos llevaban su espada al costado, y así construían. El que tocaba la trompeta estaba junto a mí.
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 Dije a los nobles, a los jefes y al resto del pueblo: “La obra es grande y está muy extendida, y nosotros estamos separados en el muro, lejos unos de otros.
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 Dondequiera que oigáis el sonido de la trompeta, reuníos allí con nosotros. Nuestro Dios luchará por nosotros”.
If you hear the man blowing the trumpet, gather around us at that place. [Remember that] our God will fight for us!”
21 Así hicimos el trabajo. La mitad del pueblo sostuvo las lanzas desde el amanecer hasta que aparecieron las estrellas.
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 Asimismo, al mismo tiempo dije al pueblo: “Que cada uno con su siervo se aloje dentro de Jerusalén, para que durante la noche nos sirvan de guardia y para que trabajen durante el día.”
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 Así que ni yo, ni mis hermanos, ni mis siervos, ni los hombres de la guardia que me seguían nos quitamos la ropa. Cada uno llevó su arma al agua.
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.
