Nehemiah 4

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.