Nehemiah 4

1And it came to pass, that when Sanaballat heard that we were building the wall he was angry: and being moved exceedingly he scoffed at the Jews.

2And said before his brethren, and the multitude of the Samaritans: What are the silly Jews doing? Will the Gentiles let them alone? will they sacrifice and make an end in a day? are they able to raise stones out of the heaps of the rubbish, which are burnt?

3Tobias also the Ammonite who was by him said: Let them build: if a fox go up, he will leap over their stone wall.

4Hear thou our God, for we are despised: turn their reproach upon their own head, and give them to be despised in a land of captivity.

5Cover not their iniquity, and let not their sin be blotted out from before thy face, because they have mocked thy builders.

6So we built the wall, and joined it all together unto the half thereof: and the heart of the people was excited to work.

7And it came to pass, when Sanaballat, and Tobias, and the Arabians, and the Ammonites, and the Azotians heard that the walls of Jerusalem were made up, and the breaches began to be closed, that they were exceedingly angry.

8And they all assembled themselves together, to come, and to fight against Jerusalem, and to prepare ambushes.

9And we prayed to our God, and set watchmen upon the wall day and night against them.

10And Juda said: The strength of the bearer of burdens is decayed, and the rubbish is very much, and we shall not be able to build the wall.

11And our enemies said: Let them not know, nor understand, till we come in the midst of them, and kill them, and cause the work to cease.

12And it came to pass, that when the Jews that dwelt by them came and told us ten times, out of all the places from whence they came to us,

13I set the people in the place behind the wall round about in order, with their swords, and spears, and bows.

14And I looked and rose up: and I said to the chief men and the magistrates, and to the rest of the common people: be not afraid of them. Remember the Lord who is great and terrible, and fight for your brethren, your sons, and your daughters, and your wives, and your houses.

15And it came to pass, when our enemies heard that the thing had been told us, that God defeated their counsel. And we returned all of us to the walls, every man to his work.

16And it came to pass from that day forward, that half of their young men did the work, and half were ready for to fight, with spears, and shields, and bows, and coats of mail, and the rulers were behind them in all the house of Juda.

17Of them that built on the wall and that carried burdens, and that laded: with one of his hands he did the work, and with the other he held a sword.

18For every one of the builders was girded with a sword about his reins. And they built, and sounded with a trumpet by me.

19And I said to the nobles, and to the magistrates, and to the rest of the common people: The work is great and wide, and we are separated on the wall one far from another:

20In what place soever you shall hear the sound of the trumpet, run all thither unto us: our God will fight for us.

21And let us do the work: and let one half of us hold our spears from the rising of the morning, till the stars appear.

22At that time also I said to the people: Let every one with his servant stay in the midst of Jerusalem, and let us take our turns in the night, and by day, to work.

23Now I and my brethren, and my servants, and the watchmen that followed me, did not put off our clothes: only every man stripped himself when he was to be washed.

1Factum est autem, cum audisset Sanaballat quod ædificaremus murum, iratus est valde : et motus nimis subsannavit Judæos,

2et dixit coram fratribus suis, et frequentia Samaritanorum : Quid Judæi faciunt imbecilles? num dimittent eos gentes? num sacrificabunt, et complebunt in una die? numquid ædificare poterunt lapides de acervis pulveris, qui combusti sunt?

3Sed et Tobias Ammanites, proximus ejus, ait : Ædificent : si ascenderit vulpes, transiliet murum eorum lapideum.

4Audi, Deus noster, quia facti sumus despectui : converte opprobrium super caput eorum, et da eos in despectionem in terra captivitatis.

5Ne operias iniquitatem eorum, et peccatum eorum coram facie tua non deleatur, quia irriserunt ædificantes.

6Itaque ædificavimus murum, et conjunximus totum usque ad partem dimidiam : et provocatum est cor populi ad operandum.

7Factum est autem, cum audisset Sanaballat, et Tobias, et Arabes, et Ammanitæ, et Azotii, quod obducta esset cicatrix muri Jerusalem, et quod cœpissent interrupta concludi, irati sunt nimis.

8Et congregati sunt omnes pariter ut venirent, et pugnarent contra Jerusalem, et molirentur insidias.

9Et oravimus Deum nostrum, et posuimus custodes super murum die ac nocte contra eos.

10Dixit autem Judas : Debilitata est fortitudo portantis, et humus nimia est, et nos non poterimus ædificare murum.

11Et dixerunt hostes nostri : Nesciant, et ignorent donec veniamus in medium eorum, et interficiamus eos, et cessare faciamus opus.

12Factum est autem venientibus Judæis qui habitabant juxta eos, et dicentibus nobis per decem vices, ex omnibus locis quibus venerant ad nos,

13statui in loco post murum per circuitum populum in ordinem cum gladiis suis, et lanceis, et arcubus.

