Nehemías 4
1 Y fue que como oyó Sanaballat que nosotros edificábamos el muro, encendiósele la ira, y se enojó en gran manera, e hizo escarnio 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 Y habló delante de sus hermanos, y del ejército de Samaria, y dijo: ¿Qué hacen estos Judíos flacos? ¿Hánles de permitir? ¿Han de sacrificar? ¿Han de acabar en un día? ¿Han de resucitar de los montones del polvo las piedras que fueron 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 Y Tobías Ammonita estaba junto a él, el cual dijo: Aun lo que ellos edifican, si subiere una zorra, derribará 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 Oye, oh Dios nuestro, que somos en menosprecio: y vuelve la vergüenza de ellos sobre su cabeza, y dálos en presa en la tierra de su 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 Y no cubras su iniquidad, ni su pecado sea raído de delante de tu faz: porque se airaron contra los que edificaban.
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 Mas edificámos el muro, y toda la muralla fue junta hasta su mitad: y el pueblo tuvo ánimo para obrar.
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 Y fue, que oyendo Sanaballat, y Tobías, y los Árabes, y los Ammonitas, y los de Azoto, que los muros de Jerusalem eran curados, porque ya los portillos comenzaban a cerrarse, encendióseles la ira 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 conspiraron todos a una para venir a combatir a Jerusalem, y hacerle daño.
They all planned to come and fight against the people of Jerusalem [MTY] and to cause trouble.
9 Entonces orámos a nuestro Dios y pusimos guardia sobre ellos de día y de noche, por 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 Y dijo Judá: Las fuerzas de los que llevan son enflaquecidas, y la tierra es mucha, y no podemos edificar 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 Y nuestros enemigos dijeron: No sepan, ni vean, 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 Y fue que como vinieron los Judíos que habitaban entre ellos, nos dieron aviso diez veces de todos los lugares donde volvían a 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 puse por los bajos del lugar detrás del muro, y en las alturas de los peñascos puse el pueblo por familias, con sus espadas, con sus lanzas, y con 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 Y miré, y levantéme, y dije a los principales, y a los magistrados, y al resto del pueblo: No temáis delante de ellos: del Señor grande y terrible os acordád; y peleád por vuestros hermanos, por vuestros hijos, y por vuestras hijas, por vuestras mujeres, y por vuestras 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 Y fue que como oyeron nuestros enemigos que lo entendimos, Dios disipó su consejo, y nos volvimos todos al muro cada uno a su obra.
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 Mas fue, que desde aquel día la mitad de los mancebos hacían en la obra, y la otra mitad de ellos tenía lanzas, y escudos, y arcos, y corazas; y los príncipes estaban tras 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 edificaban en el muro, y los que llevaban cargas, y los que cargaban, con la una mano hacían en la obra, y en la otra tenían la espada.
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 Porque los que edificaban, cada uno tenía su espada ceñida sobre sus lomos, y así edificaban: y 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 Y dije a los principales, y a los magistrados, y al resto del pueblo: La obra es grande y larga, y nosotros estamos apartados en 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 En el lugar donde oyereis la voz de la trompeta, allí os juntaréis a nosotros: nuestro Dios 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 Y nosotros hacíamos en la obra; y la mitad de ellos tenía lanzas desde la subida del alba hasta salir 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 entonces dije al pueblo: Cada uno con su criado se quede dentro de Jerusalem, y nos hagan de noche centinela, y de día a 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 Y ni yo, ni mis hermanos, ni mis mozos, ni la gente de guardia que me seguía, desnudamos nuestro vestido: cada uno se desnudaba solamente a las aguas.
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.
