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<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" /><meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width; initial-scale=1.0; maximum-scale=1.0; user-scalable=0;"/><title>Nehemiah 4 New Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition</title><link rel="stylesheet" href="/chapnew2.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="../spec.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="/print.css" type="text/css" media="Print" /></head><body><div id="fx"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx2"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="30" scrolling="no" src="../cmenus/nehemiah/4.htm" align="left" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div><div id="blnk"></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable"><tr><td><div id="fx5"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx6"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="245" scrolling="no" src="/bmcc/nehemiah/4-1.htm" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable3"><tr><td><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center" id="announce"><tr><td><div id="l1"><div id="breadcrumbs"><a href="http://biblehub.com/catholic">Bible</a> > <a href="../">NRSVCE</a> > Nehemiah 4</div><div id="anc"><iframe src="/anc.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></div><div id="anc2"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><iframe src="/anc2.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></div></td></tr></table><div id="movebox2"><table border="0" align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td><div id="topheading"><a href="../nehemiah/3.htm" title="Nehemiah 3">◄</a> Nehemiah 4 <a href="../nehemiah/5.htm" title="Nehemiah 5">►</a></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center" class="maintable2"><table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><div id="leftbox"><div class="padleft"><div class="vheading"><table width="100%"><tr><td width="99%" valign="top">New Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition</td><td width="1%" valign="top"></td></tr></table></div><div class="chap"><div class="text-html"> <h3><span id="en" class="text">Hostile Plots Thwarted</span></h3><p class="chapter-1"><span class="text"><span class="versenum">1</span><span data-fn='#fen' class='footnote' data-link='[<a href="#fen-NRSVCE-12361a" title="See footnote a">a</a>]'>[<a href="#fen" xtitle="See footnote a">a</a>]</span> Now when Sanballat heard that we were building the wall, he was angry and greatly enraged, and he mocked the Jews. </span> <span id="en" class="text"><span class="versenum">2</span>He said in the presence of his associates and of the army of Samaria, “What are these feeble Jews doing? Will they restore things? Will they sacrifice? Will they finish it in a day? Will they revive the stones out of the heaps of rubbish—and burned ones at that?” </span> <span id="en" class="text"><span class="versenum">3</span>Tobiah the Ammonite was beside him, and he said, “That stone wall they are building—any fox going up on it would break it down!” </span> <span id="en" class="text"><span class="versenum">4</span>Hear, O our God, for we are despised; turn their taunt back on their own heads, and give them over as plunder in a land of captivity. </span> <span id="en" class="text"><span class="versenum">5</span>Do not cover their guilt, and do not let their sin be blotted out from your sight; for they have hurled insults in the face of the builders.</span></p> <p><span id="en" class="text"><span class="versenum">6</span>So we rebuilt the wall, and all the wall was joined together to half its height; for the people had a mind to work.</span></p> <p><span id="en" class="text"><span class="versenum">7</span><span data-fn='#fen' class='footnote' data-link='[<a href="#fen-NRSVCE-12367b" title="See footnote b">b</a>]'>[<a href="#fen" xtitle="See footnote b">b</a>]</span> But when Sanballat and Tobiah and the Arabs and the Ammonites and the Ashdodites heard that the repairing of the walls of Jerusalem was going forward and the gaps were beginning to be closed, they were very angry, </span> <span id="en" class="text"><span class="versenum">8</span>and all plotted together to come and fight against Jerusalem and to cause confusion in it. </span> <span id="en" class="text"><span class="versenum">9</span>So we prayed to our God, and set a guard as a protection against them day and night.