Nehemiah 4

1 When Sanballat heard that we were rebuilding the city wall, he was very angry. He was enraged/furious. He made fun of us Jews.

Now when Sanballat heard we were building the wall, it burned within him, and he was furiously angry, and he mocked the Jews.

2 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]

In the presence of his brothers and the army of Samaria, he said, “What are these feeble Jews doing? Will they restore the city for themselves? Will they offer sacrifices? Will they finish the work in a day? Will they bring to life the stones from the piles of rubble after they were burned?

3 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!”

Tobiah the Ammonite was with him, and he said, “If only a fox went up on what they are building, it would break down their stone wall!”

4 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!

Hear, our God, for we are despised. Turn back their taunts on their own heads and give them up to be plundered in a land where they are prisoners.

5 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!”

Do not cover over their iniquity and do not erase their sin from before you, for they have provoked the builders to anger.

6 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.

So we built the wall and all the wall was joined together to half its height, for the people had a desire to work.

7 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.

But when Sanballat, Tobiah, the Arabians, the Ammonites, and the Ashdodites heard that the work of repairing the walls of Jerusalem was going forward, and that the broken places in the wall were being closed up, a great anger burned within them.

8 They all planned to come and fight against the people of Jerusalem [MTY] and to cause trouble.

They all conspired together, and they came to fight against Jerusalem and to cause confusion in it.

9 But we prayed to our God [to protect us], and we put men [around the walls] to guard [the city] day and night.

But we prayed to our God and set a guard as protection against them day and night because of their threat.

10 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.

Then the people of Judah said, “The strength of those who carry the burdens is failing. There is too much rubble, and we are not able to rebuild the wall.”

11 “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]!’”

Our enemies said, “They will not know or see until we come among them and kill them, and stop the work.”

12 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!”

At that time the Jews who lived near them came from all directions and spoke to us ten times, warning us about the schemes they were making against us.

13 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].

So I positioned people in the lowest parts of the wall in the exposed areas. I positioned each family with their swords, spears, and bows.

14 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!”

Then I looked, and stood up, and I said to the nobles, and to the rulers, and to the rest of the people, “Do not be afraid of them. Call to mind the Lord, who is great and awesome. Fight for your families, your sons and your daughters, your wives, and your homes.”

15 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.

It came about when our enemies heard that their plans were known to us, and God had frustrated their plans, all of us returned to the wall, each one to his work.

16 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.

So from that time half of my servants worked only on rebuilding the wall, and half of them held spears, shields, bows, and wore armor, while the leaders stood behind all the people of Judah.

17 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.

The same workers who were building the wall and carrying loads were also guarding their positions. Everyone worked with one hand, and with the other hand he held his weapon.

18 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.

Every builder wore his sword on his side and that is how he worked. The one who sounded the trumpet stayed beside me.

19 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.

I said to the nobles and to the officials and to the rest of the people, “The work is great and extensive, and we are separated on the wall, far from one another.

20 If you hear the man blowing the trumpet, gather around us at that place. [Remember that] our God will fight for us!”

You must rush to the place where you hear the trumpet sound and assemble there. Our God will fight for us.”

21 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].

So we were doing the work. Half of them were holding spears from the rising of the dawn until the coming out of the stars.

22 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.”

I also said to the people at that time, “Let every man and his servant spend the night in the middle of Jerusalem, so they may be for us a guard during the night and a worker in the day.”

23 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.

So neither I, nor my brothers, nor my servants, nor the men of the guard who followed me, none of us changed our clothes, and each of us carried his weapon, even if he went for water.