Nehemiah 04 The Enemies Want to Delay the Building of the Wall

 Nehemiah 04

The Enemies Want to Delay the Building of the Wall

1 Now it came to pass, when Sanballat heard that we were building the wall, that he was very angry and greatly displeased, and he mocked the Jews.

2 And he spake in the presence of his brethren, and of the army of Samaria, and said, What are these feeble Jews doing? Will they be permitted to do this? Will they sacrifice? Will they finish it in one day? Will they revive the stones that were burned out of the heaps of dust?

3 And Tobiah the Ammonite stood by them, and said, Even if they build, even a fox will easily break down their stone wall.

4 Hear, O our God, that we are despised, and shut up their reproach upon their heads, and make them a plunder in a land of captivity.

5 Do not cover their iniquity, and do not let their sin be blotted out from before you, because they provoked you to anger in the sight of the builders. 

6 So we built the wall, and the whole wall was joined together up to half its length, for the people were eager to work. 

7 When Sanballat and Tobiah, the Arabians, the Ammonites, and the Ashdodites heard that the repairs to the walls of Jerusalem were being made up so much that the breaches were beginning to be stopped, they were very angry. 

8 They all plotted to come and fight against Jerusalem and to divert them from their purpose. 

9 But we prayed to our God and set a guard against them day and night because of them. 

10 Then Judah said, "The strength of the charioteers has failed, and the dust is too much for us to build the wall." 

11 But our enemies said, "They will not know or see this until we enter among them and kill them; then we will stop the work." 

12 And it came to pass, when the Jews who lived among them came, that they told us ten times, and in all places, that they would return to us. 

13 So I set guards in the low places behind the wall and on the high places, and I stationed the people by their families with their swords, with their spears, and with their bows. 

14 Then I looked, and arose, and said to the nobles, and to the rulers, and to 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 children, your wives, and your houses." 

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

16 From that day on, half of my servants worked on the work, and half of them held the spears, shields, bows, and armor. The leaders were behind the whole house of Judah. ​​

17 Those who built the wall, and those who carried the burdens, and those who carried them, each one worked with one hand and held the weapons in the other. 

18 The builders each had a sword girded on their waists and were building. The one who blew the trumpet was by me. 

19 I said to the nobles, the rulers, and the rest of the people, “The work is great and extensive, and we are separated from the wall, far from each other.”

 20 Wherever you hear the sound of the trumpet, gather yourselves together with us. Our God will fight for us.

21 So we worked on the project, and half of them held spears from the rising of the morning until the rising of the stars.

22 At that time I said to the people, “Let each man and his servant remain in Jerusalem, so that they may be our guard by night and on the project by day.”

23 Neither I nor my brothers nor my servants nor the men of the guard who followed me would put off our clothes; each man went with his weapons to the water.