Nehemiah 4

1But when Sanballat heard that we were building the wall, he was angry, and was very indignant, and mocked the Jews.Cross-references: Ezra 4:1 · Neh 2:10 · Neh 2:19 · Ps 35:15 · Ps 44:13 · Matt 27:29 · +2 more

2He spoke before his brothers and the army of Samaria, and said, “What are these feeble Jews doing? Will they fortify themselves? Will they sacrifice? Will they finish in a day? Will they revive the stones out of the heaps of rubbish, since they are burned?”Cross-references: 1Sam 14:11 · 1Sam 17:43 · Ezra 4:9 · Neh 4:10 · Neh 12:27 · Neh 12:43 · +4 more

3Now Tobiah the Ammonite was by him, and he said, “What they are building, if a fox climbed up it, he would break down their stone wall.”Cross-references: 1Ki 20:10 · 1Ki 20:18 · 2Ki 18:23 · Neh 2:10 · Neh 2:19 · Neh 6:1 · +1 more

4“Hear, our God, for we are despised. Turn back their reproach on their own head. Give them up for a plunder in a land of captivity.Cross-references: 1Sam 17:26 · Ps 79:12 · Ps 123:3 · Prov 3:34 · Hos 12:14

5Don’t cover their iniquity. Don’t let their sin be blotted out from before you; for they have insulted the builders.”Cross-references: Ps 51:1 · Ps 51:9 · Ps 59:5 · Ps 69:27 · Ps 109:14 · Isa 36:11 · +4 more

6So we built the wall; and all the wall was joined together to half its height, for the people had a mind to work.Cross-references: 1Chr 29:3 · 1Chr 29:14 · 1Chr 29:17 · 2Chr 29:36 · Neh 6:15 · Ps 110:3 · +3 more

7But when Sanballat, Tobiah, the Arabians, the Ammonites, and the Ashdodites heard that the repairing of the walls of Jerusalem went forward, and that the breaches began to be filled, they were very angry;Cross-references: Gen 3:15 · Judg 10:7 · Judg 11:12 · 1Sam 5:1 · 1Sam 11:2 · 2Sam 10:1 · +19 more

8and they all conspired together to come and fight against Jerusalem, and to cause confusion among us.Cross-references: Ps 2:1 · Ps 83:3 · Isa 8:9 · Jer 20:10 · Acts 23:12

9But we made our prayer to our God, and set a watch against them day and night because of them.Cross-references: Gen 32:9 · Gen 32:28 · 2Ki 19:14 · Neh 4:11 · Ps 50:15 · Ps 55:16 · +5 more

10Judah said, “The strength of the bearers of burdens is fading and there is much rubble, so that we are not able to build the wall.”Cross-references: Num 13:31 · Num 32:9 · 2Chr 2:18 · Ps 11:1 · Ezek 29:18 · Hag 1:2

11Our adversaries said, “They will not know or see, until we come in among them and kill them, and cause the work to cease.”Cross-references: Judg 20:29 · 2Sam 17:2 · Ps 56:6 · Isa 47:11 · Acts 23:12 · Acts 23:21 · +1 more

12When the Jews who lived by them came, they said to us ten times from all places, “Wherever you turn, they will attack us.”Cross-references: Gen 31:7 · Gen 31:41 · Num 14:22 · Job 19:3

13Therefore I set guards in the lowest parts of the space behind the wall, in the open places. I set the people by family groups with their swords, their spears, and their bows.Cross-references: Gen 32:13 · 2Chr 32:2 · Neh 4:17 · Ps 112:5 · Song 3:7 · Matt 10:16 · +2 more

14I looked, and rose up, and said to the nobles, to the rulers, and to the rest of the people, “Don’t be afraid of them! Remember the Lord, who is great and awesome, and fight for your brothers, your sons, your daughters, your wives, and your houses.”Cross-references: Num 14:9 · Deut 1:21 · Deut 1:29 · Deut 10:17 · Deut 20:3 · Josh 1:9 · +22 more

15When our enemies heard that it was known to us, and God had brought their counsel to nothing, all of us returned to the wall, everyone to his work.Cross-references: 2Sam 15:31 · 2Sam 17:14 · Job 5:12 · Ps 33:10 · Prov 21:30 · Isa 8:10 · +6 more

16From that time forth, half of my servants did the work, and half of them held the spears, the shields, the bows, and the coats of mail; and the rulers were behind all the house of Judah.Cross-references: Neh 4:23 · Neh 5:15 · Ps 101:6

17Those who built the wall, and those who bore burdens loaded themselves; everyone with one of his hands did the work, and with the other held his weapon.Cross-references: Dan 9:25 · 1Cor 9:12 · 1Cor 16:9 · 1Cor 16:13 · 2Cor 6:7 · Eph 6:11 · +3 more

18Among the builders, everyone wore his sword at his side, and so built. He who sounded the trumpet was by me.Cross-references: Num 10:9 · 2Chr 13:12

19I said to the nobles, and to the rulers and to the rest of the people, “The work is great and widely spread out, and we are separated on the wall, far from one another.

20Wherever you hear the sound of the trumpet, rally there to us. Our God will fight for us.”Cross-references: Ex 14:14 · Ex 14:25 · Deut 1:30 · Deut 3:22 · Deut 20:4 · Josh 23:10 · +1 more

21So we did the work. Half of the people held the spears from the rising of the morning until the stars appeared.Cross-references: 1Cor 15:10 · 1Cor 15:58 · Gal 6:9 · Col 1:29

22Likewise at the same time I said to the people, “Let everyone with his servant lodge within Jerusalem, that in the night they may be a guard to us, and may labor in the day.”Cross-references: Neh 11:1

23So neither I, nor my brothers, nor my servants, nor the men of the guard who followed me took off our clothes. Everyone took his weapon to the water.Cross-references: Judg 5:11 · Judg 9:48 · Neh 5:16 · Neh 7:2 · 1Cor 15:10