Builders of the Walls

3 Then ^(A)Eliashib the high priest arose with his brothers the priests and built ^(B)the Sheep Gate; they consecrated it and ^(C)hung its doors. They consecrated ^[a]the wall to ^(D)the Tower of the Hundred and ^(E)the Tower of Hananel. ² Next to him ^(F)the men of Jericho built, and next to ^[b]them Zaccur the son of Imri built.

³ Now the sons of Hassenaah built ^(G)the Fish Gate; they laid its beams and hung its doors with its bolts and bars. ⁴ Next to them Meremoth the son of Uriah the son of Hakkoz made repairs. And next to him Meshullam the son of Berechiah the son of Meshezabel made repairs. And next to ^[c]him Zadok the son of Baana also made repairs. ⁵ Moreover, next to ^[d]him the Tekoites made repairs, but their nobles did not ^[e]support the work of their masters.

⁶ Joiada the son of Paseah and Meshullam the son of Besodeiah repaired ^(H)the Old Gate; they laid its beams and hung its doors with its bolts and its bars. ⁷ Next to them Melatiah the Gibeonite and Jadon the Meronothite, the men of Gibeon and of Mizpah, ^[f]also made repairs for the official seat of the ^(I)governor of the province beyond the River. ⁸ Next to him Uzziel the son of Harhaiah of the ^(J)goldsmiths made repairs. And next to him Hananiah, one of the perfumers, made repairs, and they restored Jerusalem as far as ^(K)the Broad Wall. ⁹ Next to them Rephaiah the son of Hur, ^(L)the official of half the district of Jerusalem, made repairs. ¹⁰ Next to them Jedaiah the son of Harumaph made repairs opposite his house. And next to him Hattush the son of Hashabneiah made repairs. ¹¹ Malchijah the son of Harim and Hasshub the son of Pahath-moab repaired another section and ^(M)the Tower of Furnaces. ¹² Next to him Shallum the son of Hallohesh, ^(N)the official of half the district of Jerusalem, made repairs, he and his daughters.

¹³ Hanun and the inhabitants of Zanoah repaired ^(O)the Valley Gate. They built it and hung its doors with its bolts and its bars, and a thousand cubits of the wall to the ^[g]Refuse Gate.

¹⁴ Malchijah the son of Rechab, the official of the district of ^(P)Beth-haccherem repaired the ^[h](Q)Refuse Gate. He built it and hung its doors with its bolts and its bars.

¹⁵ Shallum the son of Col-hozeh, the official of the district of Mizpah, ^(R)repaired the Fountain Gate. He built it, covered it and hung its doors with its bolts and its bars, and the wall of the Pool of Shelah at ^(S)the king’s garden as far as ^(T)the steps that descend from the city of David. ¹⁶ After him Nehemiah the son of Azbuk, ^(U)official of half the district of Beth-zur, made repairs as far as a point opposite the tombs of David, and as far as ^(V)the artificial pool and the house of the mighty men. ¹⁷ After him the Levites carried out repairs under Rehum the son of Bani. Next to him Hashabiah, the official of half the district of Keilah, carried out repairs for his district. ¹⁸ After him their brothers carried out repairs under Bavvai the son of Henadad, official of the other half of the district of Keilah. ¹⁹ Next to him Ezer the son of Jeshua, ^(W)the official of Mizpah, repaired ^[i]another section in front of the ascent of the armory ^(X)at the Angle. ²⁰ After him Baruch the son of Zabbai zealously repaired another section, from the Angle to the doorway of the house of ^(Y)Eliashib the high priest. ²¹ After him Meremoth the son of Uriah the son of Hakkoz repaired another section, from the doorway of Eliashib’s house even as far as the end of ^[j]his house. ²² After him the priests, ^(Z)the men of the ^[k]valley, carried out repairs. ²³ After ^[l]them Benjamin and Hasshub carried out repairs in front of their house. After ^[m]them Azariah the son of Maaseiah, son of Ananiah, carried out repairs beside his house. ²⁴ After him Binnui the son of Henadad repaired another section, from the house of Azariah as far as ^(AA)the Angle and as far as the corner. ²⁵ Palal the son of Uzai made repairs in front of the Angle and the tower projecting from the upper house of the king, which is by ^(AB)the court of the guard. After him Pedaiah the son of Parosh made repairs. ^26 (AC)The temple servants living in ^(AD)Ophel made repairs as far as the front of ^(AE)the Water Gate toward the east and the projecting tower. ²⁷ After ^[n]them ^(AF)the Tekoites repaired another section in front of the great projecting tower and as far as the wall of Ophel.

