Enemies Hinder the Work

4 Now when ^(A)the enemies of Judah and Benjamin heard that ^(B)the people of the exile were building a temple to the Lord God of Israel, ² they approached Zerubbabel and the heads of fathers’ households, and said to them, “Let us build with you, for like you, we seek your God; ^(C)and we have been sacrificing to Him since the days of ^(D)Esarhaddon king of Assyria, who brought us up here.” ³ But Zerubbabel and Jeshua and the rest of the heads of fathers’ households of Israel said to them, “^(E)You have nothing in common with us in building a house to our God; but we ourselves will together build for the Lord God of Israel, ^(F)just as King Cyrus, the king of Persia, has commanded us.”

⁴ Then ^(G)the people of the land ^[a]discouraged the people of Judah, and frightened them from building, ⁵ and bribed advisers against them to frustrate their advice all the days of Cyrus king of Persia, even until the reign of Darius king of Persia.

⁶ Now in the reign of ^[b](H)Ahasuerus, in the beginning of his reign, they wrote an accusation against the inhabitants of Judah and Jerusalem.

⁷ And in the days of ^[c]Artaxerxes, Bishlam, Mithredath, Tabeel, and the rest of his colleagues wrote to Artaxerxes king of Persia; and the ^[d]text of the letter was written in Aramaic and translated ^(I)from Aramaic.

The Letter to King Artaxerxes

^8 [e]Rehum the commander and Shimshai the scribe wrote a letter against Jerusalem to King Artaxerxes, as follows— ^9 [f]Rehum the commander, Shimshai the scribe, and ^(J)the rest of their colleagues, the judges and ^(K)the lesser governors, the officials, the secretaries, the men of Erech, the Babylonians, the men of Susa, that is, the Elamites, ¹⁰ and the rest of the nations which the great and honorable ^[g]Osnappar deported and settled in the city of Samaria, and in the rest of the region beyond the Euphrates River. ^(L)And now ¹¹ this is a copy of the letter which they sent to him:

“To King Artaxerxes: Your servants, the men of the region beyond the Euphrates River; and now ¹² let it be known to the king that the Jews who came up from you have come to us at Jerusalem; they are rebuilding ^(M)the rebellious and evil city and ^(N)are finishing the walls and repairing the foundations. ¹³ Now let it be known to the king, that if that city is rebuilt and the walls are finished, ^(O)they will not pay tribute, custom tax, or toll, and it will ^[h]be detrimental to the revenue of the kings. ¹⁴ Now because we ^[i]are in the service of the palace, and it is not fitting for us to see the king’s shame, for this reason we have sent word and informed the king, ¹⁵ so that a search may be conducted in the record books of your fathers. And you will discover in the record books and learn that that city is a rebellious city and detrimental to kings and provinces, and that they have revolted within it in past days; for this reason that city was laid waste. ¹⁶ We are informing the king that if that city is rebuilt and the walls finished, then as a result of this you will have no possession in the province beyond the Euphrates River.”

The King Replies and Work Stops

¹⁷ Then the king sent a response to Rehum the commander, Shimshai the scribe, and to the rest of their colleagues who live in Samaria and in the rest of the provinces beyond the Euphrates River: “Peace. And now, ¹⁸ the document which you sent to us has been ^[j](P)translated and read before me. ¹⁹ And a decree has been ^[k]issued by me, and a search has been conducted and it has been discovered that that city has risen up against the kings in past days, and that rebellion and revolt have been perpetrated in it, ^20 (Q)that mighty kings have ^[l]ruled over Jerusalem, governing all the provinces ^(R)beyond the Euphrates River, and that ^(S)tribute, custom tax, and toll were paid to them. ²¹ Now issue a decree to make those men stop work, so that this city will not be rebuilt until a decree is issued by me. ²² And beware of being negligent in carrying out this matter; why should there be great damage, to the detriment of the kings?”

²³ Then as soon as the copy of King Artaxerxes’ decree was read before Rehum and Shimshai the scribe and their colleagues, they went in a hurry to Jerusalem to the Jews and stopped them by military force.

²⁴ Then work on the house of God in Jerusalem was discontinued, and it was stopped until the second year of the reign of Darius king of Persia.

Work Is Ridiculed

4 ^[a]Now it came about that when ^(A)Sanballat heard that we were rebuilding the wall, he became furious and very angry, and he mocked the Jews. ² And he spoke in the presence of his brothers and ^(B)the ^[b]wealthy people of Samaria and said, “What are these feeble Jews doing? Are they going to restore the temple for themselves? Can they offer sacrifices? Can they finish it in a day? Can they revive the stones from the ^(C)heaps of rubble, even the burned ones?” ³ Now Tobiah the Ammonite was near him, and he said, “Even what they are building—^(D)if a fox were to ^[c]jump on it, it would break their stone wall down!”

^4 (E)Hear, O our God, how we are an object of contempt! ^(F)Return their taunting on their own heads, and turn them into plunder in a land of captivity. ⁵ Do not ^[d](G)forgive their guilt and do not let their sin be wiped out before You, for they have ^[e]demoralized the builders.

⁶ So we built the wall, and the entire wall was joined together to half its height, for the people had a ^[f]mind to work.

^7 [g]Now when Sanballat, Tobiah, the Arabs, the Ammonites, and the Ashdodites heard that the ^[h]repair of the walls of Jerusalem went ^[i]on, and that the breaches began to be closed, they were very angry. ⁸ So all of them ^(H)conspired together to come to fight against Jerusalem and to cause confusion in it.

Discouragement Overcome

⁹ But we prayed to our God, and because of them we ^(I)set up a guard against them day and night.

¹⁰ And so ^[j]in Judah it was said:

¹¹ And our enemies said, “They will not know or see until we come among them, kill them, and put a stop to the work.” ¹² When the Jews who lived near them came and told us ten times, “^[k]They will come up against us from every place where you may turn,” ¹³ then I stationed men in the lowest parts of the space behind the wall, the exposed places, and I ^(J)stationed the people in families with their swords, spears, and bows. ¹⁴ When I saw their fear, I stood and said to the nobles, the officials, and the rest of the people: “^(K)Do not be afraid of them; remember the Lord who is great and awesome, and ^(L)fight for your brothers, your sons, your daughters, your wives, and your houses.”

¹⁵ Now when our enemies heard that it was known to us, and that ^(M)God had frustrated their plan, then all of us returned to the wall, each one to his work. ¹⁶ And from that day on, half of my servants carried on the work while half of them kept hold of the spears, the shields, the bows, and the coats of mail; and the captains were behind all the house of Judah. ¹⁷ Those who were rebuilding the wall and those who carried burdens carried with one hand doing the work, and the other keeping hold of a weapon. ¹⁸ As for the builders, each wore his sword strapped to his waist as he built, while ^[l]the trumpeter stood near me. ¹⁹ And I said to the nobles, the officials, and the rest of the people, “The work is great and extensive, and we are separated on the wall far from one another. ²⁰ At whatever place you hear the sound of the trumpet, assemble to us there. ^(N)Our God will fight for us.”

²¹ So we carried on the work with half of them holding spears from ^[m]dawn until the stars ^[n]appeared. ²² At that time I also said to the people, “Each man with his servant shall spend the night within Jerusalem, so that they may be a guard for us by night and a laborer by day.” ²³ So neither I, my brothers, my servants, nor the men of the guard who followed me—none of us ^[o]removed our clothes; each took his weapon even to the water.