Nehemiah 4:22

22 Likewise at the same time said I unto the people, Let each one with his servant lodge within Jerusalem, that by night they may be a guard to us, and labour by day.

Nehemiah 4:22 Meaning and Commentary

Nehemiah 4:22

Likewise at the same time said I unto the people
That were at work upon the wall:

let everyone with his servant lodge within Jerusalem;
every builder had a servant, or a lad, as the word signifies, to wait upon him, to bring mortar or stone, or what he wanted; and some of these builders, with their lads, came out of the country towns and villages in the morning, and returned at night; now Nehemiah proposed, for the safety of the city and its walls, that for the present they would lodge in Jerusalem:

that in the night they may be a guard unto us, and labour on the day;
might help to protect them in the night, should they be surprised with the enemy, and be ready for their work in the daytime.

Nehemiah 4:22 In-Context

20 In whatever place that you hear the voice of the shofar, join us there; our God shall fight for us.

21 So we laboured in the work, and half of them held the spears from the rising of the morning until the stars appeared.

22 Likewise at the same time said I unto the people, Let each one with his servant lodge within Jerusalem, that by night they may be a guard to us, and labour by day.

23 So neither I nor my brethren nor my servants nor the men of the guard who followed me, none of us put off our clothes, each one put them off only for washing.