Nehemías 4
1 Ahora, Sanbalat, al oír que estábamos construyendo el muro, estaba muy enojado, y en su ira 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 Y al oír a sus compatriotas y al ejército de Samaria, dijo: ¿Qué están haciendo estos judíos lánguidos? ¿Se harán fuertes? ¿Harán ofrendas? ¿Terminarán el trabajo en un día? ¿Harán que las piedras que han sido quemadas vuelvan a salir del polvo?
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 Entonces Tobías, el amonita, estaba junto a él, y dijo: Tal es su edificio que si un zorro lo sube, su muro de piedra será derribado.
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, oh Dios nuestro, porque somos menospreciados. Que sus palabras de vergüenza vuelvan sobre sí mismos, y que sean entregados a la cautividad a otro país:
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 perdones su iniquidad, ni que sus pecados sean eliminados de ti, porque han insultado a los constructores y te han provocado a la ira.
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 que continuamos construyendo el muro; y toda la pared estaba unida hasta la mitad, porque las personas trabajaban duro.
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 llegó a oídos de Sanbalat y de Tobías, de los árabes, de los amonitas y de los asdoditas, la construcción de los muros de Jerusalén avanzaba y los lugares destruidos se empezaban a tapar, estaban llenos de ira.
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 hicieron designios, todos juntos, para venir y atacar a Jerusalén, causando problemas allí.
They all planned to come and fight against the people of Jerusalem [MTY] and to cause trouble.
9 Pero hicimos nuestra oración a Dios, y tuvimos a los hombres vigilando contra ellos día y noche para defendernos 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 Judá dijo: La fuerza de los obreros está cediendo, ante la cantidad de ruinas; Es imposible para nosotros levantar 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 los que estaban contra nosotros dijeron: Sin su conocimiento y sin que nos vean, vendremos entre ellos y los mataremos, haciendo que el trabajo se detenga.
“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 sucedió que cuando los judíos que vivían cerca de ellos vinieron, nos dijeron una y otra vez: “Desde todas las direcciones los atacaran”.
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, en la parte más baja del espacio en la parte posterior de las paredes, en lugares abiertos, puse a la gente por familias, 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 Y después de mirar, me levanté y dije a los nobles, a los jefes y al resto de la gente: No teman a ellos; ten en mente al Señor, que es grande y muy temible, y luchen por sus hermanos, sus hijos y 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 Y cuando llegó a oídos de los que estaban contra nosotros, que sabíamos de sus planes y que Dios había hecho que sus planes fracasaran, todos regresamos a la pared, 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 Y desde ese momento, la mitad de mis sirvientes estaban haciendo su parte del trabajo, y la mitad guardaba las lanzas, corazas, los arcos y los escudos; y los jefes daban su apoyo los hombres 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 estaban construyendo la pared y los que movían material hicieron su parte, todos trabajando con una mano, con su lanza en la otra;
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 Cada constructor estaba trabajando con su espada a su lado. Y a mi lado había un hombre para sonar la bocina.
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 grandes, a los jefes y al resto de la gente: El trabajo es grande y está muy espaciado y estamos muy lejos unos de otros en la pared.
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 estés cuando suene la bocina, ven aquí 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 Así que continuamos con el trabajo; y la mitad de ellos tenía lanzas en sus manos desde el amanecer de la mañana hasta que se vieron 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 Y al mismo tiempo, dije a la gente: Que todos los que están con su siervo vengan a Jerusalén por la noche, para que por la noche puedan vigilarnos y seguir trabajando 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 ninguno de nosotros, ni yo, ni mis hermanos, ni mis sirvientes, ni los vigilantes que estaban conmigo, no se quitaron la ropa, ni siquiera para lavarla.
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.
