Doing the Work and Holding a Weapon

¹⁵ Now it happened that when our enemies heard that it was known to us, and that ^(A)God had thwarted their counsel, then all of us returned to the wall, each one to his work. ¹⁶ And it happened that from that day on, half of my young men carried on the work while half of them took hold of the spears, the shields, the bows, and the breastplates; and the commanders were behind the whole house of Judah. ¹⁷ Those who were rebuilding the wall and those who carried burdens took their load with one hand doing the work and the other holding a weapon. ¹⁸ As for the builders, each wore his sword girded at his side as he built, while ^[a]the trumpeter stood near me. ¹⁹ 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, there gather together to us. ^(B)Our God will fight for us.”

²¹ So we kept doing the work with half of them holding spears from ^[b]dawn until the stars came out. ²² At that time I also said to the people, “Let each man with his young man spend the night within Jerusalem so that they may be a guard for us by night and a worker by day.” ²³ So neither I, my brothers, my young men, nor the men of the guard who followed me, none of us removed our clothes, each took his weapon even to the water.