²⁸ Above ^(AG)the Horse Gate the priests carried out repairs, each in front of his house. ²⁹ After ^[o]them Zadok the son of Immer carried out repairs in front of his house. And after him Shemaiah the son of Shecaniah, the keeper of the East Gate, carried out repairs. ³⁰ After him Hananiah the son of Shelemiah, and Hanun the sixth son of Zalaph, repaired another section. After him Meshullam the son of Berechiah carried out repairs in front of his own ^[p]quarters. ³¹ After him Malchijah, ^[q]one of ^(AH)the goldsmiths, carried out repairs as far as the house of the temple servants and of the merchants, in front of the ^[r]Inspection Gate and as far as the upper room of the corner. ³² Between the upper room of the corner and ^(AI)the Sheep Gate the goldsmiths and the merchants carried out repairs.

Work Is Ridiculed

4 ^[a]Now it came about that when ^(A)Sanballat heard that we were rebuilding the wall, he became furious and very angry and mocked the Jews. ² He spoke in the presence of his brothers and ^(B)the ^[b]wealthy men of Samaria and said, “What are these feeble Jews doing? Are they going to restore it for themselves? Can they offer sacrifices? Can they finish in a day? Can they revive the stones from the ^[c](C)dusty rubble even the burned ones?” ³ Now Tobiah the Ammonite was near him and he said, “Even what they are building—^(D)if a fox should ^[d]jump on it, he would break their stone wall down!”

^4 (E)Hear, O our God, how we are despised! ^(F)Return their reproach on their own heads and give them up for plunder in a land of captivity. ⁵ Do not ^[e](G)forgive their iniquity and let not their sin be blotted out before You, for they have ^[f]demoralized the builders.

⁶ So we built the wall and the whole wall was joined together to half its height, for the people had a ^[g]mind to work.

^7 [h]Now when Sanballat, Tobiah, the Arabs, the Ammonites and the Ashdodites heard that the ^[i]repair of the walls of Jerusalem went on, and that the breaches began to be closed, they were very angry. ⁸ All of them ^(H)conspired together to come and fight against Jerusalem and to cause a disturbance in it.

Discouragement Overcome

⁹ But we prayed to our God, and because of them we ^(I)set up a guard against them day and night.

¹⁰ Thus ^[j]in Judah it was said,

¹¹ Our enemies said, “They will not know or see until we come among them, kill them and put a stop to the work.” ¹² When the Jews who lived near them came and told us ten times, “^[l]They will come up against us from every place where you may turn,” ¹³ then I stationed men in the lowest parts of the space behind the wall, the ^[m]exposed places, and I ^(J)stationed the people in families with their swords, spears and bows. ¹⁴ When I saw their fear, I rose and spoke to the nobles, the officials and the rest of the people: “^(K)Do not be afraid of them; remember the Lord who is great and awesome, and ^(L)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 that ^(M)God had frustrated their plan, then all of us returned to the wall, each one to his work. ¹⁶ From that day on, half of my servants carried on the work while half of them held the spears, the shields, the bows and the breastplates; and the captains were behind the whole house of Judah. ¹⁷ Those who were rebuilding the wall and those who carried burdens took their load with one hand doing the work and the other holding a weapon. ¹⁸ As for the builders, each wore his sword girded at his side as he built, while ^[n]the trumpeter stood near me. ¹⁹ I said to the nobles, the officials and the rest of the people, “The work is great and extensive, and we are separated on the wall far from one another. ²⁰ At whatever place you hear the sound of the trumpet, ^[o]rally to us there. ^(N)Our God will fight for us.”

