Nehemiah Builds despite Opposition

Nehemiah 4

¹ But when Sanballat heard that we were building the wall, he was angry, and was very indignant, and mocked the Jews.

² He spoke before his brothers and the army of Samaria, and said, “What are these feeble Jews doing? Will they fortify themselves? Will they sacrifice? Will they finish in a day? Will they revive the stones out of the heaps of rubbish, since they are burned?”

³ Now Tobiah the Ammonite was by him, and he said, “What they are building, if a fox climbed up it, he would break down their stone wall.”

⁴ “Hear, our God, for we are despised. Turn back their reproach on their own head. Give them up for a plunder in a land of captivity.

⁵ Don’t cover their iniquity. Don’t let their sin be blotted out from before you; for they have insulted the builders.”

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

⁷ But when Sanballat, Tobiah, the Arabians, the Ammonites, and the Ashdodites heard that the repairing of the walls of Jerusalem went forward, and that the breaches began to be filled, they were very angry;

⁸ and they all conspired together to come and fight against Jerusalem, and to cause confusion among us.

⁹ But we made our prayer to our God, and set a watch against them day and night because of them.

¹⁰ Judah said, “The strength of the bearers of burdens is fading and there is much rubble, so that we are not able to build the wall.”

¹¹ Our adversaries said, “They will not know or see, until we come in among them and kill them, and cause the work to cease.”

¹² When the Jews who lived by them came, they said to us ten times from all places, “Wherever you turn, they will attack us.”

¹³ Therefore I set guards in the lowest parts of the space behind the wall, in the open places. I set the people by family groups with their swords, their spears, and their bows.

¹⁴ I looked, and rose up, and said to the nobles, to the rulers, and to the rest of the people, “Don’t be afraid of them! Remember the Lord, who is great and awesome, and fight for your brothers, your sons, your daughters, your wives, and your houses.”

¹⁵ When our enemies heard that it was known to us, and God had brought their counsel to nothing, all of us returned to the wall, everyone to his work.

¹⁶ From that time forth, half of my servants did the work, and half of them held the spears, the shields, the bows, and the coats of mail; and the rulers were behind all the house of Judah.

¹⁷ Those who built the wall, and those who bore burdens loaded themselves; everyone with one of his hands did the work, and with the other held his weapon.

¹⁸ Among the builders, everyone wore his sword at his side, and so built. He who sounded the trumpet was by me.

¹⁹ I said to the nobles, and to the rulers and to the rest of the people, “The work is great and widely spread out, and we are separated on the wall, far from one another.

²⁰ Wherever you hear the sound of the trumpet, rally there to us. Our God will fight for us.”

²¹ So we did the work. Half of the people held the spears from the rising of the morning until the stars appeared.

²² Likewise at the same time I said to the people, “Let everyone with his servant lodge within Jerusalem, that in the night they may be a guard to us, and may labor in the day.”

²³ So neither I, nor my brothers, nor my servants, nor the men of the guard who followed me took off our clothes. Everyone took his weapon to the water.

Nehemiah 6

¹ Now when it was reported to Sanballat, Tobiah, Geshem the Arabian, and to the rest of our enemies that I had built the wall, and that there was no breach left in it (though even to that time I had not set up the doors in the gates),

² Sanballat and Geshem sent to me, saying, “Come! Let’s meet together in the villages in the plain of Ono.” But they intended to harm me.

³ I sent messengers to them, saying, “I am doing a great work, so that I can’t come down. Why should the work cease while I leave it and come down to you?”

⁴ They sent to me four times like this; and I answered them the same way.

⁵ Then Sanballat sent his servant to me the same way the fifth time with an open letter in his hand,

⁶ in which was written, “It is reported among the nations, and Gashmu says it, that you and the Jews intend to rebel. Because of that, you are building the wall. You would be their king, according to these words.

⁷ You have also appointed prophets to proclaim of you at Jerusalem, saying, ‘There is a king in Judah!’ Now it will be reported to the king according to these words. Come now therefore, and let’s take counsel together.”

⁸ Then I sent to him, saying, “There are no such things done as you say, but you imagine them out of your own heart.”

⁹ For they all would have made us afraid, saying, “Their hands will be weakened from the work, that it not be done.” But now, strengthen my hands.

¹⁰ I went to the house of Shemaiah the son of Delaiah the son of Mehetabel, who was shut in at his home; and he said, “Let us meet together in God’s house, within the temple, and let’s shut the doors of the temple; for they will come to kill you. Yes, in the night they will come to kill you.”

¹¹ I said, “Should a man like me flee? Who is there that, being such as I, would go into the temple to save his life? I will not go in.”

¹² I discerned, and behold, God had not sent him, but he pronounced this prophecy against me. Tobiah and Sanballat had hired him.

¹³ He was hired so that I would be afraid, do so, and sin, and that they might have material for an evil report, that they might reproach me.

¹⁴ “Remember, my God, Tobiah and Sanballat according to these their works, and also the prophetess Noadiah and the rest of the prophets that would have put me in fear.”

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

¹⁶ When all our enemies heard of it, all the nations that were around us were afraid, and they lost their confidence; for they perceived that this work was done by our God.

¹⁷ Moreover in those days the nobles of Judah sent many letters to Tobiah, and Tobiah’s letters came to them.

¹⁸ For there were many in Judah sworn to him because he was the son-in-law of Shecaniah the son of Arah; and his son Jehohanan had taken the daughter of Meshullam the son of Berechiah as wife.

¹⁹ Also they spoke of his good deeds before me, and reported my words to him. Tobiah sent letters to put me in fear.

Nehemiah 7

¹ Now when the wall was built and I had set up the doors, and the gatekeepers and the singers and the Levites were appointed,

² I put my brother Hanani, and Hananiah the governor of the fortress, in charge of Jerusalem; for he was a faithful man and feared God above many.

³ I said to them, “Don’t let the gates of Jerusalem be opened until the sun is hot; and while they stand guard, let them shut the doors, and you bar them; and appoint watches of the inhabitants of Jerusalem, everyone in his watch, with everyone near his house.”