Nehemiah 3–4

Chapter 3

¹Then Eliashib the high priest rose up with his brethren the priests and they built the Sheep Gate. They consecrated it and set its doors; they consecrated it as far as the Tower of the Hundred, as far as the Tower of Hananel. ²And next to him the men of Jericho built. And next to them^a Zaccur the son of Imri built.

³And the sons of Hassenaah built the Fish Gate; they laid its beams and set its doors, its bolts, and its bars. ⁴And next to them Meremoth the son of Uriah, son of Hakkoz repaired. And next to them Meshullam the son of Berechiah, son of Meshezabel repaired. And next to them Zadok the son of Baana repaired. ⁵And next to them the Tekoites repaired; but their nobles did not put their necks to the work of their Lord.^b

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

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

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

¹⁵And Shallum the son of Colhozeh, ruler of the district of^d Mizpah, repaired the Fountain Gate; he rebuilt it and covered it and set 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. ¹⁶After him Nehemiah the son of Azbuk, ruler of half the district of^d Beth-zur, repaired to a point opposite the sepulchres of David, to the artificial pool, and to the house of the mighty men. ¹⁷After him the Levites repaired: Rehum the son of Bani; next to him Hashabiah, ruler of half the district of^d Keilah, repaired for his district. ¹⁸After him their brethren repaired: Bavvai the son of Henadad, ruler of half the district of^d Keilah; ¹⁹next to him Ezer the son of Jeshua, ruler of Mizpah, repaired another section opposite the ascent to the armory at the Angle. ²⁰After him Baruch the son of Zabbai repaired another section from the Angle to the door of the house of Eliashib the high priest. ²¹After him Meremoth the 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 Plain, repaired. ²³After them Benjamin and Hasshub repaired opposite their house. After them Azariah the son of Ma-aseiah, son of Ananiah repaired beside his own house. ²⁴After him Binnui the son of Henadad repaired another section, from the house of Azariah to the Angle ²⁵and to the corner. Palal the 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 the son of Parosh ²⁶and the temple servants living^e on Ophel repaired to a point opposite the Water Gate on the east and the projecting tower. ²⁷After him the Tekoites repaired another section opposite the great projecting tower as far as the wall of Ophel.

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

Chapter 4

¹Now when Sanballat heard that we were building the wall, he was angry and greatly enraged, and he ridiculed the Jews. ²And he said in the presence of his brethren and of the army of Samaria, “What are these feeble Jews doing? Will they restore things? Will they sacrifice? Will they finish up in a day? Will they revive the stones out of the heaps of rubbish, and burned ones at that?” ³Tobiah the Ammonite was by him, and he said, “Yes, what they are building—if a fox goes up on it he will break down their stone wall! ⁴Hear, O our God, for we are despised; turn back their taunt upon their own heads, and give them up to be plundered in a land where they are captives. ⁵Do not cover their guilt, and let not their sin be blotted out from thy sight; for they have provoked thee to anger before the builders.

⁶So we built the wall; and all the wall was joined together to half its height. For the people had a mind to work.

⁷But 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 that the breaches were beginning to be closed, they were very angry; ⁸and they all plotted together to come and fight against Jerusalem and to cause confusion in it. ⁹And 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 much rubbish; we are not able to work on the wall.” ¹¹And our enemies said, “They will not know or see till we come into the midst of them and kill them and stop the work.” ¹²When the Jews who lived by them came they said to us ten times, “From all the places where they liveⁱ they will come up against us.”^{j 13}So in the lowest parts of the space behind the wall, in open places, I stationed the people according to their families, with their swords, their spears, and their bows. ¹⁴And I looked, and arose, and said to the nobles and to the officials and to the rest of the people, “Do not be afraid of them. Remember the Lord, who is great and terrible, and fight for your brethren, your sons, your daughters, your wives, and your homes.”

¹⁵When our enemies heard that it was known to us and that God had frustrated their plan, we all returned to the wall, each to his work. ¹⁶From that day on, half of my servants worked on construction, and half held the spears, shields, bows, and coats of mail; and the leaders stood behind all the house of Judah, ¹⁷who were building on the wall. Those who carried burdens were laden in such a way that each with one hand labored on the work and with the other held his weapon. ¹⁸And each of the builders had his sword girded at his side while he built. The man who sounded the trumpet was beside me. ¹⁹And I said to the nobles and to the officials and to the rest of the people, “The work is great and widely spread, and we are separated on the wall, far from one another. ²⁰In the place where you hear the sound of the trumpet, rally to us there. Our God will fight for us.”

²¹So we labored at the work, and half of them held the spears from the break of dawn till the stars came out. ²²I also said to the people at that time, “Let every man and his servant pass the night within Jerusalem, that they may be a guard for us by night and may labor by day.” ²³So neither I nor my brethren nor my servants nor the men of the guard who followed me, none of us took off our clothes; each kept his weapon in his hand.^k