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.

Nehemiah Helps Poor People

5The men and their wives complained loudly against their fellow Jews. ²Some of them were saying, “We have many sons and daughters in our families. To eat and stay alive, we need grain.”

³Others were saying, “We are borrowing money against our fields, vineyards, and homes to get grain because there is not much food.”

⁴And still others were saying, “We are borrowing money to pay the king’s tax on our fields and vineyards. ⁵We are just like our fellow Jews, and our sons are like their sons. But we have to sell our sons and daughters as slaves. Some of our daughters have already been sold. But there is nothing we can do, because our fields and vineyards already belong to other people.”

⁶When I heard their complaints about these things, I was very angry. ⁷After I thought about it, I accused the important people and the leaders, “You are charging your own brothers too much interest.” So I called a large meeting to deal with them. ⁸I said to them, “As much as possible, we have bought freedom for our fellow Jews who had been sold to foreigners. Now you are selling your fellow Jews to us!” The leaders were quiet and had nothing to say.

⁹Then I said, “What you are doing is not right. Don’t you fear God? Don’t let our foreign enemies shame us. ¹⁰I, my brothers, and my men are also lending money and grain to the people. But stop charging them so much for this. ¹¹Give back their fields, vineyards, olive trees, and houses right now. Also give back the extra amount you charged—the hundredth part of the money, grain, new wine, and oil.”

¹²They said, “We will give it back and not demand anything more from them. We will do as you say.”

Then I called for the priests, and I made the important people and leaders take an oath to do what they had said. ¹³Also I shook out the folds of my robe and said, “In this way may God shake out everyone who does not keep his promise. May God shake him out of his house and out of the things that are his. Let that person be shaken out and emptied!”

Then the whole group said, “Amen,” and they praised the Lord. So the people did what they had promised.

¹⁴I was appointed governor in the land of Judah in the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes’ rule. I was governor of Judah for twelve years, until his thirty-second year. During that time neither my brothers nor I ate the food that was allowed for a governor. ¹⁵But the governors before me had placed a heavy load on the people. They took about one pound of silver from each person, along with food and wine. The governors’ helpers before me also controlled the people, but I did not do that, because I feared God. ¹⁶I worked on the wall, as did all my men who were gathered there. We did not buy any fields.

¹⁷Also, I fed one hundred fifty Jewish people and officers at my table, as well as those who came from the nations around us. ¹⁸This is what was prepared every day: one ox, six good sheep, and birds. And every ten days there were all kinds of wine. But I never demanded the food that was due a governor, because the people were already working very hard.

¹⁹Remember to be kind to me, my God, for all the good I have done for these people.

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