Nehemiah 4

¹⁰But when Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite official heard about this, they were deeply disturbed that someone had come to seek the well-being of the Israelites.

³⁶Still others endured mocking and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment.

¹⁵But when I stumbled, they assembled in glee; they gathered together against me. Assailants I did not know slandered me without ceasing.

¹⁶Like godless jesters at a feast, they gnashed their teeth at me.

¹⁷Then the high priest and all his associates, who belonged to the party of the Sadducees, were filled with jealousy. They went out

¹⁹But when Sanballat the Horonite, Tobiah the Ammonite official, and Geshem the Arab heard about this, they mocked us and ridiculed us, saying, “What is this you are doing? Are you rebelling against the king?”

²⁹And they twisted together a crown of thorns and set it on His head. They put a staff in His right hand, knelt down before Him, and mocked Him, saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!”

²⁷But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong.

⁹From Rehum the commander, Shimshai the scribe, and the rest of their associates—the judges and officials over Tripolis, Persia, Erech and Babylon, the Elamites of Susa,

¹⁰and the rest of the peoples whom the great and honorable Ashurbanipal deported and settled in the cities of Samaria and elsewhere west of the Euphrates.

¹⁰Meanwhile, the people of Judah said: “The strength of the laborer fails, and there is so much rubble that we will never be able to rebuild the wall.”

⁸On that day the Lord will defend the people of Jerusalem, so that the weakest among them will be like David, and the house of David will be like God, like the angel of the Lord going before them.

⁴³“Am I a dog,” he said to David, “that you come at me with sticks?” And the Philistine cursed David by his gods.

⁴⁴“Come here,” he called to David, “and I will give your flesh to the birds of the air and the beasts of the field!”

³Then He asked me, “Son of man, can these bones come to life?” “O Lord God,” I replied, “only You know.”

⁴And He said to me, “Prophesy concerning these bones and tell them, ‘Dry bones, hear the word of the Lord!

¹⁹But when Sanballat the Horonite, Tobiah the Ammonite official, and Geshem the Arab heard about this, they mocked us and ridiculed us, saying, “What is this you are doing? Are you rebelling against the king?”

¹⁰But when Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite official heard about this, they were deeply disturbed that someone had come to seek the well-being of the Israelites.

¹⁰Then Ben-hadad sent another message to Ahab: “May the gods deal with me, and ever so severely, if enough dust remains of Samaria for each of my men to have a handful.”

¹⁸“If they have marched out in peace,” he said, “take them alive. Even if they have marched out for war, take them alive.”

²³Now, therefore, make a bargain with my master, the king of Assyria. I will give you two thousand horses—if you can put riders on them!

¹When Sanballat, Tobiah, Geshem the Arab, and the rest of our enemies heard that I had rebuilt the wall and not a gap was left—though to that time I had not yet installed the doors in the gates—

¹²Pay back into the laps of our neighbors sevenfold the reproach they hurled at You, O Lord.

³Have mercy on us, O Lord, have mercy, for we have endured much contempt.

⁴We have endured much scorn from the arrogant, much contempt from the proud.

³⁴He mocks the mockers, but gives grace to the humble.

¹⁴Ephraim has provoked bitter anger, so his Lord will leave his bloodguilt upon him and repay him for his contempt.

²⁶David asked the men who were standing with him, “What will be done for the man who kills this Philistine and removes this disgrace from Israel? Just who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should defy the armies of the living God?”

¹⁴May the iniquity of his fathers be remembered before the Lord, and the sin of his mother never be blotted out.

²³But You, O Lord, know all their deadly plots against me. Do not wipe out their guilt or blot out their sin from Your sight. Let them be overthrown before You; deal with them in the time of Your anger.

²⁷Add iniquity to their iniquity; let them not share in Your righteousness.

²⁸May they be blotted out of the Book of Life and not listed with the righteous.

²²I have blotted out your transgressions like a cloud, and your sins like a mist. Return to Me, for I have redeemed you.

¹⁴Alexander the coppersmith did great harm to me. The Lord will repay him according to his deeds.

²⁵I, yes I, am He who blots out your transgressions for My own sake and remembers your sins no more.

¹³For it is God who works in you to will and to act on behalf of His good purpose.

³Moreover, because of my delight in the house of my God, I now give for it my personal treasures of gold and silver, over and above all that I have provided for this holy temple:

²¹equip you with every good thing to do His will. And may He accomplish in us what is pleasing in His sight through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.

¹⁵So the wall was completed in fifty-two days, on the twenty-fifth of Elul.

¹⁷I know, my God, that You test the heart and delight in uprightness. All these things I have given willingly and with an upright heart, and now I have seen Your people who are present here giving joyfully and willingly to You.

¹⁸O Lord, God of our fathers Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, keep this desire forever in the intentions of the hearts of Your people, and direct their hearts toward You.

