Nehemiah:4-6
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But it came to pass ,
that when Sanballat heard that we builded the wall ,
he was wroth ,
and took great indignation ,
and mocked the Jews .
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And he spake before his brethren and the army of Samaria ,
and said ,
What do these feeble Jews ?
will they fortify themselves ?
will they sacrifice ?
will they make an end in a day ?
will they revive the stones out of the heaps of the rubbish which are burned ?
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Now Tobiah the Ammonite was by him ,
and he said ,
Even that which they build ,
if a fox go up ,
he shall even break down their stone wall .
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Hear ,
O our God ;
for we are despised :
and turn their reproach upon their own head ,
and give them for a prey in the land of captivity :
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And cover not their iniquity ,
and let not their sin be blotted out from before thee :
for they have provoked thee to anger before the builders .
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So built we the wall ;
and all the wall was joined together unto the half thereof :
for the people had a mind to work .
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But it came to pass ,
that when Sanballat ,
and Tobiah ,
and the Arabians ,
and the Ammonites ,
and the Ashdodites ,
heard that the walls of Jerusalem were made up ,
and that the breaches began to be stopped ,
then they were very wroth ,
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And conspired all of them together to come and to fight against Jerusalem ,
and to hinder it .
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Nevertheless we made our prayer unto our God ,
and set a watch against them day and night ,
because of them .
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And Judah said ,
The strength of the bearers of burdens is decayed ,
and there is much rubbish ;
so that we are not able to build the wall .
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And our adversaries said ,
They shall not know ,
neither see ,
till we come in the midst among them ,
and slay them ,
and cause the work to cease .
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And it came to pass ,
that when the Jews which dwelt by them came ,
they said unto us ten times ,
From all places whence ye shall return unto us they will be upon you .
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Therefore set I in the lower places behind the wall ,
and on the higher places ,
I even set the people after their families with their swords ,
their spears ,
and their bows .
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And I looked ,
and rose up ,
and said unto the nobles ,
and to the rulers ,
and to the rest of the people ,
Be not ye afraid of them :
remember the Lord ,
which is great and terrible ,
and fight for your brethren ,
your sons ,
and your daughters ,
your wives ,
and your houses .
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And it came to pass ,
when our enemies heard that it was known unto us ,
and God had brought their counsel to nought ,
that we returned all of us to the wall ,
every one unto his work .
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And it came to pass from that time forth ,
that the half of my servants wrought in the work ,
and the other half of them held both the spears ,
the shields ,
and the bows ,
and the habergeons ;
and the rulers were behind all the house of Judah .
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They which builded on the wall ,
and they that bare burdens ,
with those that laded ,
every one with one of his hands wrought in the work ,
and with the other hand held a weapon .
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For the builders ,
every one had his sword girded by his side ,
and so builded .
And he that sounded the trumpet was by me .
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And I said unto the nobles ,
and to the rulers ,
and to the rest of the people ,
The work is great and large ,
and we are separated upon the wall ,
one far from another .
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In what place therefore ye hear the sound of the trumpet ,
resort ye thither unto us :
our God shall fight for us .
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So we laboured in the work :
and half of them held the spears from the rising of the morning till the stars appeared .
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Likewise at the same time said I unto the people ,
Let every one with his servant lodge within Jerusalem ,
that in the night they may be a guard to us ,
and labour on the day .
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So neither I ,
nor my brethren ,
nor my servants ,
nor the men of the guard which followed me ,
none of us put off our clothes ,
saving that every one put them off for washing .
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And there was a great cry of the people and of their wives against their brethren the Jews .
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For there were that said ,
We ,
our sons ,
and our daughters ,
are many :
therefore we take up corn for them ,
that we may eat ,
and live .
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Some also there were that said ,
We have mortgaged our lands ,
vineyards ,
and houses ,
that we might buy corn ,
because of the dearth .
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There were also that said ,
We have borrowed money for the king '
s tribute ,
and that upon our lands and vineyards .
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Yet now our flesh is as the flesh of our brethren ,
our children as their children :
and ,
lo ,
we bring into bondage our sons and our daughters to be servants ,
and some of our daughters are brought unto bondage already :
neither is it in our power to redeem them ;
for other men have our lands and vineyards .
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And I was very angry when I heard their cry and these words .
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Then I consulted with myself ,
and I rebuked the nobles ,
and the rulers ,
and said unto them ,
Ye exact usury ,
every one of his brother .
And I set a great assembly against them .
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And I said unto them ,
We after our ability have redeemed our brethren the Jews ,
which were sold unto the heathen ;
and will ye even sell your brethren ?
or shall they be sold unto us ?
Then held they their peace ,
and found nothing to answer .
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Also I said ,
It is not good that ye do :
ought ye not to walk in the fear of our God because of the reproach of the heathen our enemies ?
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I likewise ,
and my brethren ,
and my servants ,
might exact of them money and corn :
I pray you ,
let us leave off this usury .
