Nehemiah 4

¹ When Sanballat heard that we were rebuilding the wall, he became furious and very angry. He mocked the Jews

² and said in the presence of his brothers and the army of Samaria, "What are these feeble Jews doing? Will they restore it for themselves? Will they sacrifice? Will they finish in a day? Will they revive the stones from the heaps of rubble—burned as they are?"

³ Tobiah the Ammonite, who was beside him, said, "Even what they are building—if a fox climbed up on it, he would break down their stone wall!"

⁴ Hear, our God, for we are despised. Turn their reproach back on their own heads. 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 before you, for they have provoked you to anger before the builders.

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

⁷ But when Sanballat, Tobiah, the Arabs, the Ammonites, and the Ashdodites heard that the repair of the walls of Jerusalem was going forward and that the gaps were beginning to be closed, they became very angry.

⁸ They all conspired together to come and fight against Jerusalem and to create confusion.

⁹ But we prayed to our God and posted a guard against them day and night.

¹⁰ Meanwhile, the people of Judah said, "The strength of the laborers is failing, and there is so much rubble that we cannot rebuild the wall."

¹¹ And our enemies said, "Before they know it or see us, we will be right among them and will kill them and put a stop to the work."

¹² When the Jews who lived near them came, they told us ten times over, "From every direction they will come against us."

¹³ So I stationed people behind the lowest sections of the wall, at the exposed places. I positioned them by families with their swords, spears, and bows.

¹⁴ After I looked things over, I stood up and said to the nobles, 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 brothers, your sons, your daughters, your wives, and your homes."

¹⁵ When our enemies heard that we knew their plan and that God had frustrated it, we all returned to the wall, each to his own work.

¹⁶ From that day on, half of my servants worked on construction and half held spears, shields, bows, and armor. The officers stood behind all the people of Judah

¹⁷ who were building the wall. Those who carried materials worked with one hand and held a weapon with the other.

¹⁸ Each of the builders wore his sword at his side as he worked. The man who sounded the trumpet stayed beside me.

¹⁹ I said to the nobles, the officials, and the rest of the people, "The work is extensive and spread out, and we are separated from one another along the wall.

²⁰ Wherever you hear the sound of the trumpet, rally to us there. Our God will fight for us."

²¹ So we continued the work, with half of them holding spears from the first light of dawn until the stars came out.

²² At that time I also said to the people, "Let every man and his servant spend the night inside Jerusalem, so that they can serve as guards for us by night and workers by day."

²³ Neither I nor my brothers nor my servants nor the men of the guard who followed me—none of us took off our clothes. Each kept his weapon at his right hand.