Nehemiah 4

A sword in one hand

1When Sanballat, Tobiah, the Arabs, the Ammonites and the men of Ashdod heard that the repair of the walls of Jerusalem was moving ahead and that the gaps were beginning to be closed, they were furious. 2They all conspired together to come and attack Jerusalem and throw it into confusion. 3So we prayed to our God, and because of them we posted a guard against them day and night. 4Meanwhile Judah was saying, “The strength of the carriers is failing, and the rubble is too much for us; we cannot go on building the wall.” 5And our adversaries were saying, “Before they know or see a thing, we will be among them; we will kill them and put an end to the work.” 6The Jews who lived near them came and told us ten times over, “Wherever you turn, they will be on us.” 7So I posted men in the lowest places behind the wall, at the exposed stretches; I posted the people by families, with their swords, their spears and their bows. 8I looked things over, then stood up and said to the nobles, the officials and the rest of the people: “Do not be afraid of them. Remember the Lord, great and awesome, and fight for your brothers, your sons and your daughters, your wives and your homes.” 9When our enemies heard that we had learned of their plan and that God had broken it up, we all went back to the wall, each to his own work. 10From that day on, half of my men did the work while the other half held the spears, the shields, the bows and the coats of mail; and the officers stood behind the whole house of Judah. 11Those who were building the wall and those who hauled the loads did their work with one hand and gripped a weapon with the other. 12Every builder had his sword strapped to his side as he built. And the man who sounded the trumpet stayed at my side. 13I said to the nobles, the officials and the rest of the people: “The work is huge and spread out, and we are scattered along the wall, far from one another. 14Wherever you hear the sound of the trumpet, gather to us there. Our God will fight for us.” 15So we kept at the work, half of the men holding spears from the first light of dawn until the stars came out. 16At that time I also said to the people, “Let every man and his servant spend the night inside Jerusalem, so that at night they can stand guard for us and by day get on with the work.” 17Neither I nor my brothers nor my men nor the guards who stayed with me ever took off our clothes; each of us kept his weapon at hand, even when going for water.