Nehemiah 3–4

Builders of the Wall

3Eliashib^x the high priest and his fellow priests went to work and rebuilt^y the Sheep Gate.^z They dedicated it and set its doors in place, building as far as the Tower of the Hundred, which they dedicated, and as far as the Tower of Hananel.^{a 2}The men of Jericho^b built the adjoining section, and Zakkur son of Imri built next to them.

³The Fish Gate^c was rebuilt by the sons of Hassenaah. They laid its beams and put its doors and bolts and bars in place. ⁴Meremoth^d son of Uriah, the son of Hakkoz, repaired the next section. Next to him Meshullam son of Berekiah, the son of Meshezabel, made repairs, and next to him Zadok son of Baana also made repairs. ⁵The next section was repaired by the men of Tekoa,^e but their nobles would not put their shoulders to the work under their supervisors.^a

⁶The Jeshanah^b Gate^f was repaired by Joiada son of Paseah and Meshullam son of Besodeiah. They laid its beams and put its doors with their bolts and bars in place. ⁷Next to them, repairs were made by men from Gibeon^g and Mizpah—Melatiah of Gibeon and Jadon of Meronoth—places under the authority of the governor of Trans-Euphrates. ⁸Uzziel son of Harhaiah, one of the goldsmiths, repaired the next section; and Hananiah, one of the perfume-makers, made repairs next to that. They restored Jerusalem as far as the Broad Wall.^{h 9}Rephaiah son of Hur, ruler of a half-district of Jerusalem, repaired the next section. ¹⁰Adjoining this, Jedaiah son of Harumaph made repairs opposite his house, and Hattush son of Hashabneiah made repairs next to him. ¹¹Malkijah son of Harim and Hasshub son of Pahath-Moab repaired another section and the Tower of the Ovens.^{i 12}Shallum son of Hallohesh, ruler of a half-district of Jerusalem, repaired the next section with the help of his daughters.

¹³The Valley Gate^j was repaired by Hanun and the residents of Zanoah.^k They rebuilt it and put its doors with their bolts and bars in place. They also repaired a thousand cubits^c of the wall as far as the Dung Gate.^l

¹⁴The Dung Gate was repaired by Malkijah son of Rekab, ruler of the district of Beth Hakkerem.^m He rebuilt it and put its doors with their bolts and bars in place.

¹⁵The Fountain Gate was repaired by Shallun son of Kol-Hozeh, ruler of the district of Mizpah. He rebuilt it, roofing it over and putting its doors and bolts and bars in place. He also repaired the wall of the Pool of Siloam,^dn by the King’s Garden, as far as the steps going down from the City of David. ¹⁶Beyond him, Nehemiah son of Azbuk, ruler of a half-district of Beth Zur,^o made repairs up to a point opposite the tombs^ep of David, as far as the artificial pool and the House of the Heroes.

¹⁷Next to him, the repairs were made by the Levites under Rehum son of Bani. Beside him, Hashabiah, ruler of half the district of Keilah,^q carried out repairs for his district. ¹⁸Next to him, the repairs were made by their fellow Levites under Binnui^f son of Henadad, ruler of the other half-district of Keilah. ¹⁹Next to him, Ezer son of Jeshua, ruler of Mizpah, repaired another section, from a point facing the ascent to the armory as far as the angle of the wall. ²⁰Next to him, Baruch son of Zabbai zealously repaired another section, from the angle to the entrance of the house of Eliashib the high priest. ²¹Next to him, Meremoth^r son of Uriah, the son of Hakkoz, repaired another section, from the entrance of Eliashib’s house to the end of it.

²²The repairs next to him were made by the priests from the surrounding region. ²³Beyond them, Benjamin and Hasshub made repairs in front of their house; and next to them, Azariah son of Maaseiah, the son of Ananiah, made repairs beside his house. ²⁴Next to him, Binnui^s son of Henadad repaired another section, from Azariah’s house to the angle and the corner, ²⁵and Palal son of Uzai worked opposite the angle and the tower projecting from the upper palace near the court of the guard.^t Next to him, Pedaiah son of Parosh^{u 26}and the temple servants^v living on the hill of Ophel^w made repairs up to a point opposite the Water Gate^x toward the east and the projecting tower. ²⁷Next to them, the men of Tekoa^y repaired another section, from the great projecting tower^z to the wall of Ophel.

