Beginning

4 ¶ But it came to pass that when Sanballat heard that we were building the wall, he was wroth and took great indignation and mocked the Jews.

² And he spoke before his brethren and the army of Samaria and said, What are these feeble Jews doing? Is this to be permitted them? Will they sacrifice? Will they finish on time? Will they resurrect the stones out of the heaps of the rubbish which were burned?

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

⁴ Hear, 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 their captivity.

⁵ And do not cover their iniquity, nor let their sin be blotted out from before thee, for they have become angry against the builders.

⁶ But we built the wall, and all the wall was joined together unto the half thereof, for the people were motivated to work.

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

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

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

¹⁰ And 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.

¹¹ And our adversaries said, They shall not know or see until we come in the midst among them and slay them and cause the work to cease.

¹² But it came to pass, that when the Jews who dwelt among them came, they advised us ten times of all the places from which they would come upon us.

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

¹⁴ Then I looked and rose up and said unto the nobles and to the rulers and to the rest of the people, Do not be afraid of them: remember the Lord, who is great and terrible, and fight for your brethren, your sons, and your daughters, your wives, and your houses.

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

¹⁶ ¶ And it came to pass from that time forth that half of the young men wrought in the work, and the other half of them held spears, shields, bows, and coats of mail; and the princes were behind all the house of Judah.

¹⁷ Those that built on the wall and those that bore burdens and those that laded wrought with one hand in the work and with the other held a weapon.

¹⁸ For the builders, each one had his sword girded by his side, and so they built. And he that sounded the shofar was by me.

¹⁹ And I said unto the principals 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 that you hear the voice of the shofar, join us there; our God shall fight for us.

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

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

²³ So neither I nor my brethren nor my servants nor the men of the guard who followed me, none of us put off our clothes, each one put them off only for washing.

5 ¶ Then there was a great cry of the people and of their wives against their brethren, the Jews.

² For there were some that said, We, our sons, and our daughters, are many; therefore we have bought grain that we may eat and live.

³ There were also some that said, We have mortgaged our lands, vineyards, and houses, that we might buy grain because of the famine.

⁴ And there were some that said, We have borrowed money for the king’s tribute, and that upon our lands and vineyards.

⁵ Yet now, given that the flesh of our brethren is as our flesh and their sons as our sons, behold, we subject our sons and our daughters to slavery, and there are some of our daughters in bondage already; neither is it in our power to redeem them; for other men have our lands and vineyards.

⁶ ¶ And I was very angry when I heard their cry and these words.

⁷ Then I meditated unto myself, and I rebuked the principals and the rulers and said unto them, Does each one of you exact usury of his brother? And I set a great assembly against them.

⁸ And I said unto them, We after our ability have redeemed our brethren, the Jews who had been sold unto the Gentiles; and will ye even sell your brethren? And shall they be sold unto us? Then they remained silent, for they had nothing to answer.

⁹ Also I said, What you do is not good, do you not walk in the fear of our God, that ye not be the reproach of our enemies the Gentiles?

¹⁰ I, likewise, and my brethren and my servants, have lent them money and grain; let us now release them from this burden.

¹¹ Restore, I pray you, to them, today, their lands, their vineyards, their oliveyards, and their houses, and even the hundredth part of the money, and of the grain, the wine, and the oil, that ye exact of them.

¹² Then they said, We will return it and will require nothing of them; so we will do as thou sayest. Then I called the priests and caused them to sware that they should do according to this promise.

¹³ Also I shook my lap and said, Thus will God shake out each man from his house and from his labour, that does not perform this promise, even thus shall he be shaken out and emptied. And all the congregation said, Amen, and praised the LORD. And the people did according to this promise.

¹⁴ ¶ Moreover, from the day that I was appointed by the king to be their captain in the land of Judah, from the twentieth year even unto the thirty-second year of Artaxerxes, the king, that is, twelve years, I and my brethren have not eaten the bread of the captain.

¹⁵ But the former captains that had been before me had charged the people and had taken of them for bread and wine, upon forty shekels of silver; and in addition to this their servants bore rule over the people; but I did not do so because of the fear of God.

¹⁶ In addition to this, I restored my part in the work of this wall, neither did we buy any inheritance; and all my servants were gathered together unto the work.

¹⁷ I also had at my table one hundred and fifty of the Jews and rulers, besides those that came unto us from among the Gentiles that are around us.

¹⁸ Now that which was prepared for each day was one ox and six choice sheep; also fowls were prepared for me, and every ten days wine in all abundance; yet with all this I did not require the bread of the captain because the bondage was heavy upon this people.

¹⁹ Remember me, my God, for good and all that I have done for this people.

6 ¶ Now it came to pass when Sanballat and Tobiah and Geshem, the Arabian, and the rest of our enemies, heard that I had built the wall and that there was no breach left in it (though at that time I had not set up the doors upon the gates),

² that Sanballat and Geshem sent unto me, saying, Come, let us meet together in one of the villages in the plain of Ono. But they had thought to do me evil.

³ And I sent messengers unto them, saying, I am doing a great work so that I cannot come down; why should the work cease, whilst I leave it and come down to you?

⁴ Yet they sent unto me four times after this sort, and I answered them after the same manner.

⁵ Then Sanballat sent his slave to say the same thing for the fifth time with an open letter in his hand,

⁶ in which was written, It is reported among the Gentiles, and Gashmu saith it, that thou and the Jews think to rebel, for which cause thou dost build the wall, that thou may be their king, according to these words.

⁷ And thou hast also appointed prophets to preach of thee at Jerusalem, saying, There is a king in Judah! And now these words shall be heard by the king. Come now, therefore, and let us take counsel together.

⁸ Then I sent unto him, saying, There are no such things done as thou sayest, but thou dost feign them out of thine own heart.

⁹ For they all made us afraid, saying, Their hands shall be weakened from the work, that it not be done. Now, therefore, O God, strengthen my hands.

¹⁰ ¶ Afterward I came in secret unto the house of Shemaiah, the son of Delaiah, the son of Mehetabeel, who was shut up; and he said, Let us meet together in the house of God, within the temple, and let us shut the doors of the temple; for they are coming to slay thee; yea, tonight they will come to slay thee.

¹¹ Then I said, Should such a man as I flee? And who is there as I who could go into the temple and live? I will not go in.

¹² And I perceived that God had not sent him, but that he pronounced this prophecy against me, for Tobiah and Sanballat had hired him.

¹³ For he was bribed to make me be thus afraid and sin and that they might have matter for an evil report, that they might reproach me.

¹⁴ My God, think thou upon Tobiah and Sanballat according to these their works and on the prophetess Noadiah and the rest of the prophets, that did things to put me in fear.

¹⁵ ¶ So the wall was finished the twenty-fifth of Elul, in fifty-two days.

¹⁶ And it came to pass, that when all our enemies heard of it, all the Gentiles that were about us feared, and they were much cast down in their own eyes, and they knew that this work was wrought of our God.

¹⁷ Likewise, in those days the principals of Judah sent many letters unto Tobiah, and the letters of Tobiah came unto them.

¹⁸ For there were many in Judah sworn unto him, because he was the son-in-law of Shechaniah, the son of Arah; and his son Johanan had taken the daughter of Meshullam, the son of Berechiah.

¹⁹ They also reported his good deeds before me and uttered my words to him. And Tobiah sent letters to put me in fear.