Nehemiah 4-5

New King James Version

The Wall Defended Against Enemies

4 But it so happened, ^(A)when Sanballat heard that we were rebuilding the wall, that he was furious and very indignant, and mocked the Jews. ² And he spoke before his brethren and the army of Samaria, and said, “What are these feeble Jews doing? Will they fortify themselves? Will they offer sacrifices? Will they complete it in a day? Will they revive the stones from the heaps of rubbish—stones that are burned?”

³ Now ^(B)Tobiah the Ammonite was beside him, and he said, “Whatever they build, if even a fox goes up on it, he will break down their stone wall.”

^4 (C)Hear, O our God, for we are despised; ^(D)turn their reproach on their own heads, and give them as plunder to a land of captivity! ^5 (E)Do not cover their iniquity, and do not let their sin be blotted out from before You; for they have provoked You to anger before the builders.

⁶ So we built the wall, and the entire wall was joined together up to half its height, for the people had a mind to work.

⁷ Now it happened, ^(F)when Sanballat, Tobiah, ^(G)the Arabs, the Ammonites, and the Ashdodites heard that the walls of Jerusalem were being restored and the ^[a]gaps were beginning to be closed, that they became very angry, ⁸ and all of them ^(H)conspired together to come and attack Jerusalem and create confusion. ⁹ Nevertheless ^(I)we made our prayer to our God, and because of them we set a watch against them day and night.

¹⁰ Then Judah said, “The strength of the laborers is failing, and there is so much rubbish that we are not able to build the wall.”

¹¹ And our adversaries said, “They will neither know nor see anything, till we come into their midst and kill them and cause the work to cease.”

¹² So it was, when the Jews who dwelt near them came, that they told us ten times, “From whatever place you turn, they will be upon us.”

¹³ Therefore I positioned men behind the lower parts of the wall, at the openings; and I set the people according to their families, with their swords, their spears, and their bows. ¹⁴ And I looked, and arose and said to the nobles, to the leaders, and to the rest of the people, ^(J)“Do not be afraid of them. Remember the Lord, ^(K)great and awesome, and ^(L)fight for your brethren, your sons, your daughters, your wives, and your houses.”

¹⁵ And it happened, when our enemies heard that it was known to us, and ^(M)that God had brought their plot to nothing, that all of us returned to the wall, everyone to his work. ¹⁶ So it was, from that time on, that half of my servants worked at construction, while the other half held the spears, the shields, the bows, and wore armor; and the leaders ^[b]were behind all the house of Judah. ¹⁷ Those who built on the wall, and those who carried burdens, loaded themselves so that with one hand they worked at construction, and with the other held a weapon. ¹⁸ Every one of the builders had his sword girded at his side as he built. And the one who sounded the trumpet was beside me.

¹⁹ Then I said to the nobles, the rulers, and the rest of the people, “The work is great and extensive, and we are separated far from one another on the wall. ²⁰ Wherever you hear the sound of the trumpet, rally to us there. ^(N)Our God will fight for us.”

²¹ So we labored in the work, and half of ^[c]the men held the spears from daybreak until the stars appeared. ²² At the same time I also said to the people, “Let each man and his servant stay at night in Jerusalem, that they may be our guard by night and a working party by day.” ²³ So neither I, my brethren, my servants, nor the men of the guard who followed me took off our clothes, except that everyone took them off for washing.

Nehemiah Deals with Oppression

5 And there was a great ^(O)outcry of the people and their wives against their ^(P)Jewish brethren. ² For there were those who said, “We, our sons, and our daughters are many; therefore let us get grain, that we may eat and live.”

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

⁴ There were also those who said, “We have borrowed money for the king’s tax on our lands and vineyards. ⁵ Yet now ^(Q)our flesh is as the flesh of our brethren, our children as their children; and indeed we ^(R)are forcing our sons and our daughters to be slaves, and some of our daughters have been brought into slavery. It is not in our power to redeem them, for other men have our lands and vineyards.”

⁶ And I became very angry when I heard their outcry and these words. ⁷ After serious thought, I rebuked the nobles and rulers, and said to them, ^(S)“Each of you is ^[d]exacting usury from his brother.” So I ^[e]called a great assembly against them. ⁸ And I said to them, “According to our ability we have ^(T)redeemed our Jewish brethren who were sold to the nations. Now indeed, will you even sell your brethren? Or should they be sold to us?”

Then they were silenced and found nothing to say. ⁹ Then I said, “What you are doing is not good. Should you not walk ^(U)in the fear of our God ^(V)because of the reproach of the nations, our enemies? ¹⁰ I also, with my brethren and my servants, am lending them money and grain. Please, let us stop this ^[f]usury! ¹¹ Restore now to them, even this day, their lands, their vineyards, their olive groves, and their houses, also a hundredth of the money and the grain, the new wine and the oil, that you have charged them.”

¹² So they said, “We will restore it, and will require nothing from them; we will do as you say.”

Then I called the priests, ^(W)and required an oath from them that they would do according to this promise. ¹³ Then ^(X)I shook out ^[g]the fold of my garment and said, “So may God shake out each man from his house, and from his property, who does not perform this promise. Even thus may he be shaken out and emptied.”

And all the assembly said, “Amen!” and praised the Lord. ^(Y)Then the people did according to this promise.

The Generosity of Nehemiah

¹⁴ Moreover, from the time that I was appointed to be their governor in the land of Judah, from the twentieth year ^(Z)until the thirty-second year of King Artaxerxes, twelve years, neither I nor my brothers ^(AA)ate the governor’s provisions. ¹⁵ But the former governors who were before me laid burdens on the people, and took from them bread and wine, besides forty shekels of silver. Yes, even their servants bore rule over the people, but ^(AB)I did not do so, because of the ^(AC)fear of God. ¹⁶ Indeed, I also continued the ^(AD)work on this wall, and ^[h]we did not buy any land. All my servants were gathered there for the work.

¹⁷ And ^(AE)at my table were one hundred and fifty Jews and rulers, besides those who came to us from the nations around us. ¹⁸ Now that ^(AF)which was prepared daily was one ox and six choice sheep. Also fowl were prepared for me, and once every ten days an abundance of all kinds of wine. Yet in spite of this ^(AG)I did not demand the governor’s provisions, because the bondage was heavy on this people.

^19 (AH)Remember me, my God, for good, according to all that I have done for this people.