4
1 But
when Sanballat
heard that we
were building the
wall, he was
angry, and was
very indignant, and mocked
the Jews.
2 He spoke
before his brothers and
the army
of Samaria, and said, “What
are these feeble Jews
doing? Will
they fortify themselves?
Will they
sacrifice? Will
they finish in
a day? Will
they revive the stones
out of the heaps
of rubbish, since they
are burned?”
3 Now Tobiah
the Ammonite was
by him, and
he said, “What
they are building, if
a fox climbed up
it, he would break
down their stone wall.”
4 “Hear, our
God, for we
are despised. Turn back
their reproach on
their own head. Give
them up for
a plunder in a land
of captivity.
5 Don’t cover
their iniquity. Don’t let
their sin be blotted
out from before
you; for they
have insulted the builders.”
6 So
we built the wall;
and all the wall
was joined together
to half its height,
for the people
had a mind to work.
7 But
when Sanballat, Tobiah,
the Arabians, the Ammonites,
and the Ashdodites heard
that the repairing
of the walls
of Jerusalem went forward,
and that
the breaches began to
be filled, they
were very angry;
8 and
they all conspired
together to come
and fight
against Jerusalem, and
to cause confusion
among us.
9 But
we made our prayer
to our God, and
set a watch
against them day
and night because
of them.
10 Judah said,
“The strength of
the bearers of burdens
is fading and
there is
much rubble, so
that we are
not able to build
the wall.”
11 Our adversaries said, “They
will not know
or see, until we
come in among them
and kill them, and
cause the work
to cease.”
12 When
the Jews who lived
by them came,
they said to us ten
times from all places, “Wherever
you turn, they
will attack us.”
13 Therefore
I set guards in
the lowest parts
of the space
behind the wall,
in the open places.
I set the people
by family groups with
their swords, their spears,
and their bows.
14 I looked,
and rose up, and
said to the nobles,
to the rulers, and
to the rest of
the people, “Don’t
be afraid of them!
Remember the Lord, who is great
and awesome, and
fight for
your brothers, your sons,
your daughters, your wives,
and your houses.”
15 When
our enemies heard that
it was known
to us, and God
had brought
their counsel to nothing,
all of us
returned to
the wall, everyone to
his work.
16 From
that time forth,
half of my
servants did the
work, and half
of them held
the spears, the shields,
the bows, and
the coats of mail;
and the rulers
were behind all
the house of Judah.
17 Those
who built the wall,
and those who bore burdens loaded
themselves; everyone with one of
his hands did
the work, and with
the other held his
weapon.
18 Among the builders, everyone
wore his sword at his side, and so built. He who sounded the trumpet
was by me.
19 I said to the nobles, and to
the rulers and to the rest of the people, “The work is great and
widely spread out, and we are separated on the wall,
far from one another.
20 Wherever you hear the sound
of the trumpet, rally there to us. Our God will fight for us.”
21 So we did
the work. Half of the people held the spears from the rising of the
morning until the stars appeared.
22 Likewise at the same time I
said to the people, “Let everyone with his servant lodge within
Jerusalem, that in the night they may be a guard to
us, and may labor in the day.”
23 So neither I, nor my
brothers, nor my servants, nor the men of the guard who followed me
took off our clothes. Everyone took his weapon to the water.