Parallel Bible results for "nehemiah 4"

Nehemiah 4

Good News Translation GNT

1 When Sanballat heard that we Jews had begun rebuilding the wall, he became furious and began to ridicule us.

2 In front of his companions and the Samaritan troops he said, "What do these miserable Jews think they're doing? Do they intend to rebuild the city? Do they think that by offering sacrifices they can finish the work in one day? Can they make building stones out of heaps of burnt rubble?"

3 Tobiah was standing there beside him, and he added, "What kind of wall could they ever build? Even a fox could knock it down!"

4 I prayed, "Hear how they make fun of us, O God! Let their ridicule fall on their own heads. Let them be robbed of everything they have, and let them be taken as prisoners to a foreign land.

5 Don't forgive the evil they do and don't forget their sins, for they have insulted us who are building."

6 So we went on rebuilding the wall, and soon it was half its full height, because the people were eager to work.

7 Sanballat, Tobiah, and the people of Arabia, Ammon, and Ashdod heard that we were making progress in rebuilding the wall of Jerusalem and that the gaps in the wall were being closed, and they became very angry.

8 So they all plotted together to come and attack Jerusalem and create confusion,

9 but we prayed to our God and kept men on guard against them day and night.

10 The people of Judah had a song they sang: "We grow weak carrying burdens; There's so much rubble to take away. How can we build the wall today?"

11 Our enemies thought we would not see them or know what was happening until they were already upon us, killing us and putting an end to our work.

12 But time after time Jews who were living among our enemies came to warn us of the plans our enemies were making against us.

13 So I armed the people with swords, spears, and bows, and stationed them by clans behind the wall, wherever it was still unfinished.

14 I saw that the people were worried, so I said to them and to their leaders and officials, "Don't be afraid of our enemies. Remember how great and terrifying the Lord is, and fight for your relatives, your children, your wives, and your homes."

15 Our enemies heard that we had found out what they were plotting, and they realized that God had defeated their plans. Then all of us went back to rebuilding the wall.

16 From then on half of my men worked and half stood guard, wearing coats of armor and armed with spears, shields, and bows. And our leaders gave their full support to the people

17 who were rebuilding the wall. Even those who carried building materials worked with one hand and kept a weapon in the other,

18 and everyone who was building kept a sword strapped to their waist. The man who was to sound the alarm on the bugle stayed with me.

19 I told the people and their officials and leaders, "The work is spread out over such a distance that we are widely separated from one another on the wall.

20 If you hear the bugle, gather around me. Our God will fight for us."

21 So every day, from dawn until the stars came out at night, half of us worked on the wall, while the other half stood guard with spears.

22 During this time I told the men in charge that they and all their helpers had to stay in Jerusalem at night, so that we could guard the city at night as well as work in the daytime.

23 I didn't take off my clothes even at night, neither did any of my companions nor my servants nor my bodyguards. And we all kept our weapons at hand.

World English Bible WEB

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.