The Daily Audio Bible

¹⁵ Col-Hozeh's son, Shallun, repaired the Fountain Gate. He was the ruler of the region of Mizpah. Shallun built a roof over the Fountain Gate. He fixed its doors in their place, as well as their wooden bars and iron bars. Shallun also repaired the wall of the Pool of Siloam, near the king's garden. He repaired the wall as far as the steps that come down from the City of David.

¹⁶ Azbuk's son, Nehemiah, worked on another part of the wall. He was ruler of part of the region of Beth Zur. He repaired the wall along to the place of the royal graves. He continued to work as far as the pool that people had built and the House of the Brave Soldiers.

¹⁷ Levites worked along the next part of the wall. Bani's son, Rehum, worked there. Hashabiah repaired the next part of the wall. He ruled over part of the region of Keilah. He did the work on behalf of that region. ¹⁸ More Levites worked on the next part. Henadad's son, Binnui, worked there. He also ruled over part of Keilah. ¹⁹ Jeshua's son, Ezer, worked on another part of the wall. It was in front of the building where the soldiers kept their weapons. He repaired the wall as far as the corner. Ezer ruled over Mizpah.

²⁰ Next, Zabbai's son, Baruch, worked hard on another part of the wall. He started from the corner of the wall and went as far as the door of Eliashib's house. Eliashib was the leader of the priests. ²¹ Meremoth, son of Uriah, the son of Hakkoz, repaired the next part, from the door of Eliashib's house to the end of it.

²² Priests from the region near Jerusalem repaired the next part of the wall. ²³ Benjamin and Hasshub repaired the wall in front of their house. Next, Azariah, son of Maaseiah, the son of Ananiah, repaired the wall near his house. ²⁴ Henadad's son, Binnui, repaired from Azariah's house to the corner, where it has a strong point. ²⁵ Uzai's son, Palal, worked near the corner and the tower on the top of the king's palace. That was beside the yard for the guards. Parosh's son, Pedaiah, ²⁶ repaired the next part of the wall, towards the east. The temple servants who lived on Ophel Hill worked with them. They repaired the wall as far as the Water Gate and the tower which stands there. ²⁷ The men from Tekoa repaired the wall from the place near the great tower as far as the wall of Ophel.

²⁸ The priests repaired the wall on the north side of the Horse Gate. Each priest repaired the wall in front of his house. ²⁹ Immer's son, Zadok, repaired the wall in front of his house. Next to him, Shecaniah's son, Shemaiah, repaired the wall. He was the guard at the city's East Gate.

³⁰ Next, Shelemiah's son, Hananiah, repaired the wall. Hanun worked with him. He was the sixth son of Zalaph. Berekiah's son, Meshullam, repaired the wall in front of the place where he lived. ³¹ Malkijah repaired the wall as far as the temple servants' house. He continued to work as far as the traders' houses in front of the Meeting Gate. He repaired the wall as far as the room above the wall's corner. Malkijah made things from gold.

³² Between there and the Sheep Gate the traders and the men who worked with gold repaired the wall.^[a]

The Jews' enemies try to stop the work

4 Sanballat heard that we were building the wall. He was very angry and upset. He laughed at the Jews. ² His officers and Samaria's army were with him. He said to them, ‘Those Jews have great ideas, but they are weak. How will they ever repair the wall? Will they give sacrifices to their God? Will that help them to repair the wall in one day? They will never build anything from this heap of stones that fire has destroyed!’

³ Tobiah the Ammonite was with him. Tobiah said, ‘The wall that the Jews are trying to build is very weak. Even if a little fox climbs up on it, the stones would all fall down again!’

⁴ So I prayed, ‘Hear us, our God. Our enemies think that we are fools. Make them seem like fools themselves! Let their enemies take them away as slaves. ⁵ Do not forgive their sins. Do not say that they are not guilty. They have insulted us when we are trying to build.’

⁶ The people worked hard because they wanted to build the wall. As a result, the wall all round the city soon became half as high as the old wall.

⁷ Sanballat, Tobiah, the Arab people, the Ammonites and the people who came from Ashdod all heard that the work was continuing. They could see that we were repairing the holes in the wall. So they were very angry. ⁸ They met together to decide what they should do. They decided to attack Jerusalem so that there would be trouble. ⁹ So we continued to pray to our God. We also put guards on the walls in the day and the night, to keep the city safe.

¹⁰ Then the people in Judah complained, ‘Our workers are becoming weak. There are so many stones and rubbish! We cannot finish the work on the wall!’

¹¹ At the same time, our enemies were boasting, ‘Before the Jews even see us, we will attack them. We will kill them before they know what is happening. That will be the end of their work on the wall!’

¹² The Jews who lived near our enemies warned us many times. They told us that our enemies would attack us wherever we went.

¹³ So I put some men behind the lowest part of the wall where there were holes. Each of the families had guards with swords, spears, bows and arrows. ¹⁴ I went round the city and I looked at everything. I said to the leaders, the officers and the people, ‘Do not be afraid of our enemies. Remember that our Lord God is great and powerful. Fight on behalf of your brothers, your sons, your daughters and your wives. Fight to keep your homes safe.’

¹⁵ Our enemies realized that we knew what they had decided to do. God had stopped them from doing what they wanted. So each of us went back to our work on the wall.

¹⁶ After that day, half of my men continued to do the work on the wall. The other half carried spears, shields and bows. They also wore armour. The officers stood behind the people while they built the wall. ¹⁷ The men who were carrying materials held them with one hand. They held a weapon in their other hand. ¹⁸ All of the builders had swords tied on their belts while they were building. There was a man who would make a sound with his trumpet if there was danger. He stayed near me.