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Restore ,
I pray you ,
to them ,
even this day ,
their lands ,
their vineyards ,
their oliveyards ,
and their houses ,
also the hundredth part of the money ,
and of the corn ,
the wine ,
and the oil ,
that ye exact of them .
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Then said they ,
We will restore them ,
and will require nothing of them ;
so will we do as thou sayest .
Then I called the priests ,
and took an oath of them ,
that they should do according to this promise .
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Also I shook my lap ,
and said ,
So God shake out every man from his house ,
and from his labour ,
that performeth not this promise ,
even thus be he shaken out ,
and emptied .
And all the congregation said ,
Amen ,
and praised the LORD .
And the people did according to this promise .
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Moreover from the time that I was appointed to be their governor in the land of Judah ,
from the twentieth year even unto the two and thirtieth year of Artaxerxes the king ,
that is ,
twelve years ,
I and my brethren have not eaten the bread of the governor .
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But the former governors that had been before me were chargeable unto the people ,
and had taken of them bread and wine ,
beside forty shekels of silver ;
yea ,
even their servants bare rule over the people :
but so did not I ,
because of the fear of God .
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Yea ,
also I continued in the work of this wall ,
neither bought we any land :
and all my servants were gathered thither unto the work .
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Moreover there were at my table an hundred and fifty of the Jews and rulers ,
beside those that came unto us from among the heathen that are about us .
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Now that which was prepared for me daily was one ox and six choice sheep ;
also fowls were prepared for me ,
and once in ten days store of all sorts of wine :
yet for all this required not I the bread of the governor ,
because the bondage was heavy upon this people .
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Think upon me ,
my God ,
for good ,
according to all that I have done for this people .
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Now it came to pass ,
when Sanballat ,
and Tobiah ,
and Geshem the Arabian ,
and the rest of our enemies ,
heard that I had builded the wall ,
and that there was no breach left therein ; (
though at that time I had not set up the doors upon the gates ;)
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That Sanballat and Geshem sent unto me ,
saying ,
Come ,
let us meet together in some one of the villages in the plain of Ono .
But they thought to do me mischief .
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And I sent messengers unto them ,
saying ,
I am doing a great work ,
so that I cannot come down :
why should the work cease ,
whilst I leave it ,
and come down to you ?
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Yet they sent unto me four times after this sort ;
and I answered them after the same manner .
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Then sent Sanballat his servant unto me in like manner the fifth time with an open letter in his hand ;
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Wherein was written ,
It is reported among the heathen ,
and Gashmu saith it ,
that thou and the Jews think to rebel :
for which cause thou buildest the wall ,
that thou mayest be their king ,
according to these words .
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And thou hast also appointed prophets to preach of thee at Jerusalem ,
saying ,
There is a king in Judah :
and now shall it be reported to the king according to these words .
Come now therefore ,
and let us take counsel together .
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Then I sent unto him ,
saying ,
There are no such things done as thou sayest ,
but thou feignest them out of thine own heart .
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For they all made us afraid ,
saying ,
Their hands shall be weakened from the work ,
that it be not done .
Now therefore ,
O God ,
strengthen my hands .
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Afterward I came unto the house of Shemaiah the son of Delaiah the son of Mehetabeel ,
who was shut up ;
and he said ,
Let us meet together in the house of God ,
within the temple ,
and let us shut the doors of the temple :
for they will come to slay thee ;
yea ,
in the night will they come to slay thee .
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And I said ,
Should such a man as I flee ?
and who is there ,
that ,
being as I am ,
would go into the temple to save his life ?
I will not go in .
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And ,
lo ,
I perceived that God had not sent him ;
but that he pronounced this prophecy against me :
for Tobiah and Sanballat had hired him .
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Therefore was he hired ,
that I should be afraid ,
and do so ,
and sin ,
and that they might have matter for an evil report ,
that they might reproach me .
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My God ,
think thou upon Tobiah and Sanballat according to these their works ,
and on the prophetess Noadiah ,
and the rest of the prophets ,
that would have put me in fear .
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So the wall was finished in the twenty and fifth day of the month Elul ,
in fifty and two days .
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And it came to pass ,
that when all our enemies heard thereof ,
and all the heathen that were about us saw these things ,
they were much cast down in their own eyes :
for they perceived that this work was wrought of our God .
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Moreover in those days the nobles of Judah sent many letters unto Tobiah ,
and the letters of Tobiah came unto them .
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For there were many in Judah sworn unto him ,
because he was the son in law of Shechaniah the son of Arah ;
and his son Johanan had taken the daughter of Meshullam the son of Berechiah .
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Also they reported his good deeds before me ,
and uttered my words to him .
And Tobiah sent letters to put me in fear .
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Now it came to pass ,
when the wall was built ,
and I had set up the doors ,
and the porters and the singers and the Levites were appointed ,
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