Nehemiah 3-4

Common English Bible

Rebuilding the gates and walls

3 Then Eliashib the high priest set to work with his fellow priests and built^[a] the Sheep Gate. They dedicated it and set up its doors, then dedicated it as far as the Tower of the Hundred and as far as the Tower of Hananel.

² The people of Jericho built next to them, and Zaccur, Imri’s son, built next to them. ³ The children of Hassenaah built the Fish Gate; they laid its beams and set up its doors, bolts, and bars. ⁴ Next to them Meremoth, Uriah’s son and Hakkoz’s grandson, made repairs. Meshullam, Berechiah’s son and Meshezabel’s grandson, made repairs next to them, and Zadok, Baana’s son, made repairs next to them. ⁵ Next to them the people from Tekoa made repairs, but their officials wouldn’t help with the work^[b] of their supervisors.^[c]

⁶ Joiada, Paseah’s son, and Meshullam, Besodeiah’s son, repaired the Mishneh Gate;^[d] they laid its beams and set up its doors, bolts, and bars. ⁷ Next to them repairs were made by Melatiah the Gibeonite, Jadon the Meronothite, and^[e] the people of Gibeon and of Mizpah, who were ruled by the governor of the province Beyond the River.

⁸ Uzziel, Harhaiah’s son, one of the goldsmiths, made repairs next to them; and Hananiah, one of the perfumers, made repairs next to him. They restored Jerusalem as far as the Broad Wall. ⁹ Next to them Rephaiah, Hur’s son, ruler of half the district of Jerusalem, made repairs. ¹⁰ Next to them Jedaiah, Harumaph’s son, made repairs opposite his house, and Hattush, Hashabneiah’s son, made repairs next to him.

¹¹ Malchijah, Harim’s son, and Hasshub, Pahath-moab’s son, repaired another section and the Tower of the Ovens. ¹² Next to them Shallum, Hallohesh’s son, ruler of half the district of Jerusalem, made repairs, along with his daughters.

¹³ Hanun and the people of Zanoah repaired the Valley Gate; they built it and set up its doors, bolts, and bars. They also repaired fifteen hundred feet of the wall, as far as the Dung Gate.

¹⁴ Malchiah, Rechab’s son, ruler of the district of Beth-haccherem, repaired the Dung Gate. He rebuilt it and set up its doors, bolts, and bars.

¹⁵ And Shallum, Col-hozeh’s son, ruler of the Mizpah district, repaired the Spring Gate. He rebuilt and covered it, and set up its doors, bolts, and bars. He also built the wall of the Pool of Shelah of the King’s Garden, as far as the stairs that go down from David’s City.

¹⁶ After him, Nehemiah, Azbuk’s son, ruler of half the Beth-zur district, repaired from the point opposite David’s tombs as far as the artificial pool and the Warriors’ House. ¹⁷ After him, the Levites made repairs: Rehum, Bani’s son, and next to him Hashabiah, ruler of half the district of Keilah, made repairs for his district. ¹⁸ After him, their relatives made repairs: Binnui,^[f] Henadad’s son, ruler of half the district of Keilah.

¹⁹ Next to him, Ezer, Jeshua’s son, ruler of Mizpah, repaired another section opposite the ascent to the armory at the Angle. ²⁰ After him, Baruch, Zabbai’s son, thoroughly repaired another section from the Angle to the door of the house of the high priest Eliashib. ²¹ After him, Meremoth, Uriah’s son and Hakkoz’s grandson, repaired another section from the door to the back of Eliashib’s house.

²² After him, the priests from the surrounding area made repairs. ²³ After them, Benjamin and Hasshub made repairs opposite their house. After them, Azariah, Maaseiah’s son and Ananiah’s grandson, repaired beside his house. ²⁴ After him, Binnui, Henadad’s son, repaired another section from the house of Azariah to the Angle and to the corner. ²⁵ Palal, Uzai’s son, repaired^[g] from the point opposite the Angle and the tower projecting from the upper house of the king at the court of the guard. After him, Pedaiah, Parosh’s son, ²⁶ and the temple servants living on Ophel made repairs^[h] up to the point opposite the Water Gate to the east and the projecting tower. ²⁷ After them, the people of Tekoa repaired another section opposite the great projecting tower as far as the wall of Ophel. ²⁸ From the Horse Gate, the priests made repairs, each one opposite his own house.

²⁹ After them, Zadok, Immer’s son, made repairs opposite his own house. After him, Shemaiah, Shecaniah’s son, the keeper of the East Gate, made repairs. ³⁰ After him, Hananiah, Shelemiah’s son, and Hanun, Zalaph’s sixth son, repaired another section. After them, Meshullam, Berechiah’s son, made repairs opposite his own room.

³¹ After him, Malchiah, one of the goldsmiths, made repairs as far as the house of the temple servants and the merchants, opposite the Parade Gate,^[i] and as far as the upper room at the corner. ³² And between the upper room of the corner and the Sheep Gate, the goldsmiths and the merchants made repairs.

Opposition mounts

4 ^[j] When Sanballat heard that we were building the wall, he became angry and raged. He mocked the Jews, ² saying in the presence of his associates and the army of Samaria: “What are those feeble Jews doing? Will they restore things themselves? Will they offer sacrifices? Will they finish it in a day? Will they revive the stones from the piles of rubble, even though they are burned?”

³ Tobiah the Ammonite, who was beside him, added: “If even a fox climbs on whatever they build, their wall of stones will crumble.”

⁶ We continued to build the wall. All of it was joined together, and it reached half of its intended height because the people were eager to work. ^7 [l] But when Sanballat, Tobiah, the Arabs, the Ammonites, and the people of Ashdod heard that the work on the walls was progressing and the gaps were being closed, they were very angry. ⁸ They plotted together to come and fight against Jerusalem and to create a disturbance in it.

⁹ So we prayed to our God and set a guard as protection against them day and night.

¹¹ Meanwhile, our enemies were saying: “Before they know or see anything, we can be in their midst and start to kill them. We’ll stop the work!”

¹² Now the Jews who were living near them came and said to us again and again,^[m] “You must return to us!”^[n]

Armed guards protect the builders

¹³ So I took up a position in the lowest parts of the space behind the wall in an open area.^[o] Then I stationed the people by families, and they had their swords, spears, and bows. ¹⁴ After reviewing this, I stood up and said to the officials, the officers, and the rest of the people, “Don’t be afraid of them! Remember that the Lord is great and awesome! Fight for your families, your sons, your daughters, your wives, and your houses!”

¹⁵ Then our enemies heard that we had found out and that God had spoiled their plans. So we all returned to doing our own work on the wall. ¹⁶ But from that day on, only half of my workers continued in the construction, while the other half held the spears, shields, bows, and body armor. Meanwhile, the leaders positioned themselves^[p] behind the whole house of Judah, ¹⁷ who were building the wall. The carriers did their work with a load in one hand and a weapon in the other. ¹⁸ The builders built with swords fastened in their belts, and the trumpeter stayed by my side.

¹⁹ Then I said to the officials, the officers, and the rest of the people, “The work is very spread out, and we are far apart from each other along the wall. ²⁰ When you hear the trumpet sound, come and gather where we are. Our God will fight for us!” ²¹ So we continued the work, with half of them holding spears from dawn until dusk.

²² I also said to the people at that time, “Let every man and his servant spend the night in Jerusalem so that we can guard during the night and work during the day.” ²³ Neither I nor my relatives, nor my servants, nor my bodyguards took off our clothes, even when they sent for water.^[q]