19When Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite servant and Geshem the Arab heard, they mocked us and held us in contempt and said,
What is this that you are doing? Are you rebelling against the king?’’ 20I said to them in reply,The God of Heaven will grant us success, and we, His servants, will start building. But you have no share or claim or stakea in Jerusalem!’’
3 Then Eliashib the high priest and his fellow priests set to and rebuilt the Sheep Gate; they consecrated it and set up its doors, consecrating it as far as the Hundred’s Tower, as far as the Tower of Hananel. 2Next to him, the men of Jericho built. Next to them,a Zaccur son of Imri. 3The sons of Hassenaah rebuilt the Fish Gate; they roofed it and set up its doors, locks, and bars. 4Next to them, Meremoth son of Uriah son of Hakkoz repaired; and next to him,b Meshullam son of Berechiah son of Meshezabel. Next to him,b Zadok son of Baana repaired. 5Next to him,b the Tekoites repaired, though their nobles would not c-take upon their shoulders-c the work of their lord. 6Joiada son of Paseah and Meshullam son of Besodeiah repaired the Jeshanah Gate; they roofed it and set up its doors, locks, and bars. 7Next to them, Melatiah the Gibeonite and Jadon the Meronothite repaired, [with] the men of Gibeon and Mizpah, d-under the jurisdiction-d of the governor of the province of Beyond the River. 8Next to them,a Uzziel son of Harhaiah, [of the] smiths, repaired. Next to him, Hananiah, ofe the perfumers. They restored Jerusalem as far as the Broad Wall. 9Next to them, Rephaiah son of Hur, chief of half the district of Jerusalem, repaired. 10Next to him,b Jedaiah son of Harumaph repaired in front of his house. Next to him, Hattush son of Hashabneiah repaired. 11Malchijah son of Harim and Hasshub son of Pahathmoab repaired a second stretch, including the Tower of Ovens. 12Next to them,a Shallum son of Hallohesh,f chief of half the district of Jerusalem, repaired—he and his daughters. 13Hanun and the inhabitants of Zanoah repaired the Valley Gate; they rebuilt it and set up its doors, locks, and bars. And [they also repaired] a thousand cubits of wall to the Dung Gate. 14Malchijah son of Rechab, chief of the district of Beth-haccherem, repaired the Dung Gate; he rebuilt it and set up its doors, locks, and bars. 15Shallun son of Col-hozeh, chief of the district of Mizpah, repaired the Fountain Gate; he rebuilt it and covered it, and set up its doors, locks, and bars, as well as the wall of the irrigationg pool of the King’s Garden as far as the steps going down from the City of David. 16After him, Nehemiah son of Azbuk, chief of half the district of Beth-zur, repaired, from in front of the graves of David as far as the artificial pool, and as far as the House of the Warriors. 17After him, the Levites repaired: Rehum son of Bani. Next to him, Hashabiah, chief of half the district of Keilah, repaired for his district. 18After him, their brothers repaired: Bavvai son of Henadad, chief of half the district of Keilah. 19Next to him, Ezer son of Jeshua, the chief of Mizpah, repaired a second stretch, from in front of the ascent to the armory [at] the angle [of the wall]. 20After him, Baruch son of Zaccai zealously repaired a second stretch, from the angle to the entrance to the house of Eliashib, the high priest. 21After him, Meremoth son of Uriah son of Hakkoz repaired a second stretch, from the entrance to Eliashib’s house to the end of Eliashib’s house. 22After him, the priests, inhabitants of the plain, repaired. 23After them,a Benjamin and Hasshub repaired in front of their houses. After them,a Azariah son of Maaseiah son of Ananiah repaired beside his house. 24After him, Binnui son of Henadad repaired a second stretch, from the house of Azariah to the angle, to the corner. 25Palal son of Uzai—from in front of the angle and the tower that juts out of the house of the king, the upper [tower] of the prison compound. After him, Pedaiah son of Parosh. (26The temple servants were living on the Ophel, as far as a point in front of the Water Gate in the east, and the jutting tower.) 27After him, the Tekoites repaired a second stretch, from in front of the great jutting tower to the wall of the Ophel. 28Above the Horse Gate, the priests repaired, each in front of his house. 29After them,a Zadok son of Immer repaired in front of his house. After him, Shemaiah son of Shechaniah, keeper of the East Gate, repaired. 30After him, Hananiah son of Shelemiah and Hanun, the sixth son of Zalaph, repaired a second stretch. After them,a Meshullam son of Berechiah repaired in front of his chamber. 31After him, Malchijah of the smiths repaired as far as the house of the temple servants and the merchants, [from] in front of the Muster Gate to the corner loft. 32And between the corner loft to the Sheep Gate the smiths and the merchants repaired.
