Nehemiah 3–4

Rebuilding the Wall

3Then ^aEliashib the high priest rose up with his brethren the priests ^band built the Sheep Gate; they consecrated it and hung its doors. They built ^cas far as the Tower of ¹the Hundred, and consecrated it, then as far as the Tower of ^dHananel. ²²Next to Eliashib ^ethe men of Jericho built. And next to them Zaccur the son of Imri built.

³Also the sons of Hassenaah built ^fthe Fish Gate; they laid its beams and ^ghung its doors with its bolts and bars. ⁴And next to them ^hMeremoth the son of Urijah, the son of ³Koz, made repairs. Next to them ⁱMeshullam the son of Berechiah, the son of Meshezabel, made repairs. Next to them Zadok the son of Baana made repairs. ⁵Next to them the Tekoites made repairs; but their nobles did not put their ⁴shoulders to ^jthe work of their Lord.

⁶Moreover Jehoiada the son of Paseah and Meshullam the son of Besodeiah repaired ^kthe Old Gate; they laid its beams and hung its doors, with its bolts and bars. ⁷And next to them Melatiah the Gibeonite, Jadon the Meronothite, the ^lmen of Gibeon and Mizpah, repaired the ^mresidence ⁵of the governor of the region ⁶beyond the River. ⁸Next to him Uzziel the son of Harhaiah, one of the goldsmiths, made repairs. Also next to him Hananiah, ⁷one of the perfumers, made repairs; and they ⁸fortified Jerusalem as far as the ⁿBroad Wall. ⁹And next to them Rephaiah the son of Hur, leader of half the district of Jerusalem, made repairs. ¹⁰Next to them Jedaiah the son of Harumaph made repairs in front of his house. And next to him Hattush the son of Hashabniah made repairs.

¹¹Malchijah the son of Harim and Hashub the son of Pahath-Moab repaired another section, ^oas well as the Tower of the Ovens. ¹²And next to him was Shallum the son of Hallohesh, leader of half the district of Jerusalem; he and his daughters made repairs.

¹³Hanun and the inhabitants of Zanoah repaired ^pthe Valley Gate. They built it, hung its doors with its bolts and bars, and repaired a thousand cubits of the wall as far as ^qthe Refuse Gate.

¹⁴Malchijah the son of Rechab, leader of the district of ^rBeth Haccerem, repaired the Refuse Gate; he built it and hung its doors with its bolts and bars.

¹⁵Shallun the son of Col-Hozeh, leader of the district of Mizpah, repaired ^sthe Fountain Gate; he built it, covered it, hung its doors with its bolts and bars, and repaired the wall of the Pool of ^tShelah ⁹by the ^uKing’s Garden, as far as the stairs that go down from the City of David. ¹⁶After him Nehemiah the son of Azbuk, leader of half the district of Beth Zur, made repairs as far as the place in front of the ¹tombs of David, to the ^vman-made pool, and as far as the House of the Mighty.

¹⁷After him the Levites, under Rehum the son of Bani, made repairs. Next to him Hashabiah, leader of half the district of Keilah, made repairs for his district. ¹⁸After him their brethren, under ²Bavai the son of Henadad, leader of the other half of the district of Keilah, made repairs. ¹⁹And next to him Ezer the son of Jeshua, the leader of Mizpah, repaired another section in front of the Ascent to the Armory at the ^wbuttress. ³²⁰After him Baruch the son of ⁴Zabbai carefully repaired the other section, from the ⁵buttress to the door of the house of Eliashib the high priest. ²¹After him Meremoth the son of Urijah, the son of ⁶Koz, repaired another section, from the door of the house of Eliashib to the end of the house of Eliashib.

²²And after him the priests, the men of the plain, made repairs. ²³After him Benjamin and Hasshub made repairs opposite their house. After them Azariah the son of Maaseiah, the son of Ananiah, made repairs by his house. ²⁴After him ^xBinnui the son of Henadad repaired another section, from the house of Azariah to ^ythe ⁷buttress, even as far as the corner. ²⁵Palal the son of Uzai made repairs opposite the ⁸buttress, and on the tower which projects from the king’s upper house that was by the ^zcourt of the prison. After him Pedaiah the son of Parosh made repairs.

