Nehemías 4
1 Pero cuando Sanbalat supo que reconstruíamos el muro, se airó muchísimo. Al burlarse 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: ¿Qué pretenden estos miserables judíos? ¿La van a restaurar para ellos? ¿Sacrificarán? ¿Acabarán en un día? ¿Harán revivir las piedras de los montones de escombros, aunque ven que están consumidas?
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 Tobías amonita, que estaba junto a él, dijo: ¡Hasta una zorra, si sube allí, podría derribar el muro de piedra que construyen!
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 ¡Oye, oh ʼElohim nuestro, cómo somos menospreciados! ¡Haz recaer sus ofensas sobre su propia cabeza y entrégalos al despojo 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, ni sea borrado su pecado delante de tu Presencia, porque te provocaron a ira delante de los que edifican!
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 Así reconstruimos el muro y unimos todos los tramos hasta la mitad de su altura. El pueblo tuvo ánimo para 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 de Asdod oyeron que la reparación de los muros de Jerusalén avanzaba y las brechas comenzaban a cerrarse, se enfurecieron muchísimo.
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 Todos a una se confabularon para venir a atacar Jerusalén y causarle daño.
They all planned to come and fight against the people of Jerusalem [MTY] and to cause trouble.
9 Pero nosotros oramos a nuestro ʼElohim y nos colocamos en guardia contra ellos día y noche.
But we prayed to our God [to protect us], and we put men [around the walls] to guard [the city] day and night.
10 Los de Judá dijeron: Ya desfallecen las fuerzas de los cargadores y los escombros son muchos. Por tanto, no podremos reedificar 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 enemigos se decían: Ellos no lo sabrán ni lo verán hasta que caigamos sobre ellos, 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 Pero cuando llegaron los judíos que vivían cerca de ellos, nos decían hasta diez veces: De todos los lugares hacia los cuales ustedes miren, caerán sobre nosotros.
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 Entonces distribuí al pueblo por familias, con sus espadas, lanzas y arcos, detrás del muro en las partes más bajas y en sus partes desprotegidas.
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 Después que inspeccioné, me levanté y dije a los jefes, los oficiales y el resto del pueblo: ¡No teman ante ellos! ¡Acuérdense de ʼAdonay, grande y maravilloso! ¡Luchen por sus hermanos, hijos e hijas, esposas y por 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 Sucedió que cuando nuestros enemigos supieron que fuimos advertidos, ʼElohim desbarató sus planes. Y todos nosotros pudimos regresar 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 aquel día, aconteció que la mitad de mis hombres trabajaba en la obra y la otra mitad sostenía las lanzas, los escudos, los arcos y las corazas. 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 trabajaban en el muro y los que acarreaban las cargas, con una mano trabajaban en la obra y con la otra empuñaban la lanza.
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 En cuanto a los constructores, cada uno llevaba su espada atada a su cintura, y así edificaban. El que soplaba la corneta 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 Pues yo dije a los jefes, los oficiales y al resto del pueblo: La obra es mucha y extensa, y nosotros estamos esparcidos por el muro, lejos los unos de los 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 oigan el sonido de la corneta, reúnanse desde allí junto a nosotros. ¡Nuestro ʼElohim peleará 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 trabajábamos en la obra: la mitad de ellos empuñaban las lanzas, desde la aurora hasta que salían 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 También hablé al pueblo en ese tiempo: Cada uno pernocte con su esclavo dentro de Jerusalén, para que nos sirvan de guardia de noche y de día en la obra.
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 Ni yo, ni mis compañeros, ni mis hombres, ni la guardia que me seguía, nos quitamos nuestra ropa. Cada uno tenía su lanza a su mano derecha.
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.