¹⁴But who am I, and who are my people, that we should be able to give as generously as this? For everything comes from You, and from Your own hand we have given to You.

¹Now when Sanballat heard that we were rebuilding the wall, he was furious and filled with indignation. He ridiculed the Jews

¹⁰But when Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite official heard about this, they were deeply disturbed that someone had come to seek the well-being of the Israelites.

²⁰all the mixed tribes; all the kings of Uz; all the kings of the Philistines: Ashkelon, Gaza, Ekron, and the remnant of Ashdod;

¹³This is what the Lord says: “For three transgressions of the Ammonites, even four, I will not revoke My judgment, because they ripped open the pregnant women of Gilead in order to enlarge their territory.

¹⁷And the dragon was enraged at the woman and went to make war with the rest of her children, who keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus. And the dragon stood on the shore of the sea.

³³When the Council members heard this, they were enraged, and they resolved to put the apostles to death.

³With cunning they scheme against Your people and conspire against those You cherish,

⁴saying, “Come, let us erase them as a nation; may the name of Israel be remembered no more.”

¹⁰For I have heard the whispering of many: “Terror is on every side! Report him; let us report him!” All my trusted friends watch for my fall: “Perhaps he will be deceived so that we may prevail against him and take our vengeance upon him.”

⁹Huddle together, O peoples, and be shattered; pay attention, all you distant lands; prepare for battle, and be shattered; prepare for battle, and be shattered!

¹⁰Devise a plan, but it will be thwarted; state a proposal, but it will not happen. For God is with us.”

¹²When daylight came, the Jews formed a conspiracy and bound themselves with an oath not to eat or drink until they had killed Paul.

¹³More than forty of them were involved in this plot.

¹Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain?

²The kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers gather together, against the Lord and against His Anointed One:

⁸Be sober-minded and alert. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.

¹⁵Call upon Me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you will honor Me.”

²⁴When the believers heard this, they lifted up their voices to God with one accord. “Sovereign Lord,” they said, “You made the heaven and the earth and the sea and everything in them.

²⁵You spoke by the Holy Spirit through the mouth of Your servant, our father David: ‘Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain?

⁴¹“Watch and pray so that you will not enter into temptation. For the spirit is willing, but the body is weak.”

¹¹But the scribes and Pharisees were filled with rage and began to discuss with one another what they might do to Jesus.

¹²In those days Jesus went out to the mountain to pray, and He spent the night in prayer to God.

³⁶So keep watch at all times, and pray that you may have the strength to escape all that is about to happen and to stand before the Son of Man.”

²that this is what the Lord of Hosts says: “These people say, ‘The time has not yet come to rebuild the house of the Lord.’”

⁹For when your fathers went up to the Valley of Eshcol and saw the land, they discouraged the Israelites from entering the land that the Lord had given them.

¹⁸Solomon made 70,000 of them porters, 80,000 stonecutters in the mountains, and 3,600 supervisors.

³¹But the men who had gone up with him replied, “We cannot go up against the people, for they are stronger than we are!”

¹For the choirmaster. Of David. In the Lord I take refuge. How then can you say to me: “Flee like a bird to your mountain!

²For behold, the wicked bend their bows. They set their arrow on the string to shoot from the shadows at the upright in heart.

¹⁸“Son of man, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon caused his army to labor strenuously against Tyre. Every head was made bald and every shoulder made raw. But he and his army received no wages from Tyre for the labor they expended on it.

²For you are fully aware that the Day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night.

⁶They conspire, they lurk, they watch my steps while they wait to take my life.

²⁹So Israel set up an ambush around Gibeah.

³⁰On the third day the Israelites went up against the Benjamites and arrayed themselves against Gibeah as they had done before.

²¹Do not let them persuade you, because more than forty men are waiting to ambush him. They have bound themselves with an oath not to eat or drink until they have killed him; they are ready now, awaiting your consent.”

¹²When daylight came, the Jews formed a conspiracy and bound themselves with an oath not to eat or drink until they had killed Paul.

²I will attack him while he is weak and weary; I will throw him into a panic, and all the people with him will flee; I will strike down only the king

²²not one of the men who have seen My glory and the signs I performed in Egypt and in the wilderness—yet have tested Me and disobeyed Me these ten times—

⁴¹Thus for twenty years I have served in your household—fourteen years for your two daughters and six years for your flocks—and you have changed my wages ten times!

⁷And although he has cheated me and changed my wages ten times, God has not allowed him to harm me.

³Ten times now you have reproached me; you shamelessly mistreat me.

¹⁷who were rebuilding the wall. The laborers who carried materials worked with one hand and held a weapon with the other.

¹⁸And each of the builders worked with his sword strapped at his side. But the trumpeter stayed beside me.

¹¹Put on the full armor of God, so that you can make your stand against the devil’s schemes.

¹²For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this world’s darkness, and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.

