Nehemiah 3–4

Builders of the Wall

3Eliashib the high priest and his fellow priests went to work and rebuilt the Sheep Gate. They gave it to the Lord’s service and set its doors in place. They worked as far as the Tower of the Hundred and gave it to the Lord’s service. Then they went on to the Tower of Hananel. ²Next to them, the people of Jericho built part of the wall, and Zaccur son of Imri built next to them.

³The sons of Hassenaah rebuilt the Fish Gate, laying its boards and setting its doors, bolts, and bars in place. ⁴Meremoth son of Uriah, the son of Hakkoz, made repairs next to them. Meshullam son of Berekiah, the son of Meshezabel, made repairs next to Meremoth. And Zadok son of Baana made repairs next to Meshullam. ⁵The people from Tekoa made repairs next to them, but the leading men of Tekoa would not work under their supervisors.

⁶Joiada son of Paseah and Meshullam son of Besodeiah repaired the Old Gate. They laid its boards and set its doors, bolts, and bars in place. ⁷Next to them, Melatiah from Gibeon, other men from Gibeon and Mizpah, and Jadon from Meronoth made repairs. These places were ruled by the governor of Trans-Euphrates. ⁸Next to them, Uzziel son of Harhaiah, a goldsmith, made repairs. And next to him, Hananiah, a perfume maker, made repairs. These men rebuilt Jerusalem as far as the Broad Wall. ⁹The next part of the wall was repaired by Rephaiah son of Hur, the ruler of half of the district of Jerusalem. ¹⁰Next to him, Jedaiah son of Harumaph made repairs opposite his own house. And next to him, Hattush son of Hashabneiah made repairs. ¹¹Malkijah son of Harim and Hasshub son of Pahath-Moab repaired another part of the wall and the Tower of the Ovens. ¹²Next to them Shallum son of Hallohesh, the ruler of half of the district of Jerusalem, and his daughters made repairs.

¹³Hanun and the people of Zanoah repaired the Valley Gate, rebuilding it and setting its doors, bolts, and bars in place. They also repaired the five hundred yards of the wall to the Trash Gate.

¹⁴Malkijah son of Recab, the ruler of the district of Beth Hakkerem, repaired the Trash Gate. He rebuilt that gate and set its doors, bolts, and bars in place.

¹⁵Shallun son of Col-Hozeh, the ruler of the district of Mizpah, repaired the Fountain Gate. He rebuilt it, put a roof over it, and set its doors, bolts, and bars in place. He also repaired the wall of the Pool of Siloam next to the King’s Garden all the way to the steps that went down from the older part of the city. ¹⁶Next to Shallun was Nehemiah ⁿ son of Azbuk, the ruler of half of the district of Beth Zur. He made repairs opposite the tombs of David and as far as the man-made pool and the House of the Heroes.

¹⁷Next to him, the Levites made repairs, working under Rehum son of Bani. Next to him, Hashabiah, the ruler of half of the district of Keilah, for his district. ¹⁸Next to him, Binnui son of Henadad and his relatives made repairs. Binnui was the ruler of the other half of the district of Keilah. ¹⁹Next to them, Ezer son of Jeshua, the ruler of Mizpah, repaired another part of the wall. He worked across from the way up to the armory, as far as the bend. ²⁰Next to him, Baruch son of Zabbai worked hard on the wall that went from the bend to the entrance to the house of Eliashib, the high priest. ²¹Next to him, Meremoth son of Uriah, the son of Hakkoz, repaired the wall that went from the entrance to Eliashib’s house to the far end of it.

²²Next to him worked the priests from the surrounding area. ²³Next to them, Benjamin and Hasshub made repairs in front of their own house. Next to them, Azariah son of Maaseiah, the son of Ananiah, made repairs beside his own house. ²⁴Next to him, Binnui son of Henadad repaired the wall that went from Azariah’s house to the bend and on to the corner. ²⁵Palal son of Uzai worked across from the bend and by the tower on the upper palace, which is near the courtyard of the king’s guard. Next to Palal, Pedaiah son of Parosh made repairs. ²⁶The Temple servants who lived on the hill of Ophel made repairs as far as a point opposite the Water Gate. They worked toward the east and the tower that extends from the palace. ²⁷Next to them, the people of Tekoa repaired the wall from the great tower that extends from the palace to the wall of Ophel.