²¹ So we carried on the work with half of them holding spears from ^[p]dawn until the stars ^[q]appeared. ²² At that time I also said to the people, “Let each man with his servant spend the night within Jerusalem so that they may be a guard for us by night and a laborer by day.” ²³ So neither I, my brothers, my servants, nor the men of the guard who followed me, none of us removed our clothes, each took his weapon even to the water.

Usury Abolished

5 Now ^(A)there was a great outcry of the people and of their wives against their ^(B)Jewish brothers. ² For there were those who said, “We, our sons and our daughters are many; therefore let us ^(C)get grain that we may eat and live.” ³ There were others who said, “We are mortgaging our fields, our vineyards and our houses that we might get grain because of the famine.” ⁴ Also there were those who said, “We have borrowed money ^(D)for the king’s tax on our fields and our vineyards. ⁵ Now ^(E)our flesh is like the flesh of our brothers, our children like their children. Yet behold, ^(F)we are forcing our sons and our daughters to be slaves, and some of our daughters are forced into bondage already, and ^[a]we are helpless because our fields and vineyards belong to others.”

⁶ Then I was very ^(G)angry when I had heard their outcry and these words. ⁷ I consulted with myself and contended with the nobles and the rulers and said to them, “^(H)You are exacting usury, each from his brother!” Therefore, I held a great assembly against them. ⁸ I said to them, “We according to our ability ^(I)have ^[b]redeemed our Jewish brothers who were sold to the nations; now would you even sell your brothers that they may be sold to us?” Then they were silent and could not find a word to say. ⁹ Again I said, “The thing which you are doing is not good; should you not walk in the fear of our God because of ^(J)the reproach of the nations, our enemies? ¹⁰ And likewise I, my brothers and my servants are lending them money and grain. Please, let us leave off this usury. ¹¹ Please, give back to them this very day their fields, their vineyards, their olive groves and their houses, also the hundredth part of the money and of the grain, the new wine and the oil that you are exacting from them.” ¹² Then they said, “We ^(K)will give it back and ^(L)will require nothing from them; we will do exactly as you say.” So I called the priests and ^(M)took an oath from them that they would do according to this ^[c]promise. ¹³ I ^(N)also shook out the ^[d]front of my garment and said, “Thus may God shake out every man from his house and from his possessions who does not fulfill this ^[e]promise; even thus may he be shaken out and emptied.” And ^(O)all the assembly said, “Amen!” And they praised the Lord. Then the people did according to this ^[f]promise.

Nehemiah’s Example

¹⁴ Moreover, from the day that I was appointed to be their governor in the land of Judah, from ^(P)the twentieth year to the ^(Q)thirty-second year of King Artaxerxes, for twelve years, neither I nor my ^[g]kinsmen have eaten the governor’s food allowance. ¹⁵ But the former governors who were before me ^[h]laid burdens on the people and took from them bread and wine besides forty shekels of silver; even their servants domineered the people. But I did not do so ^(R)because of the fear of God. ¹⁶ I also ^[i]applied myself to the work on this wall; we did not buy any land, and all my servants were gathered there for the work. ¹⁷ Moreover, ^(S)there were at my table one hundred and fifty Jews and officials, besides those who came to us from the nations that were around us. ¹⁸ Now ^(T)that which was prepared for each day was one ox and six choice sheep, also birds were prepared for me; and once in ten days all sorts of wine were furnished in abundance. Yet for all this ^(U)I did not demand the governor’s food allowance, because the servitude was heavy on this people. ^19 (V)Remember me, O my God, for good, according to all that I have done for this people.