Nehemiah 3–4

Organization of the Work

³Then the high priest Eliashib set to work with his fellow priests and rebuilt the Sheep Gate. They consecrated it and set up its doors; they consecrated it as far as the Tower of the Hundred and as far as the Tower of Hananel.^{* 2}And the men of Jericho built next to him. And next to them^c Zaccur son of Imri built.^*

³The sons of Hassenaah built the Fish Gate; they laid its beams and set up its doors, its bolts, and its bars.^{* 4}Next to them Meremoth son of Uriah son of Hakkoz made repairs. Next to them Meshullam son of Berechiah son of Meshezabel made repairs. Next to them Zadok son of Baana made repairs. ⁵Next to them the Tekoites made repairs, but their nobles would not put their shoulders to the work of their Lord.^d

⁶Joiada son of Paseah and Meshullam son of Besodeiah repaired the Old Gate; they laid its beams and set up its doors, its bolts, and its bars.^{* 7}Next to them repairs were made by Melatiah the Gibeonite and Jadon the Meronothite—the men of Gibeon and of Mizpah—who were under the jurisdiction of^e the governor of the province Beyond the River.^{* 8}Next to them Uzziel son of Harhaiah, one of the goldsmiths, made repairs. Next to him Hananiah, one of the perfumers, made repairs, and they restored Jerusalem as far as the Broad Wall.^{* 9}Next to them Rephaiah son of Hur, ruler of half the district of^f Jerusalem, made repairs.^{* 10}Next to them Jedaiah son of Harumaph made repairs opposite his house, and next to him Hattush son of Hashabneiah made repairs. ¹¹Malchijah son of Harim and Hasshub son of Pahath-moab repaired another section and the Tower of the Ovens.^{* 12}Next to him Shallum son of Hallohesh, ruler of half the district of^g Jerusalem, made repairs, he and his daughters.^*

¹³Hanun and the inhabitants of Zanoah repaired the Valley Gate; they rebuilt it and set up its doors, its bolts, and its bars and repaired a thousand cubits of the wall, as far as the Dung Gate.^*

¹⁴Malchijah son of Rechab, ruler of the district of^h Beth-haccherem, repaired the Dung Gate; he rebuilt it and set up its doors, its bolts, and its bars.

¹⁵And Shallum son of Col-hozeh, ruler of the district ofⁱ Mizpah, repaired the Fountain Gate; he rebuilt it and covered it and set up its doors, its bolts, and its bars, and he built the wall of the Pool of Shelah of the King’s Garden, as far as the stairs that go down from the city of David.^{* 16}After him Nehemiah son of Azbuk, ruler of half the district of^j Beth-zur, repaired from a point opposite the graves of David, as far as the artificial pool and the House of the Warriors.^{* 17}After him the Levites made repairs: Rehum son of Bani; next to him Hashabiah, ruler of half the district of^k Keilah, made repairs for his district. ¹⁸After him their kin made repairs: Binnui,^l son of Henadad, ruler of half the district of^m Keilah; ¹⁹next to him Ezer son of Jeshua, rulerⁿ of Mizpah, repaired another section opposite the ascent to the armory at the Angle.^{* 20}After him Baruch son of Zabbai repaired another section from the Angle to the door of the house of the high priest Eliashib.^{* 21}After him Meremoth son of Uriah son of Hakkoz repaired another section from the door of the house of Eliashib to the end of the house of Eliashib. ²²After him the priests, the men of the surrounding area, made repairs.^{* 23}After them Benjamin and Hasshub made repairs opposite their house. After them Azariah son of Maaseiah son of Ananiah made repairs beside his own house. ²⁴After him Binnui son of Henadad repaired another section, from the house of Azariah to the Angle and to the corner.^{* 25}Palal son of Uzai repaired opposite the Angle and the tower projecting from the upper house of the king at the court of the guard. After him Pedaiah son of Parosh^{* 26}and the temple servants living^o on Ophel made repairs up to a point opposite the Water Gate on the east and the projecting tower.^{* 27}After him the Tekoites repaired another section opposite the great projecting tower as far as the wall of Ophel.

²⁸Above the Horse Gate the priests made repairs, each one opposite his own house.^{* 29}After them Zadok son of Immer made repairs opposite his own house. After him Shemaiah son of Shecaniah, the keeper of the East Gate, made repairs. ³⁰After him Hananiah son of Shelemiah and Hanun sixth son of Zalaph repaired another section. After him Meshullam son of Berechiah made repairs opposite his living quarters. ³¹After him Malchijah, one of the goldsmiths, made repairs as far as the house of the temple servants and of the merchants, opposite the Muster Gate,^p and to the upper room of the corner.^{* 32}And between the upper room of the corner and the Sheep Gate the goldsmiths and the merchants made repairs.^*

Hostile Plots Thwarted

^4qNow when Sanballat heard that we were building the wall, he was angry and greatly enraged, and he mocked the Jews.^{* 2}He said in the presence of his associates and of the army of Samaria, “What are these feeble Jews doing? Will they restore it by themselves?^r Will they offer sacrifice? Will they finish it in a day? Will they revive the stones out of the heaps of rubbish—burned ones at that?”^{* 3}Tobiah the Ammonite was beside him, and he said, “That stone wall they are building—any fox going up on it would break it down!”^{* 4}Hear, O our God, for we are despised; turn their taunt back on their own heads, and give them over as plunder in a land of captivity.^{* 5}Do not cover their guilt, and do not let their sin be blotted out from your sight, for they have raged against the builders.^s*

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

^7tBut when Sanballat and Tobiah and the Arabs and the Ammonites and the Ashdodites heard that the repairing of the walls of Jerusalem was going forward and the gaps were beginning to be closed, they were very angry^{* 8}and all plotted together to come and fight against Jerusalem and to cause confusion in it. ⁹So we prayed to our God and set a guard as a protection against them day and night.^*

¹⁰But Judah said, “The strength of the burden bearers is failing, and there is too much rubbish so that we are unable to work on the wall.” ¹¹And our enemies said, “They will not know or see anything before we come upon them and kill them and stop the work.” ¹²When the Jews who lived near them came, they said to us ten times, “From all the places where they live^u they will come up against us.”^{v 13}So in the lowest parts of the space behind the wall, in open places, I stationed the people according to their families,^w with their swords, their spears, and their bows.^{* 14}After I looked these things over, I stood up and said to the nobles and the officials and the rest of the people, “Do not be afraid of them. Remember the Lord, who is great and awesome, and fight for your kin, your sons, your daughters, your wives, and your households.”^*

¹⁵When our enemies heard that their plot was known to us and that God had frustrated it, we all returned to the wall, each to his work.^{* 16}From that day on, half of my servants worked on construction, and half held the spears, shields, bows, and body-armor, and the leaders posted themselves behind the whole house of Judah ¹⁷who were building the wall. The burden bearers carried their loads in such a way that each labored on the work with one hand and with the other held a weapon. ¹⁸And each of the builders had his sword strapped at his side while he built. The man who sounded the trumpet was beside me. ¹⁹And I said to the nobles, the officials, and the rest of the people, “The work is great and widely spread out, and we are separated far from one another on the wall. ²⁰Rally to us wherever you hear the sound of the trumpet. Our God will fight for us.”^*

²¹So we labored at the work, and half of them held the spears from break of dawn until the stars came out. ²²I also said to the people at that time, “Let every man and his servant pass the night inside Jerusalem, so that they may be a guard for us by night and may labor by day.” ²³So neither I nor my brothers nor my servants nor the men of the guard who followed me ever took off our clothes; each kept his weapon in his right hand.^x