²⁸The priests made repairs above the Horse Gate, each working in front of his own house. ²⁹Next to them, Zadok son of Immer made repairs across from his own house. Next to him, Shemaiah son of Shecaniah, the guard of the East Gate, made repairs. ³⁰Next to him, Hananiah son of Shelemiah, and Hanun, the sixth son of Zalaph, made repairs on another part of the wall. Next to them, Meshullam son of Berekiah made repairs across from where he lived. ³¹Next to him, Malkijah, one of the goldsmiths, made repairs. He worked as far as the house of the Temple servants and the traders, which is across from the Inspection Gate, and as far as the room above the corner of the wall. ³²The goldsmiths and the traders made repairs between the room above the corner of the wall and the Sheep Gate.

Those Against the Rebuilding

4When Sanballat heard we were rebuilding the wall, he was very angry, even furious. He made fun of the Jewish people. ²He said to his friends and those with power in Samaria, “What are these weak Jews doing? Will they rebuild the wall? Will they offer sacrifices? Can they finish it in one day? Can they bring stones back to life from piles of trash and ashes?”

³Tobiah the Ammonite, who was next to Sanballat, said, “If a fox climbed up on the stone wall they are building, it would break it down.”

⁴I prayed, “Hear us, our God. We are hated. Turn the insults of Sanballat and Tobiah back on their own heads. Let them be captured and stolen like valuables. ⁵Do not hide their guilt or take away their sins so that you can’t see them, because they have insulted the builders.”

⁶So we rebuilt the wall to half its height, because the people were willing to work.

⁷But Sanballat, Tobiah, the Arabs, the Ammonites, and the people from Ashdod were very angry when they heard that the repairs to Jerusalem’s walls were continuing and that the holes in the wall were being closed. ⁸So they all made plans to come to Jerusalem and fight and stir up trouble. ⁹But we prayed to our God and appointed guards to watch for them day and night.

¹⁰The people of Judah said, “The workers are getting tired. There is so much trash we cannot rebuild the wall.”

¹¹And our enemies said, “The Jews won’t know or see anything until we come among them and kill them and stop the work.”

¹²Then the Jewish people who lived near our enemies came and told us ten times, “Everywhere you turn, the enemy will attack us.” ¹³So I put people behind the lowest places along the wall—the open places—and I put families together with their swords, spears, and bows. ¹⁴Then I looked around and stood up and said to the important men, the leaders, and the rest of the people: “Don’t be afraid of them. Remember the Lord, who is great and powerful. Fight for your brothers, your sons and daughters, your wives, and your homes.”

¹⁵Then our enemies heard that we knew about their plans and that God had ruined their plans. So we all went back to the wall, each to his own work.

¹⁶From that day on, half my people worked on the wall. The other half was ready with spears, shields, bows, and armor. The officers stood in back of the people of Judah ¹⁷who were building the wall. Those who carried materials did their work with one hand and carried a weapon with the other. ¹⁸Each builder wore his sword at his side as he worked. The man who blew the trumpet to warn the people stayed next to me.

¹⁹Then I said to the important people, the leaders, and everyone else, “This is a very big job. We are spreading out along the wall so that we are far apart. ²⁰Wherever you hear the sound of the trumpet, assemble there. Our God will fight for us.”

²¹So we continued to work with half the men holding spears from sunrise till the stars came out. ²²At that time I also said to the people, “Let every man and his helper stay inside Jerusalem at night. They can be our guards at night and workmen during the day.” ²³Neither I, my brothers, my workers, nor the guards with me ever took off our clothes. Each person carried his weapon even when he went for water.