Nehemiah 4–5

4But it came to pass, ^athat when Sanballat heard that we builded the wall, he was wroth, and took great indignation, and ^bmocked the Jews. ²And he spake before his brethren and the army of ^cSamaria, and said, What do these feeble Jews? will they ^†fortify themselves? will they sacrifice? will they make an end in a day? will they revive the stones out of the heaps of the rubbish which are burned? ³Now ^aTobiah the Ammonite was by him, and he said, Even that which they build, if ^da fox go up, he shall even break down their stone wall. ^4eHear, O our God; for we are ^†despised: and ^fturn their reproach upon their own head, and give them for a prey in the land of captivity: ⁵And ^gcover not their iniquity, and ^hlet not their sin be blotted out from before thee: for they have provoked thee to anger before the builders. ⁶So built we the wall; and all the wall was joined together unto the half thereof: for the people had a mind to work.

⁷But it came to pass, that when Sanballat, and Tobiah, and the ⁱArabians, and the ^jAmmonites, and the ^kAshdodites, heard that the walls of Jerusalem ^†were made up, and that the breaches began to be stopped, then they were very wroth, ⁸And ^lconspired all of them together to come and to fight against Jerusalem, and ^†to hinder it. ⁹Nevertheless we made our prayer unto our God, and set a watch against them day and night, because of them. ¹⁰And Judah said, The strength of the bearers of burdens is decayed, and there is much rubbish; so that we are not able to build the wall. ¹¹And our adversaries said, They shall not know, neither see, till we come in the midst among them, and slay them, and cause the work to cease. ¹²And it came to pass, that when the Jews which dwelt by ^mthem came, they said unto us ⁿten times, ^||From all places whence ye shall return unto us they will be upon you. ¹³Therefore set I ^†in the lower places behind the wall, and on the higher places, I even set the people after their families with their swords, their spears, and their bows. ¹⁴And I looked, and rose up, and said unto the nobles, and to the rulers, and to the rest of the people, ^oBe not ye afraid of them: remember the Lord, which is ^pgreat and terrible, and ^qfight for your brethren, your sons, and your daughters, your wives, and your houses. ¹⁵And it came to pass, when our enemies heard that it was known unto us, and God had ^rbrought their counsel to nought, that we returned all of us to the wall, every one unto his work. ¹⁶And it came to pass from that time forth, that the half of my servants wrought in the work, and the other half of them held both the ^sspears, the shields, and the bows, and the ^shabergeons; and the rulers were behind all the house of Judah. ¹⁷They which builded on the wall, and they that bare burdens, with those that laded, every one with one of his hands wrought in the work, and with the other hand held a weapon. ¹⁸For the builders, every one had his sword girded ^†by his side, and so builded. And he that sounded the trumpet was by me. ¹⁹And ^tI said unto the nobles, and to the rulers, and to the rest of the people, The work is great and large, and we are separated upon the wall, one far from another. ²⁰In what place therefore ye hear the sound of the trumpet, resort ye thither unto us: ^uour God shall fight for us. ²¹So we laboured in the work: and half of them held the spears from ^xthe rising of the morning till the stars appeared. ²²Likewise at the same time said I unto the people, Let every one with his servant lodge within Jerusalem, that in the night they may be a guard to us, and labour on the day. ²³So neither I, nor my brethren, nor my servants, nor the men of the guard which followed me, none of us put off our clothes, ^||saving that every one put them off for washing.

5And there was a great ^acry of the people and of their wives against their ^bbrethren the Jews. ²For there were that said, We, our sons, and our daughters, are many: therefore we take up corn for them, that we may eat, and live. ³Some also there were that said, We have mortgaged our lands, vineyards, and houses, that we might buy corn, because of the dearth. ⁴There were also that said, We have borrowed money for the king’s ^ctribute, and that upon our lands and vineyards. ⁵Yet now ^dour flesh is as the flesh of our brethren, our children as their children: and, lo, we bring into bondage our ^esons and our ^fdaughters to be servants, and some of our daughters are brought unto bondage already: neither is it in our power to redeem them; for other men have our lands and vineyards. ⁶And I was very angry when I heard their cry and these words. ⁷Then ^†I consulted with myself, and I rebuked the nobles, and the rulers, and said unto them, ^gYe exact usury, every one of his brother. And I set a great assembly against them. ⁸And I said unto them, We after our ability have ^hredeemed our brethren the Jews, which were sold unto the heathen; and will ye even sell your brethren? or shall they be sold unto us? Then held they their peace, and found nothing to answer. ⁹Also I said, It is not good that ye do: ought ye not to walk ⁱin the fear of our God ^kbecause of the reproach of the heathen our enemies? ¹⁰I likewise, and my brethren, and my servants, might exact of them money and corn: I pray you, let us leave off this usury. ¹¹Restore, I pray you, to them, even this day, their lands, their vineyards, their oliveyards, and their houses, also the hundredth part of the money, and of the corn, the wine, and the oil, that ye exact of them. ¹²Then said they, We will restore them, and will require nothing of them; so will we do as thou sayest. Then I called the priests, and ^ltook an oath of them, ^mthat they should do according to this promise. ¹³Also I shook my ⁿlap, and said, So God ^oshake out every man from his house, and from his ^plabour, that performeth not this promise, even thus be he shaken out, and ^†emptied. And all the congregation said, ^qAmen, and praised the Lord. And the people did according to this promise.

¹⁴Moreover from the time that I was appointed to be their ^rgovernor in the land of Judah, from the ^stwentieth year even unto the ^ttwo and thirtieth year of Artaxerxes the king, that is, twelve years, I and my brethren have not ^ueaten the bread of the ^rgovernor. ¹⁵But the former ^rgovernors that had been before me were chargeable unto the people, and had taken of them bread and wine, beside forty shekels of silver; yea, even their servants bare rule over the people: but so did not I, because of ^xthe fear of God. ¹⁶Yea, also I continued in the work of this wall, neither bought we any land: and all my servants were gathered thither unto the work. ¹⁷Moreover there were ^yat my table an hundred and fifty of the Jews and rulers, beside those that came unto us from among the heathen that are about us. ¹⁸Now that ^zwhich was prepared for me daily was one ox and six choice sheep; also fowls were prepared for me, and once in ten days store of all sorts of wine: yet for all this required not I ^athe bread of the ^rgovernor, because the bondage was heavy upon this people. ^19bThink upon me, my God, for good, according to all that I have done for this people.