Nehemiah 4

When Sanballat heard that we were rebuilding the wall, he was furious and full of anger, and he made fun of the Jews.

1But it came to pass, that when Sanballat heard that we builded the wall, he was wroth, and took great indignation, and mocked the Jews.

NoteSanballat was the leading official of Samaria, the province just north of Judah, and had authority he stood to lose if Jerusalem became a walled city again. The wall in question had been broken down when Babylon destroyed Jerusalem about 140 years earlier; until it was rebuilt the city had no defenses and no standing as a real city. In Hebrew Bibles these opening verses are numbered as the end of chapter 3, so verse numbers here run six ahead of some other editions.

2In front of his associates and the army of Samaria he said, "What are these weak Jews doing? Will they rebuild the wall by themselves? Will they offer sacrifices? Will they finish it in one day? Can they bring these stones back to life out of the piles of rubble, burned as they are?"

2And he spake before his brethren and the army of Samaria, and said, What do these feeble Jews? will they fortify themselves? will they sacrifice? will they make an end in a day? will they revive the stones out of the heaps of the rubbish which are burned?

Note"His associates" translates a word meaning his fellow officials or kinsmen; the army of Samaria was the provincial garrison he could call on. "Will they offer sacrifices?" is a jeer at the idea that religious ceremony could substitute for engineering. The stones are "burned" because limestone scorched in the fire that destroyed the city crumbles and flakes, and was widely considered useless for building.

3Tobiah the Ammonite was standing beside him, and he said, "Even what they are building, if a fox climbed up on it, he would knock their stone wall down."

3Now Tobiah the Ammonite was by him, and he said, Even that which they build, if a fox go up, he shall even break down their stone wall.

NoteTobiah was an official with interests east of the Jordan; "the Ammonite" marks him as tied to Ammon, a neighboring people long hostile to Judah. The fox remark is a stock insult about shoddy building: the wall is so flimsy that the weight of a small animal would topple it.

4Hear us, our God, for people look down on us. Turn their insults back on their own heads, and let them be carried off as loot to a land where they are prisoners.

4Hear, O our God; for we are despised: and turn their reproach upon their own head, and give them for a prey in the land of captivity:

Note"Carried off as loot to a land where they are prisoners" describes deportation, the standard fate of a defeated population in this period, and the very thing that had happened to the people of Judah themselves two generations earlier.

5Do not cover over their guilt, and do not wipe their sin away from your sight, for they have made you angry in front of the builders.

5And cover not their iniquity, and let not their sin be blotted out from before thee: for they have provoked thee to anger before the builders.

Note"Cover" and "wipe away" are both ordinary words for pardon, drawn from the idea of an entry being erased from a written record. The prayer asks that the entry be left standing.

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

6So built we the wall; and all the wall was joined together unto the half thereof: for the people had a mind to work.

7But when Sanballat, Tobiah, the Arabs, the Ammonites, and the people of Ashdod heard that the repairs to the walls of Jerusalem were moving ahead, and that the gaps were being closed, they were very angry.

7But it came to pass, that when Sanballat, and Tobiah, and the Arabians, and the Ammonites, and the Ashdodites, heard that the walls of Jerusalem were made up, and that the breaches began to be stopped, then they were very wroth,

NoteThe list names groups on every side of Jerusalem: Samaria to the north, the Ammonites east across the Jordan, Arab groups to the south, and Ashdod, an old Philistine city on the coastal plain, to the west. The point is that the city was surrounded.

8They all plotted together to come and fight against Jerusalem and cause trouble there.

8And conspired all of them together to come and to fight against Jerusalem, and to hinder it.

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

9Nevertheless we made our prayer unto our God, and set a watch against them day and night, because of them.

10And the people of Judah said, "The strength of the workers who carry the loads is giving out, and there is so much rubble that we cannot rebuild the wall."

10And Judah said, The strength of the bearers of burdens is decayed, and there is much rubbish; so that we are not able to build the wall.

11And our enemies said, "They will not know or see a thing until we are right in among them. Then we will kill them and put a stop to the work."

11And our adversaries said, They shall not know, neither see, till we come in the midst among them, and slay them, and cause the work to cease.

