Nehemiah 4

1 When Sanballat, Tobiah, the Arabs, the Ammonites, and the Ashdodites heard that the restoration of the walls of Jerusalem was progressing--for the gaps were beginning to be closed up--they became extremely angry.
2 Thereupon they all plotted together to come and fight against Jerusalem and thus to throw us into confusion.
3 We prayed to our God and posted a watch against them day and night for fear of what they might do.
4 Meanwhile the Judahites were saying: Slackened is the bearers' strength, there is no end to the rubbish; Never shall we be able the wall to rebuild.
5 Our enemies thought, Before they are aware of it or see us, we shall come into their midst, kill them, and put an end to the work.
6 When the Jews who lived near them had come to us from one place after another, and had told us ten times over that they were about to attack us,
7 I stationed guards down below, behind the wall, near the exposed points, assigning them by family groups with their swords, their spears, and their bows.
8 I made an inspection, then addressed these words to the nobles, the magistrates, and the rest of the people: Have no fear of them! Keep in mind the LORD, who is great and to be feared, and fight for your brethren, your sons and daughters, your wives and your homes.
9 When our enemies became aware that we had been warned and that God had upset their plan, we all went back, each to his own task at the wall.
10 From that time on, however, only half my able men took a hand in the work, while the other half, armed with spears, bucklers, bows, and breastplates, stood guard behind the whole house of Judah
11 as they rebuilt the wall. The load carriers, too, were armed; each did his work with one hand and held a weapon with the other.
12 Every builder, while he worked, had his sword girt at his side. Also, a trumpeter stood beside me,
13 for I had said to the nobles, the magistrates, and the rest of the people: Our work is scattered and extensive, and we are widely separated from one another along the wall;
14 wherever you hear the trumpet sound, join us there; our God will fight with us.
15 Thus we went on with the work, half of the men with spears at the ready, from daybreak till the stars came out.
16 At the same time I told the people to spend the nights inside Jerusalem, each man with his own attendant, so that they might serve as a guard by night and a working force by day.
17 Neither I, nor my kinsmen, nor any of my attendants, nor any of the bodyguard that accompanied me took off his clothes; everyone kept his weapon at his right hand.
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Nehemiah 5

1 Then there rose a great outcry of the common people and their wives against certain of their fellow Jews.
2 Some said: We are forced to pawn our sons and daughters in order to get grain to eat that we may live.
3 Others said: We are forced to pawn our fields, our vineyards, and our houses, that we may have grain during the famine.
4 Still others said: To pay the king's tax we have borrowed money on our fields and our vineyards.
5 And though these are our own kinsmen and our children are as good as theirs, we have had to reduce our sons and daughters to slavery, and violence has been done to some of our daughters! Yet we can do nothing about it, for our fields and our vineyards belong to others.
6 I was extremely angry when I heard the reasons they had for complaint.
7 After some deliberation, I called the nobles and magistrates to account, saying to them, You are exacting interest from your own kinsmen! I then rebuked them severely,
8 saying to them: As far as we were able, we bought back our fellow Jews who had been sold to Gentiles; you, however, are selling your own brothers, to have them bought back by us. They remained silent, for they could find no answer.
9 I continued: What you are doing is not good. Should you not walk in the fear of our God, and put an end to the derision of our Gentile enemies?
10 I myself, my kinsmen, and my attendants have lent the people money and grain without charge. Let us put an end to this usury!
11 I ask that you return to them this very day their fields, their vineyards, their olive groves, and their houses, together with the interest on the money, the grain, the wine, and the oil that you have lent them.
12 They answered: We will return everything and exact nothing further from them. We will do just what you ask. Then I called for the priests and had them administer an oath to these men that they would do as they had promised.
13 I also shook out the folds of my garment, saying, Thus may God shake from his home and his fortune every man who fails to keep this promise, and may he thus be shaken out and emptied! And the whole assembly answered, Amen, and praised the LORD. Then the people did as they had promised.
14 Moreover, from the time that King Artaxerxes appointed me governor in the land of Judah, from his twentieth to his thirty-second year--during these twelve years neither I nor my brethren lived from the governor's allowance.
15 The earlier governors, my predecessors, had laid a heavy burden on the people, taking from them each day forty silver shekels for their food; then too, their men oppressed the people. But I, because I feared God, did not act thus.
16 Moreover, though I had acquired no land of my own, I did my part in this work on the wall, and all my men were gathered there for the work.
17 Though I set my table for a hundred and fifty persons, Jews and magistrates, as well as those who came to us from the nations round about,
18 and though the daily preparations were made at my expense--one beef, six choice muttons, poultry--besides all kinds of wine in abundance every ten days, despite this I did not claim the governor's allowance, for the labor lay heavy upon this people.
19 Keep in mind, O my God, in my favor all that I did for this people.

Nehemiah 6

1 When it had been reported to Sanballat, Tobiah, Geshem the Arab, and our other enemies that I had rebuilt the wall and that there was no breach left in it (though up to that time I had not yet set up the doors in the gates),
2 Sanballat and Geshem sent me this message: Come, let us hold council together at Caphirim in the plain of Ono. They were planning to do me harm.
3 However, I sent messengers to them with this reply: I am engaged in a great enterprise and am unable to come down; why should the work stop, while I leave it to come down to you?
4 Four times they sent me this same proposal, and each time I gave the same reply.
5 Then, the fifth time, Sanballat sent me the same message by one of his servants, who bore an unsealed letter
6 containing this text: Among the nations it has been reported--Geshem is witness to this--that you and the Jews are planning a rebellion; that for this reason you are rebuilding the wall; and that you are to be their king--and so on.
7 Also, that you have set up prophets in Jerusalem to proclaim you king of Judah. Now, since matters like these must reach the ear of the king, come, let us hold council together.
8 I sent him this answer: Nothing of what you report has taken place; rather, it is the invention of your own mind.
9 They were all trying to frighten us, thinking, Their hands will slacken in the work, and it will never be completed. But instead, I now redoubled my efforts.
10 I went to the house of Shemaiah, son of Delaiah, son of Mehetabel, who was unable to go about, and he said: Let us meet in the house of God, inside the temple building; let us lock the doors of the temple. For men are coming to kill you; by night they are coming to kill you.
11 My answer was: A man like me take flight? Can a man like me enter the temple to save his life? I will not go!
12 For on consideration it was plain to me that God had not sent him; rather, because Tobiah and Sanballat had bribed him, he voiced this prophecy concerning me
13 that I might act on it out of fear and commit this sin. Then they would have had a shameful story with which to discredit me.
14 Keep in mind Tobiah and Sanballat, O my God, because of these things they did; keep in mind as well Noadiah the prophetess and the other prophets who were trying to frighten me.
15 The wall was finished on the twenty-fifth day of Elul; it had taken fifty-two days.
16 When all our enemies had heard of this, and all the nations round about had taken note of it, our enemies lost much face in the eyes of the nations, for they knew that it was with our God's help that this work had been completed.
17 At that same time, however, many letters were going to Tobiah from the nobles of Judah, and Tobiah's letters were reaching them,
18 for many in Judah were in league with him, since he was the son-in-law of Shecaniah, son of Arah, and his son Jehohanan had married the daughter of Meshullam, son of Berechiah.
19 Thus they would praise his good deeds in my presence and relate to him whatever I said; and Tobiah sent letters trying to frighten me.