²⁶Moreover ^athe Nethinim who dwelt in ^bOphel made repairs as far as the place in front of ^cthe Water Gate toward the east, and on the projecting tower. ²⁷After them the Tekoites repaired another section, next to the great projecting tower, and as far as the wall of Ophel.

²⁸Beyond the ^dHorse Gate the priests made repairs, each in front of his own house. ²⁹After them Zadok the son of Immer made repairs in front of his own house. After him Shemaiah the son of Shechaniah, the keeper of the East Gate, made repairs. ³⁰After him Hananiah the son of Shelemiah, and Hanun, the sixth son of Zalaph, repaired another section. After him Meshullam the son of Berechiah made repairs in front of his ⁹dwelling. ³¹After him Malchijah, ¹one of the goldsmiths, made repairs as far as the house of the Nethinim and of the merchants, in front of the ²Miphkad Gate, and as far as the upper room at the corner. ³²And between the upper room at the corner, as far as the ^eSheep Gate, the goldsmiths and the merchants made repairs.

The Wall Defended Against Enemies

4But it so happened, ^awhen Sanballat heard that we were rebuilding the wall, that he was furious and very indignant, and mocked the Jews. ²And he spoke before his brethren and the army of Samaria, and said, “What are these feeble Jews doing? Will they fortify themselves? Will they offer sacrifices? Will they complete it in a day? Will they revive the stones from the heaps of rubbish—stones that are burned?”

³Now ^bTobiah the Ammonite was beside him, and he said, “Whatever they build, if even a fox goes up on it, he will break down their stone wall.”

^4cHear, O our God, for we are despised; ^dturn their reproach on their own heads, and give them as plunder to a land of captivity! ^5eDo not cover their iniquity, and do not let their sin be blotted out from before You; for they have provoked You to anger before the builders.

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

⁷Now it happened, ^fwhen Sanballat, Tobiah, ^gthe Arabs, the Ammonites, and the Ashdodites heard that the walls of Jerusalem were being restored and the ¹gaps were beginning to be closed, that they became very angry, ⁸and all of them ^hconspired together to come and attack Jerusalem and create confusion. ⁹Nevertheless ⁱwe made our prayer to our God, and because of them we set a watch against them day and night.

¹⁰Then Judah said, “The strength of the laborers is failing, and there is so much rubbish that we are not able to build the wall.”

¹¹And our adversaries said, “They will neither know nor see anything, till we come into their midst and kill them and cause the work to cease.”

¹²So it was, when the Jews who dwelt near them came, that they told us ten times, “From whatever place you turn, they will be upon us.”

¹³Therefore I positioned men behind the lower parts of the wall, at the openings; and I set the people according to their families, with their swords, their spears, and their bows. ¹⁴And I looked, and arose and said to the nobles, to the leaders, and to the rest of the people, ^j“Do not be afraid of them. Remember the Lord, ^kgreat and awesome, and ^lfight for your brethren, your sons, your daughters, your wives, and your houses.”

¹⁵And it happened, when our enemies heard that it was known to us, and ^mthat God had brought their plot to nothing, that all of us returned to the wall, everyone to his work. ¹⁶So it was, from that time on, that half of my servants worked at construction, while the other half held the spears, the shields, the bows, and wore armor; and the leaders ²were behind all the house of Judah. ¹⁷Those who built on the wall, and those who carried burdens, loaded themselves so that with one hand they worked at construction, and with the other held a weapon. ¹⁸Every one of the builders had his sword girded at his side as he built. And the one who sounded the trumpet was beside me.

¹⁹Then I said to the nobles, the rulers, and the rest of the people, “The work is great and extensive, and we are separated far from one another on the wall. ²⁰Wherever you hear the sound of the trumpet, rally to us there. ⁿOur God will fight for us.”

²¹So we labored in the work, and half of ³the men held the spears from daybreak until the stars appeared. ²²At the same time I also said to the people, “Let each man and his servant stay at night in Jerusalem, that they may be our guard by night and a working party by day.” ²³So neither I, my brethren, my servants, nor the men of the guard who followed me took off our clothes, except that everyone took them off for washing.