²⁸Above the Horse Gate,^a the priests made repairs, each in front of his own house. ²⁹Next to them, Zadok son of Immer made repairs opposite his house. Next to him, Shemaiah son of Shekaniah, the guard at the East Gate, made repairs. ³⁰Next to him, Hananiah son of Shelemiah, and Hanun, the sixth son of Zalaph, repaired another section. Next to them, Meshullam son of Berekiah made repairs opposite his living quarters. ³¹Next to him, Malkijah, one of the goldsmiths, made repairs as far as the house of the temple servants and the merchants, opposite the Inspection Gate, and as far as the room above the corner; ³²and between the room above the corner and the Sheep Gate^b the goldsmiths and merchants made repairs.

Opposition to the Rebuilding

4^aWhen Sanballat^c heard that we were rebuilding the wall, he became angry and was greatly incensed. He ridiculed the Jews, ²and in the presence of his associates^d and the army of Samaria, he said, “What are those feeble Jews doing? Will they restore their wall? Will they offer sacrifices? Will they finish in a day? Can they bring the stones back to life from those heaps of rubble^e—burned as they are?”

³Tobiah^f the Ammonite, who was at his side, said, “What they are building—even a fox climbing up on it would break down their wall of stones!”^g

⁴Hear us, our God, for we are despised.^h Turn their insults back on their own heads. Give them over as plunder in a land of captivity. ⁵Do not cover up their guiltⁱ or blot out their sins from your sight,^j for they have thrown insults in the face of^b the builders.

⁶So we rebuilt the wall till all of it reached half its height, for the people worked with all their heart.

⁷But when Sanballat, Tobiah,^k the Arabs, the Ammonites and the people of Ashdod heard that the repairs to Jerusalem’s walls had gone ahead and that the gaps were being closed, they were very angry. ⁸They all plotted together^l to come and fight against Jerusalem and stir up trouble against it. ⁹But we prayed to our God and posted a guard day and night to meet this threat.

¹⁰Meanwhile, the people in Judah said, “The strength of the laborers^m is giving out, and there is so much rubble that we cannot rebuild the wall.”

¹¹Also our enemies said, “Before they know it or see us, we will be right there among them and will kill them and put an end to the work.”

¹²Then the Jews who lived near them came and told us ten times over, “Wherever you turn, they will attack us.”

¹³Therefore I stationed some of the people behind the lowest points of the wall at the exposed places, posting them by families, with their swords, spears and bows. ¹⁴After I looked things over, I stood up and said to the nobles, the officials and the rest of the people, “Don’t be afraidⁿ of them. Remember^o the Lord, who is great and awesome,^p and fight^q for your families, your sons and your daughters, your wives and your homes.”

¹⁵When our enemies heard that we were aware of their plot and that God had frustrated it,^r we all returned to the wall, each to our own work.

¹⁶From that day on, half of my men did the work, while the other half were equipped with spears, shields, bows and armor. The officers posted themselves behind all the people of Judah ¹⁷who were building the wall. Those who carried materials did their work with one hand and held a weapon^s in the other, ¹⁸and each of the builders wore his sword at his side as he worked. But the man who sounded the trumpet^t stayed with me.

¹⁹Then I said to the nobles, the officials and the rest of the people, “The work is extensive and spread out, and we are widely separated from each other along the wall. ²⁰Wherever you hear the sound of the trumpet,^u join us there. Our God will fight^v for us!”

²¹So we continued the work with half the men holding spears, from the first light of dawn till the stars came out. ²²At that time I also said to the people, “Have every man and his helper stay inside Jerusalem at night, so they can serve us as guards by night and as workers by day.” ²³Neither I nor my brothers nor my men nor the guards with me took off our clothes; each had his weapon, even when he went for water.^c