Nehemiah

When Sanballat and Tobiah, and the Arabs, the Ammonites, and the Ashdodites heard that healing had come to the walls of Jerusalem, that the breached parts had begun to be filled, it angered them very much,

and they all conspired together to come and fight against Jerusalem and to throw it into confusion.

Because of them we prayed to our God, and set up a watch over the workersathe workers On the walls; Heb. “them.” day and night.

Judah was saying,“The strength of the basket-carrier has failed,And there is so much rubble;We are not able ourselvesTo rebuild the wall.”

And our foes were saying, “Before they know or see it, we shall be in among them and kill them, and put a stop to the work.”

When the Jews living near those foesbthose foes Heb. “them.” would arrive, they would tell us time and againctime and again Lit. “ten times.” [about some plot they had learned of; and we would say to them,] “From all the places where [you get such information] you shall come back to us [and convey it].”d[about some plot … convey it] Heb. seems to be abbreviated; a possible restoration of the sentence has been provided.

I stationed, on the lower levels of the place, behind the walls, on the bare rock—I stationed the people by families with their swords, their lances, and their bows.

Then I decided to exhort the nobles, the prefects, and the rest of the people, “Do not be afraid of them! Think of the great and awesome Sovereign, and fight for your brothers, your sons and daughters, your wives and homes!”

When our enemies learned that it had become known to us, since God had thus frustrated their plan, we could all return to the wall, each to his work.

From that day on, half my servants did work and half held lances and shields, bows and armor. And the officers stood behind the whole house of Judah

who were rebuilding the wall. The basket-carriers were burdened, doing work with one hand while the other held a weapon.

As for the builders, each had his sword girded at his side as he was building. The trumpeter stood beside me.

I said to the nobles, the prefects, and the rest of the people, “There is much work and it is spread out; we are scattered over the wall, far from one another.

When you hear a trumpet call, gather yourselves to me at that place; our God will fight for us!”

And so we worked on, while half were holding lances, from the break of day until the stars appeared.

I further said to the peopleethe people I.e., the householders, who act on the people’s behalf. at that time, “Let each of you lodge in Jerusalem with your servant, so that we can use the night to stand guard and the day to work.”

Nor did I, my brothers, my servants, or the guards following me ever take off our clothes, [or] each his weapon, even at the water.f[or] each his weapon, even at the water Meaning of Heb. uncertain.