14Et perspexi atque surrexi : et aio ad optimates et magistratus, et ad reliquam partem vulgi : Nolite timere a facie eorum : Domini magni et terribilis mementote, et pugnate pro fratribus vestris, filiis vestris, et filiabus vestris, et uxoribus vestris, et domibus vestris.

15Factum est autem, cum audissent inimici nostri nuntiatum esse nobis, dissipavit Deus consilium eorum. Et reversi sumus omnes ad muros, unusquisque ad opus suum.

16Et factum est a die illa, media pars juvenum eorum faciebat opus, et media parata erat ad bellum : et lanceæ, et scuta, et arcus, et loricæ, et principes post eos in omni domo Juda.

17Ædificantium in muro, et portantium onera, et imponentium : una manu sua faciebat opus, et altera tenebat gladium:

18ædificentium enim unusquisque gladio erat accinctus renes. Et ædificabant, et clangebant buccina juxta me.

19Et dixi ad optimates, et ad magistratus, et ad reliquam partem vulgi : Opus grande est et latum, et nos separati sumus in muro procul alter ab altero:

20in loco quocumque audieritis clangorem tubæ, illuc concurrite ad nos : Deus noster pugnabit pro nobis.

21Et nos ipsi faciamus opus, et media pars nostrum teneat lanceas ab ascensu auroræ donec egrediantur astra.

22In tempore quoque illo dixi populo : Unusquisque cum puero suo maneat in medio Jerusalem, et sint nobis vices per noctem et diem ad operandum.

23Ego autem et fratres mei, et pueri mei, et custodes, qui erant post me, non deponebamus vestimenta nostra : unusquisque tantum nudabatur ad baptismum.

1καὶ ἐγένετο ἡνίκα ἤκουσεν Σαναβαλλατ ὅτι ἡμεῖς οἰκοδομοῦμεν τὸ τεῖχος καὶ πονηρὸν ἦν αὐτῷ καὶ ὠργίσθη ἐπὶ πολὺ καὶ ἐξεγέλα ἐπὶ τοῖς Ιουδαίοις

2καὶ εἶπεν ἐνώπιον τῶν ἀδελφῶν αὐτοῦ αὕτη ἡ δύναμις Σομορων ὅτι οἱ Ιουδαῖοι οὗτοι οἰκοδομοῦσιν τὴν ἑαυτῶν πόλιν

3καὶ Τωβιας ὁ αμμανίτης ἐχόμενα αὐτοῦ ἦλθεν καὶ εἶπαν πρὸς ἑαυτούς μὴ θυσιάσουσιν ἢ φάγονται ἐπὶ τοῦ τόπου αὐτῶν οὐχὶ ἀναβήσεται ἀλώπηξ καὶ καθελεῖ τὸ τεῖχος λίθων αὐτῶν

4ἄκουσον ὁ θεὸς ἡμῶν ὅτι ἐγενήθημεν εἰς μυκτηρισμόν καὶ ἐπίστρεψον ὀνειδισμὸν αὐτῶν εἰς κεφαλὴν αὐτῶν καὶ δὸς αὐτοὺς εἰς μυκτηρισμὸν ἐν γῇ αἰχμαλωσίας

5καὶ μὴ καλύψῃς ἐπὶ ἀνομίαν

7καὶ ἐγένετο ὡς ἤκουσεν Σαναβαλλατ καὶ Τωβια καὶ οἱ Ἄραβες καὶ οἱ Αμμανῖται ὅτι ἀνέβη φυὴ τοῖς τείχεσιν Ιερουσαλημ ὅτι ἤρξαντο αἱ διασφαγαὶ ἀναφράσσεσθαι καὶ πονηρὸν αὐτοῖς ἐφάνη σφόδρα

8καὶ συνήχθησαν πάντες ἐπὶ τὸ αὐτὸ ἐλθεῖν παρατάξασθαι ἐν Ιερουσαλημ

9καὶ προσηυξάμεθα πρὸς τὸν θεὸν ἡμῶν καὶ ἐστήσαμεν προφύλακας ἐπ' αὐτοὺς ἡμέρας καὶ νυκτὸς ἀπὸ προσώπου αὐτῶν

10καὶ εἶπεν Ιουδας συνετρίβη ἡ ἰσχὺς τῶν ἐχθρῶν καὶ ὁ χοῦς πολύς καὶ ἡμεῖς οὐ δυνησόμεθα οἰκοδομεῖν ἐν τῷ τείχει

11καὶ εἶπαν οἱ θλίβοντες ἡμᾶς οὐ γνώσονται καὶ οὐκ ὄψονται ἕως ὅτου ἔλθωμεν εἰς μέσον αὐτῶν καὶ φονεύσωμεν αὐτοὺς καὶ καταπαύσωμεν τὸ ἔργον