¹³Jacob spent the night there, and from what he had brought with him, he selected a gift for his brother Esau:

¹⁴200 female goats, 20 male goats, 200 ewes, 20 rams,

²When Hezekiah saw that Sennacherib had come to make war against Jerusalem,

³he consulted with his leaders and mighty men about stopping up the waters of the springs outside the city, and they helped him carry it out.

¹⁶Behold, I am sending you out like sheep among wolves; therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves.

⁵It is well with the man who is generous and lends freely, whose affairs are guided by justice.

¹²Be strong and let us fight bravely for our people and for the cities of our God. May the Lord do what is good in His sight.”

⁹Only do not rebel against the Lord, and do not be afraid of the people of the land, for they will be like bread for us. Their protection has been removed, and the Lord is with us. Do not be afraid of them!”

¹⁰Do not fear, for I am with you; do not be afraid, for I am your God. I will strengthen you; I will surely help you; I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.

¹¹Behold, all who rage against you will be ashamed and disgraced; those who contend with you will be reduced to nothing and will perish.

⁶So we say with confidence: “The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?”

³Say to God, “How awesome are Your deeds! So great is Your power that Your enemies cower before You.

⁷Some trust in chariots and others in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God.

¹⁴Then Absalom and all the men of Israel said, “The advice of Hushai the Archite is better than that of Ahithophel.” For the Lord had purposed to thwart the good counsel of Ahithophel in order to bring disaster on Absalom.

¹¹Do not let your zeal subside; keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord.

¹⁰The Lord frustrates the plans of the nations; He thwarts the devices of the peoples.

¹¹The counsel of the Lord stands forever, the purposes of His heart to all generations.

²⁵who foils the signs of false prophets and makes fools of diviners, who confounds the wise and turns their knowledge into nonsense,

¹²He thwarts the schemes of the crafty, so that their hands find no success.

¹³He catches the wise in their craftiness, and sweeps away the plans of the cunning.

³⁰There is no wisdom, no understanding, no counsel that can prevail against the Lord.

²³So neither I nor my brothers nor my servants nor the guards with me changed out of our clothes; each carried his weapon, even to go for water.

¹⁵The governors before me had heavily burdened the people, taking from them bread and wine plus forty shekels of silver. Their servants also oppressed the people. But I did not do this, because of my fear of God.

¹⁶Instead, I devoted myself to the construction of the wall, and all my servants were gathered there for the work; we did not acquire any land.

⁶My eyes favor the faithful of the land, that they may dwell with me; he who walks in the way of integrity shall minister to me.

³Join me in suffering, like a good soldier of Christ Jesus.

⁷I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.

⁷in truthful speech and in the power of God; with the weapons of righteousness in the right hand and in the left;

¹¹Put on the full armor of God, so that you can make your stand against the devil’s schemes.

¹²For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this world’s darkness, and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.

⁹because a great door for effective work has opened to me, even though many oppose me.

¹³Be on the alert. Stand firm in the faith. Be men of courage. Be strong.

⁹When you enter into battle in your land against an adversary who attacks you, sound short blasts on the trumpets, and you will be remembered before the Lord your God and saved from your enemies.

¹²Now behold, God Himself is with us as our head, and His priests with their trumpets sound the battle call against you. O children of Israel, do not fight against the Lord, the God of your fathers, for you will not succeed.”

¹³Now Jeroboam had sent troops around to ambush from the rear, so that while he was in front of Judah, the ambush was behind them.

¹⁴The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still.”

⁴For the Lord your God goes with you to fight for you against your enemies, to give you the victory.”

³⁰The Lord your God, who goes before you, will fight for you, just as you saw Him do for you in Egypt

¹⁰One of you can put a thousand to flight, because the Lord your God fights for you, just as He promised.

²²Do not be afraid of them, for the Lord your God Himself will fight for you.”

³Then the Lord will go out to fight against those nations, as He fights in the day of battle.

⁹Let us not grow weary in well-doing, for in due time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.

²⁹To this end I also labor, striving with all His energy working powerfully within me.

¹Now the leaders of the people settled in Jerusalem, and the rest of the people cast lots to bring one out of ten to live in the holy city of Jerusalem, while the remaining nine were to dwell in their own towns.

²And the people blessed all the men who volunteered to live in Jerusalem.

¹⁶Instead, I devoted myself to the construction of the wall, and all my servants were gathered there for the work; we did not acquire any land.

²Then I put my brother Hanani in charge of Jerusalem, along with Hananiah the commander of the fortress, because he was a faithful man who feared God more than most.

¹⁰But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace to me was not in vain. No, I worked harder than all of them—yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me.

¹¹the voices of the singers at the watering places. There they shall recount the righteous acts of the Lord, the righteous deeds of His villagers in Israel. Then the people of the Lord went down to the gates:

⁴⁸he and all his men went up to Mount Zalmon. Abimelech took his axe in his hand and cut a branch from the trees, which he lifted to his shoulder, saying to his men, “Hurry and do what you have seen me do.”