Nehemiah 4:16-23

Revised Geneva Translation

¹⁶ And from that day, half of the young men did the labor, and the other half of them held the spears, and shields, and bows, and armor. And the rulers stood behind the whole House of Judah,

¹⁷ those who built on the wall and those who bore burdens. Those who loaded did the work with one hand and held the sword with the other.

¹⁸ For every one of the builders had his sword girded on his loins and built. And he who blew the trumpet was beside me.

¹⁹ Then I said to the princes 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!

²⁰ “In whatever place you hear the sound of the trumpet, return from there to us! Our God shall fight for us!”

²¹ So we labored in the work. And half of them held the spears, from the appearance of the morning until the stars came forth.

²² And at the same time, I said to the people, “Let everyone lodge with his servant within Jerusalem, so that they may be a watch for us in the night and labor in the day.”

²³ So, neither I nor my brethren nor my servants nor the men of the ward who followed me (none of us) took off our clothes, except when everyone took them off for washing.