</span></p> <p><span id="en" class="text"><span class="versenum">10</span>But Judah said, “The strength of the burden bearers is failing, and there is too much rubbish so that we are unable to work on the wall.” </span> <span id="en" class="text"><span class="versenum">11</span>And our enemies said, “They will not know or see anything before we come upon them and kill them and stop the work.” </span> <span id="en" class="text"><span class="versenum">12</span>When the Jews who lived near them came, they said to us ten times, “From all the places where they live<span data-fn='#fen' class='footnote' data-link='[<a href="#fen-NRSVCE-12372c" title="See footnote c">c</a>]'>[<a href="#fen" xtitle="See footnote c">c</a>]</span> they will come up against us.”<span data-fn='#fen' class='footnote' data-link='[<a href="#fen-NRSVCE-12372d" title="See footnote d">d</a>]'>[<a href="#fen" xtitle="See footnote d">d</a>]</span> </span> <span id="en" class="text"><span class="versenum">13</span>So in the lowest parts of the space behind the wall, in open places, I stationed the people according to their families,<span data-fn='#fen' class='footnote' data-link='[<a href="#fen-NRSVCE-12373e" title="See footnote e">e</a>]'>[<a href="#fen" xtitle="See footnote e">e</a>]</span> with their swords, their spears, and their bows. </span> <span id="en" class="text"><span class="versenum">14</span>After I looked these things over, I stood up and said to the nobles and the officials and the rest of the people, “Do not be afraid of them. Remember the <span style="font-variant: small-caps" class="small-caps">Lord</span>, who is great and awesome, and fight for your kin, your sons, your daughters, your wives, and your homes.”</span></p> <p><span id="en" class="text"><span class="versenum">15</span>When our enemies heard that their plot was known to us, and that God had frustrated it, we all returned to the wall, each to his work. </span> <span id="en" class="text"><span class="versenum">16</span>From that day on, half of my servants worked on construction, and half held the spears, shields, bows, and body-armor; and the leaders posted themselves behind the whole house of Judah, </span> <span id="en" class="text"><span class="versenum">17</span>who were building the wall. The burden bearers carried their loads in such a way that each labored on the work with one hand and with the other held a weapon. </span> <span id="en" class="text"><span class="versenum">18</span>And each of the builders had his sword strapped at his side while he built. The man who sounded the trumpet was beside me. </span> <span id="en" class="text"><span class="versenum">19</span>And I said to the nobles, the officials, and the rest of the people, “The work is great and widely spread out, and we are separated far from one another on the wall. </span> <span id="en" class="text"><span class="versenum">20</span>Rally to us wherever you hear the sound of the trumpet. Our God will fight for us.”</span></p> <p><span id="en" class="text"><span class="versenum">21</span>So we labored at the work, and half of them held the spears from break of dawn until the stars came out. </span> <span id="en" class="text"><span class="versenum">22</span>I also said to the people at that time, “Let every man and his servant pass the night inside Jerusalem, so that they may be a guard for us by night and may labor by day.” </span> <span id="en" class="text"><span class="versenum">23</span>So neither I nor my brothers nor my servants nor the men of the guard who followed me ever took off our clothes; each kept his weapon in his right hand.<span data-fn='#fen' class='footnote' data-link='[<a href="#fen-NRSVCE-12383f" title="See footnote f">f</a>]'>[<a href="#fen" xtitle="See footnote f">f</a>]</span></span></p> <A name="fen"></a><div class="footnotes"><h4>Footnotes</h4><ol><li id="fen"><a hlef="#en" xtitle="Go to Nehemiah 4:1">Nehemiah 4:1</a> <span class='footnote-text'>Ch 3.33 in Heb</span></li><li id="fen"><a hlef="#en" xtitle="Go to Nehemiah 4:7">Nehemiah 4:7</a> <span class='footnote-text'>Ch 4.1 in Heb</span></li><li id="fen"><a hlef="#en" xtitle="Go to Nehemiah 4:12">Nehemiah 4:12</a> <span class='footnote-text'>Cn: Heb <i>you return</i></span></li><li id="fen"><a hlef="#en" xtitle="Go to Nehemiah 4:12">Nehemiah 4:12</a> <span class='footnote-text'>Compare Gk Syr: Meaning of Heb uncertain</span></li><li id="fen"><a hlef="#en" xtitle="Go to Nehemiah 4:13">Nehemiah 4:13</a> <span class='footnote-text'>Meaning of Heb uncertain</span></li><li id="fen"><a hlef="#en" xtitle="Go to Nehemiah 4:23">Nehemiah 4:23</a> <span class='footnote-text'>Cn: Heb <i>each his weapon the water</i></span></li></ol></div> </div></div></div></div></div> </div> </div><div id="botbox"><div class="padbot"><div align="center">Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Catholic Edition, copyright © 1989, 1993 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. 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