Nehemiah 4–5

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.

Nehemiah Deals with Oppression

5And there was a great ^aoutcry of the people and their wives against their ^bJewish brethren. ²For there were those who said, “We, our sons, and our daughters are many; therefore let us get grain, that we may eat and live.”

³There were also some who said, “We have mortgaged our lands and vineyards and houses, that we might buy grain because of the famine.”

⁴There were also those who said, “We have borrowed money for the king’s tax on our lands and vineyards. ⁵Yet now ^cour flesh is as the flesh of our brethren, our children as their children; and indeed we ^dare forcing our sons and our daughters to be slaves, and some of our daughters have been brought into slavery. It is not in our power to redeem them, for other men have our lands and vineyards.”

⁶And I became very angry when I heard their outcry and these words. ⁷After serious thought, I rebuked the nobles and rulers, and said to them, ^e“Each of you is ¹exacting usury from his brother.” So I ²called a great assembly against them. ⁸And I said to them, “According to our ability we have ^fredeemed our Jewish brethren who were sold to the nations. Now indeed, will you even sell your brethren? Or should they be sold to us?”

Then they were silenced and found nothing to say. ⁹Then I said, “What you are doing is not good. Should you not walk ^gin the fear of our God ^hbecause of the reproach of the nations, our enemies? ¹⁰I also, with my brethren and my servants, am lending them money and grain. Please, let us stop this ³usury! ¹¹Restore now to them, even this day, their lands, their vineyards, their olive groves, and their houses, also a hundredth of the money and the grain, the new wine and the oil, that you have charged them.”

¹²So they said, “We will restore it, and will require nothing from them; we will do as you say.”

Then I called the priests, ⁱand required an oath from them that they would do according to this promise. ¹³Then ^jI shook out ⁴the fold of my garment and said, “So may God shake out each man from his house, and from his property, who does not perform this promise. Even thus may he be shaken out and emptied.”

And all the assembly said, “Amen!” and praised the Lord. ^kThen the people did according to this promise.

The Generosity of Nehemiah

¹⁴Moreover, from the time that I was appointed to be their governor in the land of Judah, from the twentieth year ^luntil the thirty-second year of King Artaxerxes, twelve years, neither I nor my brothers ^mate the governor’s provisions. ¹⁵But the former governors who were before me laid burdens on the people, and took from them bread and wine, besides forty shekels of silver. Yes, even their servants bore rule over the people, but ⁿI did not do so, because of the ^ofear of God. ¹⁶Indeed, I also continued the ^pwork on this wall, and ⁵we did not buy any land. All my servants were gathered there for the work.

¹⁷And ^qat my table were one hundred and fifty Jews and rulers, besides those who came to us from the nations around us. ¹⁸Now that ^rwhich was prepared daily was one ox and six choice sheep. Also fowl were prepared for me, and once every ten days an abundance of all kinds of wine. Yet in spite of this ^sI did not demand the governor’s provisions, because the bondage was heavy on this people.

^19tRemember me, my God, for good, according to all that I have done for this people.