12καὶ ἐγένετο ὡς ἤλθοσαν οἱ Ιουδαῖοι οἱ οἰκοῦντες ἐχόμενα αὐτῶν καὶ εἴποσαν ἡμῖν ἀναβαίνουσιν ἐκ πάντων τῶν τόπων ἐφ' ἡμᾶς

13καὶ ἔστησα εἰς τὰ κατώτατα τοῦ τόπου κατόπισθεν τοῦ τείχους ἐν τοῖς σκεπεινοῖς καὶ ἔστησα τὸν λαὸν κατὰ δήμους μετὰ ῥομφαιῶν αὐτῶν λόγχας αὐτῶν καὶ τόξα αὐτῶν

14καὶ εἶδον καὶ ἀνέστην καὶ εἶπα πρὸς τοὺς ἐντίμους καὶ πρὸς τοὺς στρατηγοὺς καὶ πρὸς τοὺς καταλοίπους τοῦ λαοῦ μὴ φοβηθῆτε ἀπὸ προσώπου αὐτῶν μνήσθητε τοῦ θεοῦ ἡμῶν τοῦ μεγάλου καὶ φοβεροῦ καὶ παρατάξασθε περὶ τῶν ἀδελφῶν ὑμῶν υἱῶν ὑμῶν καὶ θυγατέρων ὑμῶν γυναικῶν ὑμῶν καὶ οἴκων ὑμῶν

15καὶ ἐγένετο ἡνίκα ἤκουσαν οἱ ἐχθροὶ ἡμῶν ὅτι ἐγνώσθη ἡμῖν καὶ διεσκέδασεν ὁ θεὸς τὴν βουλὴν αὐτῶν καὶ ἐπεστρέψαμεν πάντες ἡμεῖς εἰς τὸ τεῖχος ἀνὴρ εἰς τὸ ἔργον αὐτοῦ

16καὶ ἐγένετο ἀπὸ τῆς ἡμέρας ἐκείνης ἥμισυ τῶν ἐκτετιναγμένων ἐποίουν τὸ ἔργον καὶ ἥμισυ αὐτῶν ἀντείχοντο καὶ λόγχαι καὶ θυρεοὶ καὶ τὰ τόξα καὶ οἱ θώρακες καὶ οἱ ἄρχοντες ὀπίσω παντὸς οἴκου Ιουδα

17τῶν οἰκοδομούντων ἐν τῷ τείχει καὶ οἱ αἴροντες ἐν τοῖς ἀρτῆρσιν ἐν ὅπλοις ἐν μιᾷ χειρὶ ἐποίει αὐτὸ τὸ ἔργον καὶ μία ἐκράτει τὴν βολίδα

18καὶ οἱ οἰκοδόμοι ἀνὴρ ῥομφαίαν αὐτοῦ ἐζωσμένος ἐπὶ τὴν ὀσφὺν αὐτοῦ καὶ ᾠκοδομοῦσαν καὶ ὁ σαλπίζων ἐν τῇ κερατίνῃ ἐχόμενα αὐτοῦ

19καὶ εἶπα πρὸς τοὺς ἐντίμους καὶ πρὸς τοὺς ἄρχοντας καὶ πρὸς τοὺς καταλοίπους τοῦ λαοῦ τὸ ἔργον πλατὺ καὶ πολύ καὶ ἡμεῖς σκορπιζόμεθα ἐπὶ τοῦ τείχους μακρὰν ἀνὴρ ἀπὸ τοῦ ἀδελφοῦ αὐτοῦ

20ἐν τόπῳ οὗ ἐὰν ἀκούσητε τὴν φωνὴν τῆς κερατίνης ἐκεῖ συναχθήσεσθε πρὸς ἡμᾶς καὶ ὁ θεὸς ἡμῶν πολεμήσει περὶ ἡμῶν

21καὶ ἡμεῖς ποιοῦντες τὸ ἔργον καὶ ἥμισυ αὐτῶν κρατοῦντες τὰς λόγχας ἀπὸ ἀναβάσεως τοῦ ὄρθρου ἕως ἐξόδου τῶν ἄστρων

22καὶ ἐν τῷ καιρῷ ἐκείνῳ εἶπα τῷ λαῷ αὐλίσθητε ἐν μέσῳ Ιερουσαλημ καὶ ἔστω ὑμῖν ἡ νὺξ προφυλακὴ καὶ ἡ ἡμέρα ἔργον

23καὶ ἤμην ἐγὼ καὶ οἱ ἄνδρες τῆς προφυλακῆς ὀπίσω μου καὶ οὐκ ἦν ἐξ ἡμῶν ἐκδιδυσκόμενος ἀνὴρ τὰ ἱμάτια αὐτοῦ