Nehemiah 4–5

CHAPTER 4

Sanballat and Tobiah Mock the Jews’ Work

¹¹Now it happened that when ^aSanballat heard that we were rebuilding the wall, he became angry and very vexed and mocked the Jews.

²He spoke in the presence of his brothers and ^athe ¹wealthy men of Samaria and said, “What are these feeble Jews doing? Are they going to restore it for themselves? Can they offer sacrifices? Can they complete it in a day? Can they bring the stones to life from the ^2bdusty rubble, though they are burned?”

³Now Tobiah the Ammonite was near him and he said, “Even what they are building—^aif a fox should ¹jump on it, he would break their stone wall down!”

^4aHear, O our God, for we are despised! ^bReturn their reproach on their own heads and give them up for plunder in a land of captivity.

⁵Do not ^1aforgive their iniquity and let not their sin be blotted out before You, for they have ²vexed the builders.

⁶So we built the wall and the whole wall was joined together to half its height, and the people had a heart to work.

⁷¹Now it happened that when Sanballat, Tobiah, the Arabs, the Ammonites, and the Ashdodites heard that the ²repair of the walls of Jerusalem went on, and that the places broken down began to be closed, they were very angry.

⁸All of them ^ajoined together to come and fight against Jerusalem and to cause a disturbance in it.

⁹But we prayed to our God, and because of them we ^astood a guard against them day and night.

¹⁰Then Judah said,

“The ¹strength of the burden bearers is failing,

Yet there is much ²rubbish;

And we ourselves are unable

To rebuild the wall.”

¹¹Our adversaries said, “They will not know or see until we come among them, kill them, and put a stop to the work.”

¹²Now it happened when the Jews who lived near them came and said to us ten times, “¹They will come up against us from every place where you may turn,”

¹³that I had men stand in the lowest parts of the space behind the wall, the ¹exposed places, and I ^ahad the people stand by families with their swords, spears, and bows.

¹⁴Then I saw their fear. And I arose and said to the nobles, the officials, and the rest of the people: “^aDo not fear them; remember the Lord who is great and fearsome, and ^bfight for your brothers, your sons, your daughters, your wives, and your houses.”

Doing the Work and Holding a Weapon

¹⁵Now it happened that when our enemies heard that it was known to us, and that ^aGod had thwarted their counsel, then all of us returned to the wall, each one to his work.

¹⁶And it happened that from that day on, half of my young men carried on the work while half of them took hold of the spears, the shields, the bows, and the breastplates; and the commanders were behind the whole house of Judah.

¹⁷Those who were rebuilding the wall and those who carried burdens took their load with one hand doing the work and the other holding a weapon.

¹⁸As for the builders, each wore his sword girded at his side as he built, while ¹the trumpeter stood near me.

¹⁹I said to the nobles, the officials and the rest of the people, “The work is great and extensive, and we are separated on the wall far from one another.

²⁰“At whatever place you hear the sound of the trumpet, there gather together to us. ^aOur God will fight for us.”

²¹So we kept doing the work with half of them holding spears from ¹dawn until the stars came out.

²²At that time I also said to the people, “Let each man with his young man spend the night within Jerusalem so that they may be a guard for us by night and a worker by day.”

²³So neither I, my brothers, my young men, nor the men of the guard who followed me, none of us removed our clothes, each took his weapon even to the water.

CHAPTER 5

Each Usury Is Forsaken

¹Then ^athere was a great outcry of the people and of their wives against their ^bJewish brothers.

²Now there were those who were saying, “We, with our sons and our daughters, are many; therefore let us ^aget grain that we may eat and live.”

³There were others who were saying, “We are mortgaging our fields, our vineyards, and our houses, that we might get grain because of the famine.”

⁴Also there were those who were saying, “We have borrowed money ^afor the king’s tax on our fields and our vineyards.

⁵“But now ^aour flesh is like the flesh of our brothers, our children like their children. Yet behold, ^bwe are forcing our sons and our daughters to be slaves, and some of our daughters are forced into subjugation, and we have no power in our hands to help, and our fields and vineyards belong to others.”

⁶Then I was very ^aangry when I had heard their outcry and these words.

⁷I consulted within my own heart and contended with the nobles and the officials and said to them, “^aYou are exacting usury, each from his brother!” Therefore, I held a great assembly against them.

⁸I said to them, “We, according to our ability, ^ahave bought back our Jewish brothers who were sold to the nations; and now would you also sell your brothers that they may be sold to us?” Then they were silent and could not find a word to say.

⁹And I said, “The thing which you are doing is not good; should you not walk in the fear of our God because of ^athe reproach of the nations, our enemies?

¹⁰“And likewise I, my brothers, and my young men are lending them money and grain. Please, let us forsake this usury.

¹¹“Please, give back to them this very day their fields, their vineyards, their olive groves and their houses, also the hundredth part of the money and of the grain, the new wine and the oil that you are exacting from them.”

¹²Then they said, “We ^awill give it back and ^bwill require nothing from them; we will do exactly as you are saying.” So I called the priests and ^cmade them swear that they would do according to this word.

¹³I ^aalso shook out the ¹front of my garment and said, “Thus may God shake out every man from his house and from his possessions who does not establish this word; even thus may he be shaken out and emptied.” And ^ball the assembly said, “Amen!” And they praised Yahweh. Then the people did according to this word.

Nehemiah as Governor

¹⁴Moreover, from the day that I was put in command to be their governor in the land of Judah, from ^athe twentieth year to the ^bthirty-second year of King Artaxerxes, for twelve years, neither I nor my ¹relatives have eaten the governor’s food allowance.

¹⁵But the former governors who were before me ¹laid heavy burdens on the people and took from them bread and wine besides forty ²shekels of silver; even their young men exerted their power over the people. But I did not do so ^abecause of the fear of God.

¹⁶I also took hold of the work on this wall; we did not buy any land, and all my young men were gathered there for the work.

¹⁷Moreover, ^athere were at my table 150 Jews and officials, besides those who came to us from the nations that were around us.

¹⁸Now ^athat which was prepared for each day was one ox and six choice sheep, also birds were prepared for me; and once in ten days all sorts of wine were furnished in abundance. Yet for all this ^bI did not require the governor’s food allowance, because the slavery was heavy on this people.

^19aRemember me, O my God, for good, according to all that I have done for this people.