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.
Cuando Sanbalat se enteró de que estábamos reconstruyendo el muro, se puso furioso, ¡muy furioso! Se burló de los judíos
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]
delante de sus colegas y del ejército de Samaria, diciendo: “¿Qué pretenden estos judíos inútiles? ¿Creen que pueden reconstruir el muro? ¿Van a ofrecer sacrificios? ¿Van a terminarlo en un día? ¿Creen que pueden reutilizar las piedras de los montones de escombros y de tierra, sobre todo porque todas han sido quemadas?”
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!”
Tobías el amonita, que estaba a su lado, comentó: “¡Hasta una zorra que caminara sobre lo que están construyendo derribaría su muro de piedras!”
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!
Yo oré: “Señor, por favor, escúchanos, porque nos están tratando con desprecio. Haz que sus insultos caigan sobre sus propias cabezas. Que se los lleven como un botín, prisioneros en tierra extranjera.
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!”
No perdones sus culpas ni borres sus pecados, porque te han hecho enfadar delante de los constructores”.
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.
Así que reconstruimos la muralla hasta que quedó toda unida, llegando a la mitad de su altura, porque el pueblo estaba deseoso de trabajar.
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.
Cuando Sanbalat y Tobías, y los árabes, los amonitas y los asdoditas, oyeron que la reparación de las murallas de Jerusalén avanzaba y que se estaban rellenando los huecos, se pusieron furiosos.
8 They all planned to come and fight against the people of Jerusalem [MTY] and to cause trouble.
Todos conspiraron juntos para venir a atacar Jerusalén y para confundirlo todo.
9 But we prayed to our God [to protect us], and we put men [around the walls] to guard [the city] day and night.
Así que oramos a nuestro Dios, y tuvimos guardias preparados para defendernos de ellos día y noche.
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.
Entonces la gente de Judá empezó a refunfuñar, diciendo: “Los obreros están agotados. Hay demasiados escombros que limpiar. Nunca podremos terminar el muro”.
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]!’”
Nuestros enemigos se decían: “Antes de que se den cuenta, antes de que se den cuenta de nada, apareceremos en medio de ellos, los mataremos y pondremos fin a lo que están haciendo”.
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!”
Los judíos que vivían cerca venían y nos decían una y otra vez: “Nos van a atacar desde todas las direcciones!”
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].
Así que posicioné a los defensores detrás de las secciones más bajas y vulnerables de la muralla. Les hice tomar sus posiciones por familias, armados con sus espadas, lanzas y arcos.
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!”
Después de inspeccionar nuestras defensas, me puse de pie y me dirigí a los nobles, a los funcionarios y al resto del pueblo, diciendo: “¡No tengan miedo de ellos! ¡Recordad al Señor, que es poderoso y formidable! Luchad por vuestros hermanos, vuestros hijos y vuestras hijas, vuestras mujeres y vuestros hogares”.
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.
Cuando nuestros enemigos descubrieron que conocíamos su plan y que Dios lo había frustrado, todos volvimos a nuestro trabajo en el muro.
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.
A partir de ese momento, la mitad de mis hombres se dedicó a trabajar, mientras que la otra mitad estaba preparada para luchar, con sus lanzas, escudos, arcos y armaduras. Los líderes se colocaron detrás de todo el pueblo de Judá
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.
que estaba construyendo el muro. Los que llevaban los materiales trabajaban con una mano, y en la otra sostenían un arma.
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.
Todos los constructores llevaban una espada atada al costado, y el trompetista estaba a mi lado.
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.
Luego les dije a los nobles, a los funcionarios y al resto del pueblo: “Tenemos mucho que hacer en todas partes, así que estamos muy repartidos a lo largo de la muralla.
20 If you hear the man blowing the trumpet, gather around us at that place. [Remember that] our God will fight for us!”
Dondequiera que estén y oigan el sonido de la trompeta, corranpara unirse a nosotros allí. Nuestro Dios luchará por nosotros”.
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].
Seguimos trabajando, con la mitad de los hombres sosteniendo lanzas desde el amanecer hasta que salieron las estrellas.
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.”
También le dije a la gente: “Todos, incluidos los sirvientes, deben pasar la noche dentro de Jerusalén, para que puedan hacer guardia por la noche y trabajar durante el día”.
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.
Durante ese tiempo ninguno de nosotros se cambió de ropa, ni yo, ni mis hermanos, ni mis hombres, ni los guardias que estaban conmigo. Todos llevaban sus armas en todo momento, incluso para ir a buscaragua.
