4

The Wall Defended Against Enemies

¹But it so happened, ⚓when Sanballat heard that we were rebuilding the wall, that he was furious and very indignant, and mocked the Jews. ²And he spoke before his brethren and the army of Samaria, and said, “What are these feeble Jews doing? Will they fortify themselves? Will they offer sacrifices? Will they complete it in a day? Will they revive the stones from the heaps of rubbish—stones that are burned?”
³Now ⚓Tobiah the Ammonite was beside him, and he said, “Whatever they build, if even a fox goes up on it, he will break down their stone wall.”
⁴⚓Hear, O our God, for we are despised; ⚓turn their reproach on their own heads, and give them as plunder to a land of captivity! ⁵⚓Do not cover their iniquity, and do not let their sin be blotted out from before You; for they have provoked You to anger before the builders.
⁶So we built the wall, and the entire wall was joined together up to half its height, for the people had a mind to work.
⁷Now it happened, ⚓when Sanballat, Tobiah, ⚓the Arabs, the Ammonites, and the Ashdodites heard that the walls of Jerusalem were being restored and the gaps were beginning to be closed, that they became very angry, ⁸and all of them ⚓conspired together to come and attack Jerusalem and create confusion. ⁹Nevertheless ⚓we made our prayer to our God, and because of them we set a watch against them day and night.
¹⁰Then Judah said, “The strength of the laborers is failing, and there is so much rubbish that we are not able to build the wall.”
¹¹And our adversaries said, “They will neither know nor see anything, till we come into their midst and kill them and cause the work to cease.”
¹²So it was, when the Jews who dwelt near them came, that they told us ten times, “From whatever place you turn, they will be upon us.”
¹³Therefore I positioned men behind the lower parts of the wall, at the openings; and I set the people according to their families, with their swords, their spears, and their bows. ¹⁴And I looked, and arose and said to the nobles, to the leaders, and to the rest of the people, ⚓“Do not be afraid of them. Remember the Lord, ⚓great and awesome, and ⚓fight for your brethren, your sons, your daughters, your wives, and your houses.”
¹⁵And it happened, when our enemies heard that it was known to us, and ⚓that God had brought their plot to nothing, that all of us returned to the wall, everyone to his work. ¹⁶So it was, from that time on, that half of my servants worked at construction, while the other half held the spears, the shields, the bows, and wore armor; and the leaders were behind all the house of Judah. ¹⁷Those who built on the wall, and those who carried burdens, loaded themselves so that with one hand they worked at construction, and with the other held a weapon. ¹⁸Every one of the builders had his sword girded at his side as he built. And the one who sounded the trumpet was beside me.
¹⁹Then I said to the nobles, the rulers, and the rest of the people, “The work is great and extensive, and we are separated far from one another on the wall. ²⁰Wherever you hear the sound of the trumpet, rally to us there. ⚓Our God will fight for us.”
²¹So we labored in the work, and half of the men held the spears from daybreak until the stars appeared. ²²At the same time I also said to the people, “Let each man and his servant stay at night in Jerusalem, that they may be our guard by night and a working party by day.” ²³So neither I, my brethren, my servants, nor the men of the guard who followed me took off our clothes, except that everyone took them off for washing.

4

尼希米胜过阻挡他工作的人

¹参巴拉听见我们建造城墙就发怒，非常恼恨，并嗤笑犹太人。 ²他对他的弟兄和撒玛利亚的军兵说：“这些软弱的犹太人做什么呢？要为自己重建吗⚓？要献祭吗？要一日完工吗？要使土堆里火烧过的石头再有用吗？” ³亚扪人多比雅在一旁说：“他们所修造的石墙，就是狐狸上去也必崩裂。” ⁴我们的上帝啊，求你垂听，因为我们被藐视。求你使他们的毁谤归于他们自己头上，使他们在被掳之地成为掠物。 ⁵不要遮掩他们的罪孽，不要使他们的罪恶从你面前涂去，因为他们在修造的人前面惹你发怒。 ⁶这样，我们修造城墙，整个城墙就连接起来，到一半高，因为百姓一心做工。
⁷参巴拉、多比雅、阿拉伯人、亚扪人和亚实突人听见耶路撒冷城墙正在修造，破裂的地方开始进行修补，就非常愤怒。 ⁸大家同谋要来攻打耶路撒冷，使城混乱。 ⁹然而，我们向我们的上帝祷告，又因他们的缘故，就派人站岗，昼夜防备他们。
¹⁰但犹大有话说：
“扛抬的人力气衰弱，
瓦砾太多，
我们自己不可能
建造城墙。”
¹¹我们的敌人说：“趁他们不知道，看不见的时候，我们进入他们中间，杀了他们，使工作停止。” ¹²那靠近敌人居住的犹太人十次从各处来见我们，说：“你们必须回到我们那里。” ¹³我叫百姓站在城墙后边低洼的空处，使百姓各按宗族站着，拿刀、拿枪、拿弓。 ¹⁴我察看了，就起来对贵族、官长和其余的百姓说：“不要怕他们！当记得主是大而可畏的。你们要为你们的弟兄、儿女、妻子、家园争战。”
¹⁵仇敌听见我们知道了他们的计谋，上帝也破坏他们的计谋，我们就都回到城墙那里，各做各的工。 ¹⁶从那日起，我的仆人一半做工，一半拿枪、拿盾牌、拿弓、穿铠甲，官长都站在犹大全家的后边。 ¹⁷他们建造城墙；扛抬材料的人扛抬的时候，一手做工，一手拿兵器。 ¹⁸建造的人都腰间佩刀建造，吹角的人在我旁边。 ¹⁹我对贵族、官长和其余的百姓说：“这工程浩大，范围辽阔，我们在城墙上彼此相离很远。 ²⁰你们一听见角声在哪里，就聚集到我们那里去。我们的上帝必为我们争战。”
²¹于是，我们做这工程，一半的人拿枪，从天亮直到星宿出现的时候。 ²²那时，我又对百姓说：“各人和他的仆人当在耶路撒冷过夜，好为我们夜间守卫，白昼做工。” ²³这样，我和弟兄仆人，以及跟从我的卫兵都不脱衣服，各人打水时⚓也拿着自己的兵器。