¹⁹ I said to the leaders, the officers and all the people, ‘It is hard work and the wall is very long. So we are not working near to each other. ²⁰ When you hear the sound of the trumpet, come to join us here. Our God will fight on our behalf.’

²¹ We continued to work on the wall every day, from dawn until it became dark. Half of the men held spears to be our guards. ²² I said to the people, ‘Everybody must stay in Jerusalem each night, together with those who are helping them. Then they can be our guards to keep us safe at night. During each day they can do the work.’

²³ I did not take my clothes off at night time, and neither did any of my friends. The workers and the guards who were with me kept their clothes on all the time. Everyone carried his own weapon whatever he was doing.

Nehemiah helps poor people

5 Some men and their wives were upset, because of the things that some other Jews were doing. ² Many of them said, ‘We are big families, with many sons and daughters. We need to have food to eat so that we can stay alive.’ ³ Other people said, ‘People have to lend us money to buy food. We have to give them our fields, our vineyards and our homes until we can pay them back.’

⁴ Other people said, ‘We have to pay taxes to the king for our fields and our vineyards. People had to lend us money to pay the taxes. ⁵ Now we have to sell our sons and daughters as slaves so that we can pay back the money. But we are from the same human family as those other Jews. Our children are not different from their children. Already some of our daughters have become slaves. Our fields and vineyards now belong to other people, so we are helpless to do anything.’

⁶ When I heard what they were complaining about, I was very angry. ⁷ I thought carefully about what they had said. Then I said to the Jewish leaders and officers, ‘You are cheating your own people! You are taking back more money than you have lent to them.’

I told the Jews to come together for a big meeting. ⁸ I said to them all, ‘When our own Jewish people have become slaves of foreign people, we have tried hard to buy them back. But now you are making your own people sell their children to you. And you want us to pay you to buy them back again!’ The Jewish leaders kept quiet. They had nothing to say.

⁹ Then I said to them, ‘You are doing something that is completely wrong. Instead, you should obey God and live in a good way. Then the foreign people who are our enemies will not have a chance to insult us. ¹⁰ I myself have agreed to lend poor people money and food. My family and my friends have done the same thing. But we must not make those poor people pay back more to us. ¹¹ Now you must give back to them their fields, their vineyards, their gardens of olive trees and their houses. Do not make them pay any extra money for the money, food, wine or olive oil that you lent to them.’

¹² The leaders replied, ‘We will give everything back to them. We will not make them pay back their debts to us. We will do everything that you have said.’

I told the priests to come to our meeting. While they were with us, I made the Jewish leaders and officers make a strong promise. They agreed to do what they had promised to do. ¹³ I shook my coat so that everything fell out of its pockets. I said, ‘You must all do what you have promised to do. If not, I pray that God will shake you out like that! He will take away your homes and all your things. You will be left with nothing!’ Everyone at the meeting said, ‘Amen, we agree!’ They praised the Lord.

All the people did what they had promised to do.

²⁵ You asked me a question about people who have not yet married. The Lord has not told me any special rule about this. But I will tell you what I myself think about it. The Lord has been very kind to me. You know that you can believe what I say. ²⁶ This is what I think: There are many troubles in the world today. So it is better for everybody to continue as they are. ²⁷ If you have a wife, do not try to send her away. If you do not have a wife, do not try to marry. ²⁸ But if you do marry, that is not wrong. And if a young woman marries, that is not wrong. But people who marry will have many troubles during their life together. I want to save you from problems like that.

²⁹ My Christian friends, this is what I mean: The time that remains is very short. So men who have wives should live as if they had no wife. ³⁰ People who are sad should live as if they were not sad. People who are happy should live as if they had nothing to laugh about. People who buy things should live as if those things do not belong to them. ³¹ If you enjoy the things of this world, do not live as if those things are important. This world, as it is now, will soon finish.

³² I do not want you to worry about troubles. A man who has not married wants to serve the Lord. He wants to live in a way that makes the Lord happy. ³³ But a man who has married thinks a lot about this world's things. He wants to live in a way that makes his wife happy. ³⁴ As a result, he thinks in two opposite ways.

It is the same for a woman who has no husband, or a young girl who has not married. She wants to serve the Lord very well. She wants to be completely pure, both in her body and in her spirit. But a woman who has a husband has to think about this world's things. She wants to live in a way that makes her husband happy.

³⁵ I am saying this because I want to help you. I am not making rules that you have to obey. Instead, I want you to live in a right way. I do not want you to worry about troubles. Then you will be able to serve the Lord very well.

³⁶ Perhaps a man has agreed to marry a young woman. They may have decided to wait before they marry. But, as they grow older, the man may think differently. He may think that he needs to marry her. Then, he should do what he wants to do. It is good for them to marry. It is not wrong. ³⁷ But another man may not change his thoughts. He may be sure that he does not need to marry his young woman. If he decides not to marry her, he is doing the right thing. ³⁸ So the man who marries his young woman is doing a good thing. But the man who does not marry is doing a better thing.

³⁹ If a woman has married, she may not leave her husband while he still lives. But if he dies, then she is free to marry again. She may marry any man that she wants to. But he must be someone who belongs to the Lord. ⁴⁰ I do think that she would be happier if she remains without a husband. That is what I think, and God's Spirit also helps me with this.

This is a special song that David wrote.

Tell God about your sins^[a]