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Nehemiah 4
3:3a. Called ‘the gate of Ephraim’ in Ne 12:39. b. Once the barracks of the king’s bodyguard.
1 When news reached Sanballat, Tobiah, the Arabs, the Ammonites and the Ashdodites, that repairs to the walls of Jerusalem were going forward-since the gaps were beginning to be made good-they were furious,
2 and conspired together to come and attack Jerusalem and upset my plans.
3 Then we called on our God and set a watch against them, day and night, to guard the city.
4 Judah, however, was saying, ‘The strength of the carriers is failing and the amount of rubble enormous; we shall never finish the wall’.
5 And our enemies were saying, ‘We will appear among them before they know or see anything; then we will cut them down and put an end to the business’.
6 Now on ten occasions Jews who lived near them gave us warning, ‘They are coming up against us from every place they live in’.
7 So we took up positions down behind the wall where the place was clear; I posted the people by families with their swords, spears and bows.
8 I had seen their fear and I stood up and addressed the authorities, the officials and the rest of the people, ‘Do not be afraid of them. Keep your minds on the Lord, who is great and to be feared, and fight for your kinsmen, your sons, your daughters, your wives and your homes.’
9 Learning, however, that we were forewarned, and that God had thwarted their plan, our enemies withdrew, and we all went back, everyone to his work on the wall.
10 But from that day onwards only half of my men continued the work; the rest, with spears, shields, bows and breastplates, stood behind all the House of Judah
11 who were building the wall. The carriers, too, were armed so that each did his work with one hand while gripping his weapon with the other.
12 And as each builder worked, he wore his sword at his side. Beside me stood a trumpeter.
13 I addressed the authorities, the officials and the rest of the people, ‘The work is important and extensive, and we are deployed along the wall at some distance from each other.
14 Rally round us wherever you hear the trumpet sounding, and our God will fight for us.’
15 So we went on with the work from break of day till the stars appeared.
16 Then I spoke to the people again, ‘Let each man, with his servant, spend the night inside Jerusalem: in this way we can employ the night in watching and the day in working’.
17 But none of us, neither myself, my kinsmen, my servants, nor the members of my personal guard, ever took off our clothes; every man kept his weapon to hand.