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.

And it cometh to pass, when Sanballat hath heard that we are building the wall, that it is displeasing to him, and he is very angry and mocketh at 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]

and saith before his brethren and the force of Samaria, yea, he saith, 'What [are] the weak Jews doing? are they left to themselves? do they sacrifice? do they complete in a day? do they revive the stones out of the heaps of the rubbish? — and they burnt!'

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!”

And Tobiah the Ammonite [is] by him and saith, 'Also, that which they are building — if a fox doth go up, then it hath broken 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, O our God, for we have been despised; and turn back their reproach on their own head, and give them for a spoil in a land of captivity;

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!”

and do not cover over their iniquity, and their sin from before Thee let not be blotted out, for they have provoked to anger — over-against those building.

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.

And we build the wall, and all the wall is joined — unto its half, and the people have a heart 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.

And it cometh to pass, when Sanballat hath heard, and Tobiah, and the Arabians, and the Ammonites, and the Ashdodites, that lengthening hath gone up to the walls of Jerusalem, that the breeches have begun to be stopped, then it is very displeasing to them,

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

and they conspire, all of them together, to come in to fight against Jerusalem, and to do to it injury.

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

And we pray unto our God, and appoint a watch against them, by day and by night, because of them.

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.

And Judah saith, 'The power of the burden-bearers hath become feeble, and the rubbish [is] abundant, and we are not able to build on 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]!’”

And our adversaries say, 'They do not know, nor see, till that we come in to their midst, and have slain them, and caused the work to cease.'

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!”

And it cometh to pass, when the Jews have come who are dwelling near them, that they say to us ten times from all the places whither ye return — [they are] 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].

And I appoint at the lowest of the places, at the back of the wall, in the clear places, yea, I appoint the people, by their families, with their swords, their spears, and their 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!”

And I see, and rise up, and say unto the freemen, and unto the prefects, and unto the rest of the people, 'Be not afraid of them; the Lord, the great and the fearful, remember ye, and fight for your brethren, your sons, and your daughters, your wives, and your houses.'

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.

And it cometh to pass, when our enemies have heard that it hath been known to us, and God doth frustrate their counsel, and we turn back, all of us, unto the wall, each unto 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.

yea, it cometh to pass, from that day, half of my servants are working in the business, and half of them are keeping hold of both the spears, the shields, and the bows, and the coats of mail; and the heads [are] behind all the house 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 builders on the wall, and the bearers of the burden, those lading, [each] with one of his hands is working in the business, and one is laying hold of the missile.

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.

And the builders [are] each with his sword, girded on his loins, and building, and he who is blowing with a trumpet [is] 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.

And I say unto the freemen, and unto the prefects, and unto the rest of the people, 'The work is abundant, and large, and we are separated on the wall, far off one from another;

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

in the place that ye hear the voice of the trumpet thither ye are gathered unto us; our God doth 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].

And we are working in the business, and half of them are keeping hold of the spears, from the going up of the dawn till the coming forth 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.”

Also, at that time I said to the people, 'Let each with his servant lodge in the midst of Jerusalem, and they have been to us by night a guard, and by day [for] the work:'

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.

and there are none — I and my brethren and my servants, the men of the guard who [are] after me — there are none of us putting off our garments, each [hath] his vessel of water.