33When Sanballat heard that we were rebuilding the wall, it angered him, and he was extremely vexed. He mocked the Jews, 34saying in the presence of his brothers and the Samarian force, What are the miserable Jews doing? Will they restore, offer sacrifice, and finish one day? Can they revive those stones out of the dust heaps, burned as they are?’’ 35Tobiah the Ammonite, alongside him, said,That stone wall they are building— if a fox climbed it he would breach it!’’
36Hear, our God, how we have become a mockery, and return their taunts upon their heads! Let them be taken as spoil to a land of captivity! 37Do not cover up their iniquity or let their sin be blotted out before You, for they hurled provocations at the builders.
38We rebuilt the wall till it was continuous all around to half its height; for the people’s heart was in the work.
4 When Sanballat and Tobiah, and the Arabs, the Ammonites, and the Ashdodites heard that healing had come to the walls of Jerusalem, that the breached parts had begun to be filled, it angered them very much, 2and they all conspired together to come and fight against Jerusalem and to throw it into confusion. 3Because of them we prayed to our God, and set up a watch over thema day and night.
4Judah was saying,
“The strength of the basket-carrier has failed,
And there is so much rubble;
We are not able ourselves
To rebuild the wall.’’
5And our foes were saying, Before they know or see it, we shall be in among them and kill them, and put a stop to the work.’’ 6When the Jews living near themb would arrive, they would tell us c-time and again-c d-… from all the places where … you shall come back to us. …’’-d 7I stationed, on the lower levels of the place, behind the walls, on the bare rock—I stationed the people by families with their swords, their lances, and their bows. 8Then I decided to exhort the nobles, the prefects, and the rest of the people, “Do not be afraid of them! Think of the great and awesome Lord, and fight for your brothers, your sons and daughters, your wives and homes!’’
9When our enemies learned that it had become known to us, since God had thus frustrated their plan, we could all return to the wall, each to his work. 10From that day on, half my servants did work and half held lances and shields, bows and armor. And the officers stood behind the whole house of Judah 11who were rebuilding the wall. The basket-carriers were burdened, doing work with one hand while the other held a weapon. 12As for the builders, each had his sword girded at his side as he was building. The trumpeter stood beside me. 13I said to the nobles, the prefects, and the rest of the people, “There is much work and it is spread out; we are scattered over the wall, far from one another. 14When you hear a trumpet call, gather yourselves to me at that place; our God will fight for us!’’ 15And so we worked on, while half were holding lances, from the break of day until the stars appeared.
16I further said to the people at that time, “Let every man with his servant lodge in Jerusalem, that we may use the night to stand guard and the day to work.’’ 17Nor did I, my brothers, my servants, or the guards following me ever take off our clothes, e-[or] each his weapon, even at the water.-e
5 There was a great outcry by the common folk and their wives against their brother Jews. 2Some said, Our sons and daughters are numerous; we must get grain to eat in order that we may live!’’ 3Others said,We must pawn our fields, our vineyards, and our homes to get grain to stave off hunger.’’ 4Yet others said, “We have borrowed money against our fields and vineyards to pay the king’s tax. 5Now a-we are as good as-a our brothers, and our children as good as theirs; yet here we are subjecting our sons and daughters to slavery—some of our daughters are already subjected—and we are powerless, while our fields and vineyards belong to others.’’
6It angered me very much to hear their outcry and these complaints.
