Beginning
4 Now when Sanballat, Tobiah, the Arabians, the Ammonites, and the people of Ashdod heard that restoration of the walls of Jerusalem was proceeding and that the breaches had begun to be closed, they became extremely angry. 2 They all conspired together to come and fight against Jerusalem, and to stir up trouble against it. 3 But we prayed to our God and stationed a guard against them day and night.
4 Meanwhile the people of Judah said, “The strength of the laborers is failing. There is so much rubble that we are unable to rebuild the wall.”
5 Our adversaries also said, “They will not know or perceive anything, until we come among them and kill them, and put an end to the work!”
6 So it happened that the Jews living near them came and told us ten times over, “Wherever you turn, they will attack us!”
Working and Watching
7 So I stationed people in the lower places behind the wall in the exposed places. I stationed the people by families with their swords, spears and bows. 8 When I looked things over, I rose up and said to the nobles, the rulers and the rest of the people, “Do not be afraid of them. Remember the great and awesome Lord, and fight on behalf of your brothers, your sons, your daughters, your wives, and your homes.”
9 Now when our enemies heard that their plan was known to us, and that God had frustrated it, we all returned to the wall, each to his work. 10 From that day on, half of my men were doing the work, while half of them took hold of the spears, shields, bows and breastplates, and the leaders were behind the entire house of Judah. 11 Those building the wall and those bearing heavy burdens kept one hand on the work and the other holding a weapon. 12 So each of the builders had his sword strapped to his side while they were building, and the shofar blower was beside me.
13 Then I said to the nobles, the rulers and the rest of the people, “The work is extensive and spread out, and we are widely separated from one another on the wall. 14 Wherever you hear the sound of the shofar, join us there. Our God will fight for us!”
15 So we continued the work with half the men holding spears, from dawn until the stars came out. 16 Also at that time I said to the people, “Let every man and his helper lodge inside Jerusalem, so they can be guards for us by night and workers by day.” 17 So neither I, nor my brothers, nor my workers, nor the guards who were with me took off our clothes; each man even had his weapon at the water.
Considering the Poor
5 Then there was a great outcry from the people and their wives to their fellow Jews. 2 There were those who said, “We and our sons and our daughters are numerous. We must take grain, so we may eat and live.”
3 There were others who said, “We are mortgaging our fields, our vineyards and our houses in order to obtain grain during the famine.”
4 Still others were saying, “We have borrowed money to pay the king’s tax on our fields and vineyards. 5 And now, though we share the same flesh as our brothers, and our children are just like their children, still we subject our sons and our daughters to slavery. Some of our daughters have already been enslaved but our hands are tied since our fields and vineyards belong to others.”
6 I was very angry when I heard their outcry and these words. 7 I pondered them in my heart and then I opposed the nobles and the officials, saying to them, “Usury! Each of you is putting his brother in debt!”
So I convened a great assembly to deal with them. 8 I said to them, “As much as possible, we have bought back our fellow Jews who had been sold to the nations. Now you also are selling your brothers so that they will be sold back to us?” Then they became silent and could not find anything to say.
9 Then I said, “The thing that you are doing is not good! Shouldn’t you walk in the fear of our God, in order to avoid the reproach of our Gentile enemies? 10 Even I, my brothers, and my servants are lending them money and grain. Let this usury stop, now! 11 Now, return to them this very day, their fields, their vineyards, their olive groves and their houses, as well as the hundredth that you have extracted from them on the money, the grain, the new wine, and the fresh oil.”
12 Then they said, “We will restore these and require nothing from them. We will do just as you say.”
Then I summoned the kohanim and I made them swear to do according to this promise. 13 Also I shook out my garment, and said, “In this way may God shake out from His house and from His property every one that does not keep this promise. In this way may he be shaken out and emptied!”
And all the assembly replied, “Amen!” and they praised Adonai. So the people did according to this promise.
Nehemiah’s Unselfishness
14 Moreover, from the day when I was appointed to be the governor in the land of Judah, from the twentieth year to the thirty-second year of King Artaxerxes—twelve years—neither I, nor my relatives have eaten the bread allocated to the governor. 15 The earlier governors, those preceding me, placed heavy burdens on the people, and took bread and wine from them, in addition to forty shekels of silver. Their attendants also lorded over the people. But I did not do so, out of fear of God. 16 Instead, I devoted myself to the work on this wall, without even buying a field. All my attendants were gathered there for the work.
17 Furthermore, 150 Judeans and officials, as well as those that came to us from the nations around us, were at my table. 18 Now, each day one ox and six choice sheep, as well as some fowl, were prepared for me, and every ten days an abundance of every kind of wine was prepared. Despite all this, I did not require the governor’s food allowance, because the work was already heavy on this people.
19 Remember me for good, O my God, for all that I have done for this people.
Attempts to Intimidate Nehemiah
6 Now it was reported to Sanballat, Tobiah, Geshem the Arabian, and the rest of our enemies that I had rebuilt the wall and no breach remained in it—even though at that time I had not positioned the doors in the gates. 2 Sanballat and Geshem sent word to me, saying, “Come, let us meet together in one of the villages in the plain of Ono.”
But they were scheming to do me harm.
3 So I sent messengers to them saying, “I am doing an important work, so I cannot come down. Why should the work stop while I leave it and come down to you?”
4 They sent me the same message four times, and each time I returned a similar response to them. 5 But the fifth time Sanballat sent his young aide to me in this way, he had an open letter in his hand. 6 In it was written:
“It has been heard among the nations—and Geshem substantiates it—that you and the Jews are planning to revolt. That is why you are rebuilding the wall. Furthermore, according to these reports, you are to become their king 7 and have even appointed prophets to make this proclamation about you in Jerusalem saying, ‘There is a king in Judah.’ Now, the king is going to hear about these reports. So come now! Let us confer together.”
8 Then I sent a message to him, saying, “Nothing like what you are saying is happening; you are devising them from your own heart.”
9 For they were all trying to intimidate us, thinking, “Their hands will become weak from the work and it will not be done.”
So now, strengthen my hands!
10 Then I went to the house of Shemaiah, son of Delaiah, son of Mehetabel. He was confined to his home. He said, “Let us meet in the House of God, within the Temple. Let us shut the doors of the Temple, for they are coming to kill you. Indeed, they will come to kill you at night.”
11 But I said, “Should a man like me flee? Who in my position could go into the Temple and live? I will not go in.”
12 I recognized that God had not really sent him, for he had pronounced the prophecy against me because Tobiah and Sanballat had hired him. 13 He had been hired so that I might become so frightened that I would do this and thereby sin. Then they would give me a bad name in order to discredit me.
14 Remember, my God, Tobiah and Sanballat according to these works of theirs, and also the prophetess Noadiah and the rest of the prophets who have been trying to intimidate me.
15 So the wall was completed on the twenty-fifth day of the month Elul, in just 52 days. 16 When all our enemies heard, all the surrounding nations were afraid and fell greatly in their own eyes, because they realized that this work had been accomplished by our God.
17 Also in those days the nobles of Judah sent many letters to Tobiah and replies from Tobiah kept coming to them. 18 For many in Judah were under oath to him, because he was the son-in-law of Shecaniah son of Arah, and his son Jehohanan had married the daughter of Meshullam son of Berechiah. 19 Moreover, they kept telling me about his good deeds and then reporting my words to him. Also Tobiah sent letters to intimidate me.
Tree of Life (TLV) Translation of the Bible. Copyright © 2015 by The Messianic Jewish Family Bible Society.