Nehemiah 4–5

Chapter 4

Work Is Ridiculed

¹¹Now it came about that when ^aSanballat heard that we were rebuilding the wall, he became furious and very angry 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 finish in a day? Can they revive the stones from the ^2bdusty rubble even the burned ones?”

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, how 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 ²demoralized the builders.

⁶So we built the wall and the whole wall was joined together to half its height, for the people had a ¹mind to work.

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

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

Discouragement Overcome

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

¹⁰Thus ¹in Judah it was said,

“The strength of the burden bearers is failing,

Yet there is much ²rubbish;

And we ourselves are unable

To rebuild the wall.”

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

¹²When the Jews who lived near them came and told us ten times, “¹They will come up against us from every place where you may turn,”

¹³then I stationed men in the lowest parts of the space behind the wall, the ¹exposed places, and I ^astationed the people in families with their swords, spears and bows.

¹⁴When I saw their fear, I rose and spoke to the nobles, the officials and the rest of the people: “^aDo not be afraid of them; remember the Lord who is great and awesome, and ^bfight for your brothers, your sons, your daughters, your wives and your houses.”

¹⁵When our enemies heard that it was known to us, and that ^aGod had frustrated their plan, then all of us returned to the wall, each one to his work.

¹⁶From that day on, half of my servants carried on the work while half of them held the spears, the shields, the bows and the breastplates; and the captains 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, ¹rally to us there. ^aOur God will fight for us.”

²¹So we carried on the work with half of them holding spears from ¹dawn until the stars ²appeared.

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

²³So neither I, my brothers, my servants, 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

Usury Abolished

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

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

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

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

⁵“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 bondage already, and ¹we are helpless because our fields and vineyards belong to others.”

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

⁷I consulted with myself and contended with the nobles and the rulers 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 ¹redeemed our Jewish brothers who were sold to the nations; now would you even sell your brothers that they may be sold to us?” Then they were silent and could not find a word to say.

⁹Again 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 servants are lending them money and grain. Please, let us leave off 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 say.” So I called the priests and ^ctook an oath from them that they would do according to this ¹promise.

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 fulfill this ²promise; even thus may he be shaken out and emptied.” And ^ball the assembly said, “Amen!” And they praised the Lord. Then the people did according to this promise.

Nehemiah’s Example

¹⁴Moreover, from the day that I was appointed 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 ¹kinsmen have eaten the governor’s food allowance.

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

¹⁶I also ¹applied myself to the work on this wall; we did not buy any land, and all my servants were gathered there for the work.

¹⁷Moreover, ^athere were at my table one hundred and fifty 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 demand the governor’s food allowance, because the servitude was heavy on this people.

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