Enemies want to stop the Jews
1When they told Sanballat that we were building the wall, he was very angry. He was upset and he mocked the people of Judah. 2The other officials and the army of Samaria heard what he said. He said: ‘What are these people of Judah doing? They are poor and worthless. Do they want to repair everything themselves? Do they want to sacrifice_offerings and finish it all in one day? Do they want to use the stones that are burnt black from under the heaps of ruins? They will never succeed.’
3Tobiah, the Ammonite, was standing next to Sanballat and he said: ‘If they finish building the wall, a fox will push it over when it jumps against the wall.’
4I prayed and asked the Lord: ‘Our God, please listen to us and listen to how they mock us. Please make bad things happen to them, and let them become slaves in a land far away. 5Please punish them. Do not forgive their sin. They have mocked us because we are building the wall of the city.’
6We worked very hard and continued to build the wall. Soon the wall was half as high as it would be when it was finished.
The people of Judah stand ready with their weapons
7Sanballat and Tobiah and the Arabians and the Ammonites and the men of Ashdod were very angry when they told them that the people of Judah were building the wall and repairing all the places where it was broken down. 8They made plans to go to war_against Jerusalem and to make trouble for the people in the city. 9But we prayed to our God and we put guards out day and night to look out and see when our enemies were coming. 10The people of Judah said: ‘The people who carry the stones are getting tired and there are very big heaps of sand that they must carry. We will not be able to finish building the wall.’ 11And our enemies said: ‘Before the people of Judah know it and before they see us, we will be among them and we will kill them. Then the work will stop.’
12Some of the people of Judah who lived near our enemies came 10 times and told us: ‘Everywhere we go, our enemies come to attack us.’ 13I went to the men and told them to guard the wall at all the places where it was low and still broken down. Each family had to have swords, spears and bows_and_arrows. 14I told the important people, the leaders and the other people: ‘Do not be afraid of the enemy. You must remember that God is with us. He is great and everyone must be afraid of Him. You must fight for your brothers, for your sons and daughters, for your wives and for your homes.’
15They told our enemies that we knew about their plans and that we knew that God had stopped the things that they wanted to do. Then we all went back to the wall, and each one of us started to do his work again. 16From that day I told half of my men to work and the other half to guard the wall with spears, shields, bows_and_arrows and armour. The officers stood behind the people of Judah 17who built the wall. The people who carried the stones worked with one hand and in the other hand they had weapons. 18The men who were building had their swords tied to their hips and the man who had to blow the ram's-horn was standing next to me. 19I told all the important people, the leaders and the other people: ‘We are far away from each other on the wall. 20When you hear the sound of the ram's-horn, you must all come together. Our God will fight for us.’
21So we kept on working, and half of us were standing ready with our spears. Every day we started to work before the sun came up in the morning and we worked until the stars came out at night. 22I asked the people to stay in Jerusalem, each man and the people working for him, so that they could be on guard at night and work in the day. 23No one took off their clothes when they went to sleep, not I or my brothers or the men who worked for me or the men who were on guard. Everyone had their spears ready, even when they washed themselves.
