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.
Lè Sanbala vin konnen nou menm jwif yo nou t'ap rebati miray ranpa a, li fache, li move.
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]
Li konmanse pase nou nan betiz. Li t'ap di devan moun pa l' yo ak devan sòlda lame peyi Samari a: -Kisa jwif yo konprann y'ap fè la a? Yo ta renmen rebati lavil la. Yo konprann avèk tout bèt y'ap ofri pou touye yo, nan yon jou yo pral fini? Yo mete nan tèt yo avèk demoli ki fin tounen pousyè ak sann dife yo ka fè wòch pou rebati lavil la.
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!”
Tobija, moun peyi Amon an, te kanpe bò kote Sanbala. Li t'ap di: -Anhan! Y'ap rebati! Kite yon chat mawon vole sou miray wòch yo a, sa kont pou jete l' atè!
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!
Lè sa a, mwen menm, Neemi, mwen lapriyè Bondye. Mwen di l': -O Bondye papa nou! Tande jan y'ap pase nou nan betiz! Sa yo ta renmen wè rive nou an, se sa ki pou rive yo! Se yo ki pou wont! Se pou lènmi vin fè yo prizonye epi pou li depòte yo tout nan yon lòt peyi.
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!”
Pa padonnen sa yo fè ki mal. Pa janm bliye peche yo fè a, paske yo t'ap pale moun ki t'ap rebati lavil ou a mal.
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.
Se konsa, nou t'ap rebati ranpa a. Anvan lontan, ranpa a te gen tan rive nan mwatye wotè, paske pèp la te soti pou l' te fè travay la.
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.
Lè Sanbala ak Tobija ansanm ak moun Arabi yo, moun Amon yo ak moun Achdòd yo tande travay reparasyon miray ranpa lavil Jerizalèm yo t'ap mache, epi twou ki te nan miray yo te konmanse bouche, yo fè gwo kòlè, yo fache.
8 They all planned to come and fight against the people of Jerusalem [MTY] and to cause trouble.
Yo mete tèt yo ansanm pou yo vin atake lavil Jerizalèm, pou yo bay pwoblèm.
9 But we prayed to our God [to protect us], and we put men [around the walls] to guard [the city] day and night.
Men, nou lapriyè Bondye nou an, epi nou mete moun ap veye lajounen kou lannwit, pou pwoteje nou.
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.
Men, moun peyi Jida yo t'ap plede di: -Nou fin fèb nan pote chay! Gen twòp vye ranblè pou n' netwaye! Nou p'ap janm fin rebati miray sa a!
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]!’”
Lènmi nou yo menm, bò pa yo, t'ap di: -San yo pa konnen, san yo pa wè anyen, n'ap gen tan nan mitan yo. N'ap masakre yo, n'ap fè travay la sispann.
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!”
Men, chak fwa lènmi nou yo moute vin atake nou, jwif ki t'ap viv nan mitan yo te vin avèti nou. Konsa konsa, an dis fwa.
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].
Lè konsa, mwen ranje pèp la dèyè ranpa a, chak fanmi apa, avèk nepe yo, frenn yo ak banza yo. Mwen mete yo kote miray la pa t' ankò fini an.
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!”
Lè m' wè pèp la te gen kè sote, mwen leve, mwen pale ak chèf yo ak majistra yo ak tout rès pèp la, mwen di yo: -Nou pa bezwen pè moun sa yo! Chonje jan Seyè a gen pouvwa, jan li fè moun pè l'. Ann goumen pou moun menm ras ak nou yo, pou pitit fi nou yo, pou pitit gason nou yo, pou madanm nou yo ak kay nou yo.
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.
Lè lènmi nou yo wè nou te konnen sa yo t'ap konplote a, yo vin konprann Bondye te soti pou gate plan yo. Apre sa, nou tounen al travay nan miray ranpa a, chak moun bò pa yo.
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.
Depi lè sa a, mwatye nan gason yo al nan travay, lòt mwatye a t'ap veye avèk frenn yo, pwotèj pou bra yo, banza yo ak gwo plak fè sou lestonmak yo pou pwoteje yo. Tout chèf yo te la dèyè pèp Jida a
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.
ki t'ap rebati ranpa a. Tout moun ki t'ap bwote materyo te gen zam tou. Yo t'ap travay ak yon men, nan lòt men an yo te kenbe zam yo.
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.
Moun ki t'ap travay yo menm te toujou gen yon nepe pase nan ren yo. Nèg ki te konn kònen klewon an te toujou bò kote m'.
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.
Mwen di chèf yo, majistra yo ansanm ak tout rès pèp la: -Chantye a se yon gwo chantye. Travay la gaye, kifè nou yonn pa pre lòt sou ranpa a.
20 If you hear the man blowing the trumpet, gather around us at that place. [Remember that] our God will fight for us!”
Depi nou tande klewon an bay siyal la, n'a kouri vin sanble bò kote m'. Bondye nou an va goumen pou nou.
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].
Se konsa, chak jou, depi bajou kase jouk zetwal parèt nan syèl la, mwatye nan nou t'ap mennen travay la sou ranpa a, lòt mwatye a t'ap veye avèk zam yo nan men yo.
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.”
Nan menm epòk la, mwen pale ak pèp la. Mwen di yo konsa: -Se pou tout moun rete pase nwit lavil Jerizalèm ansanm ak domestik yo. Konsa, n'a pase tout nwit la ap veye. Lajounen, n'a travay.
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.
Se konsa, lannwit, nou pa janm wete rad sou nou, ni mwen, ni frè parèy mwen yo, ni domestik nou yo, ni gad kò m' yo. Nou tout nou te gen zam nou bò kote nou.