12The Jews who lived near our enemies came and told us ten times over, "Wherever you turn, they will come at us."

12And it came to pass, that when the Jews which dwelt by them came, they said unto us ten times, From all places whence ye shall return unto us they will be upon you.

Note"Ten times over" is a Hebrew idiom for "again and again," not a literal count. The second half of this verse is difficult in the Hebrew and translations differ over whether the neighboring Jews are warning that attacks will come from every direction, or urging the workers to come back home to defend their own villages.

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

13Therefore set I in the lower places behind the wall, and on the higher places, I even set the people after their families with their swords, their spears, and their bows.

NoteThe Hebrew describing where Nehemiah posted the men is obscure. It may mean the low or unfinished stretches of wall, or open ground behind it; translations vary. "By families" means each clan was stationed together, so men fought beside their own relatives.

14I looked things over, then 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 and daughters, your wives, and your homes."

14And I looked, and rose up, and said unto the nobles, and to the rulers, and to the rest of the people, Be not ye afraid of them: remember the LORD, which is great and terrible, and fight for your brethren, your sons, and your daughters, your wives, and your houses.

NoteWhere the King James has "great and terrible," the word meant inspiring awe and dread, not "dreadful" in the modern sense of bad. The nobles and officials were the heads of the leading families and the district administrators named in chapter 3.

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

15And it came to pass, when our enemies heard that it was known unto us, and God had brought their counsel to nought, that we returned all of us to the wall, every one unto his work.

16From that day on, half of my men did the work while the other half held spears, shields, bows, and coats of armor. The officers stood behind all the people of Judah

16And it came to pass from that time forth, that the half of my servants wrought in the work, and the other half of them held both the spears, the shields, and the bows, and the habergeons; and the rulers were behind all the house of Judah.

Note"Habergeons" in the King James are coats of mail, body armor of linked metal rings or scales. "My servants" means Nehemiah's own staff and retainers as governor, not household slaves; a provincial governor kept an armed personal following.

17who were building the wall. The workers who carried the loads did the work with one hand and held a weapon with the other.

17They which builded on the wall, and they that bare burdens, with those that laded, every one with one of his hands wrought in the work, and with the other hand held a weapon.

Note"Laded" in the King James simply means "loaded." The picture is of the men hauling stone and rubble, who could carry with one arm and keep a weapon in the other hand; the builders, who needed both hands, wore their swords instead, as the next verse explains.

18Each of the builders had his sword strapped at his side as he built. The man who blew the trumpet stayed beside me.

18For the builders, every one had his sword girded by his side, and so builded. And he that sounded the trumpet was by me.

NoteThe trumpet is a ram's horn, used not as a musical instrument but as a signaling device whose single carrying note could be heard across a long work site.

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

19And I said unto the nobles, and to the rulers, and to the rest of the people, The work is great and large, and we are separated upon the wall, one far from another.

20So wherever you hear the sound of the trumpet, come to us there. Our God will fight for us."

20In what place therefore ye hear the sound of the trumpet, resort ye thither unto us: our God shall fight for us.

21So we kept working, and half of the men held the spears from first light until the stars came out.

21So we laboured in the work: and half of them held the spears from the rising of the morning till the stars appeared.

22At that same time I told the people, "Let every man and his servant spend the night inside Jerusalem, so that they can guard us at night and work during the day."

22Likewise at the same time said I unto the people, Let every one with his servant lodge within Jerusalem, that in the night they may be a guard to us, and labour on the day.

NoteMost of the workforce lived in villages outside Jerusalem and would normally have walked home each evening. Staying inside the city overnight cost them the commute but doubled the number of men available for the night watch.

23So neither I, nor my relatives, nor my servants, nor the guards who followed me took off our clothes; each of us took them off only for washing.

23So neither I, nor my brethren, nor my servants, nor the men of the guard which followed me, none of us put off our clothes, saving that every one put them off for washing.

NoteThe last clause is uncertain in the Hebrew. The King James understood it as "each took his clothes off only for washing"; many modern translations read it as "each kept his weapon in his hand, even when he went for water." The sense either way is that the men stayed dressed and ready around the clock.