{[Chapter 3:33 in Hebrew]}But it came to pass that, when Sanballat heard that we were building the wall, he was wroth, and took great indignation, and mocked the Jews.
And he spake before his brethren and the army of Samaria, and said, What are these feeble Jews doing? {Or, will they leave to themselves aught? Or, will men let them alone?}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 rubbish, seeing they are burned?
Now Tobiah the Ammonite was by him, and he said, Even that which they are building, if a {Or, jackel}fox go up, he shall break down their stone wall.
Hear, O our God; for we are despised: and turn back their reproach upon their own head, and give them up for a spoil in a land of captivity;
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.
So we built the wall; and all the wall was joined together unto half the height thereof: for the people had a mind to work.
{[Chapter 4:1 in Hebrew]}But it came to pass that, when Sanballat, and Tobiah, and the Arabians, and the Ammonites, and the Ashdodites, heard that {Hebrew: healing went up upon the walls.}the repairing of the walls of Jerusalem went forward, and that the breaches began to be stopped, then they were very wroth;
and they conspired all of them together to come and fight against Jerusalem, and to cause confusion therein.
But we made our prayer unto our God, and set a watch against them day and night, because of them.
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.
And our adversaries said, They shall not know, neither see, till we come into the midst of them, and slay them, and cause the work to cease.
And it came to pass that, when the Jews that dwelt by them came, they said unto us ten times {Or, From all places whence ye shall return they will be upon us}from all places, Ye must return unto us.
Therefore set I in the lowest parts of the space behind the wall, in the open places, I set there the people after their families with their swords, their spears, and their bows.
And I looked, and rose up, and said unto the nobles, and to the {Or, deputies}rulers, and to the rest of the people, Be not ye afraid of them: remember the Lord, who is great and terrible, and fight for your brethren, your sons, and your daughters, your wives, and your houses.
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.
And it came to pass from that time forth, that half of my servants wrought in the work, and half of them held the spears, the shields, and the bows, and the coats of mail; and the rulers were behind {Or, all the house of Judah that builded the wall. And they that &c.}all the house of Judah.
They all builded the wall and they that bare burdens laded themselves; every one with one of his hands wrought in the work, and with the other held his weapon;
and the builders, every one had his sword girded by his side, and so builded. And he that sounded the trumpet was by me.
And I said unto the nobles, and to the {Or, deputies}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:
in what place soever ye hear the sound of the trumpet, resort ye thither unto us; our God will fight for us.
So we wrought in the work: and half of them held the spears from the rising of the morning till the stars appeared.
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 may labor in the day.
So neither I, nor my brethren, nor my servants, nor the men of the guard that followed me, none of us put off our clothes, {The text is obscure.}every one went with his weapon to the water.
Querverweise zu Nehemia 4,11 Neh 4,11
And Israel set liers-in-wait against Gibeah round about.
And the children of Israel went up against the children of Benjamin on the third day, and set themselves in array against Gibeah, as at other times.
And the children of Benjamin went out against the people, and were drawn away from the city; and they began to smite and kill of the people, as at other times, in the highways, of which one goeth up to Beth-el, and the other to Gibeah, in the field, about thirty men of Israel.
And the children of Benjamin said, They are smitten down before us, as at the first. But the children of Israel said, Let us flee, and draw them away from the city unto the highways.
And all the men of Israel rose up out of their place, and set themselves in array at Baal-tamar: and the liers-in-wait of Israel brake forth out of their place, even out of {Or, the meadow of Geba (or, Gibeah See verse 10)}Maareh-geba.
And there came over against Gibeah ten thousand chosen men out of all Israel, and the battle was sore; but they knew not that evil was {Hebrew: touching.}close upon them.
And Jehovah smote Benjamin before Israel; and the children of Israel destroyed of Benjamin that day twenty and five thousand and a hundred men: all these drew the sword.
So the children of Benjamin saw that they were smitten; for the men of Israel gave place to Benjamin, because they trusted unto the liers-in-wait whom they had set against Gibeah.
And the liers-in-wait hasted, and rushed upon Gibeah; and the liers-in-wait drew themselves along, and smote all the city with the edge of the sword.
Now the appointed sign between the men of Israel and the liers-in-wait was, that they should make a great cloud of smoke rise up out of the city.
{Or, And the men…battle. (now Benjamin…heaven) and the men &c.}And the men of Israel turned in the battle, and Benjamin began to smite and kill of the men of Israel about thirty persons; for they said, Surely they are smitten down before us, as in the first battle.
But when the cloud began to arise up out of the city in a pillar of smoke, the Benjamites looked behind them; and, behold, the whole of the city went up in smoke to heaven.
And the men of Israel turned, and the men of Benjamin were dismayed; for they saw that evil was come upon them.
Therefore they turned their backs before the men of Israel unto the way of the wilderness; but the battle followed hard after them; and {Or, them that came…they destroyed}they that came out of the cities destroyed them in the midst thereof.
They inclosed the Benjamites round about, and chased them, and {Or, overtook them}trod them down {Or, at Menuhan}at their resting-place, as far as over against Gibeah toward the sunrising.
And there fell of Benjamin eighteen thousand men; all these were men of valor.
And they turned and fled toward the wilderness unto the rock of Rimmon: and they gleaned of them in the highways five thousand men, and followed hard after them unto Gidom, and smote of them two thousand men.
So that all who fell that day of Benjamin were twenty and five thousand men that drew the sword; all these were men of valor.
But six hundred men turned and fled toward the wilderness unto the rock of Rimmon, and abode in the rock of Rimmon four months.
And the men of Israel turned again upon the children of Benjamin, and smote them with the edge of the sword, both {Or, as otherwise read, the inhabited city See Deuteronomy 2:34.}the entire city, and the cattle, and all that they found: moreover all the cities which they found they set on fire.
and I will come upon him while he is weary and weak-handed, and will make him afraid; and all the people that are with him shall flee; and I will smite the king only;
They gather themselves together, they hide themselves,They mark my steps, {Or, Inasmuch as}Even as they have waited for my soul.
Therefore shall evil come upon thee; thou shalt not know {Or, how to charm it away}the dawning thereof: and mischief shall fall upon thee; thou shalt not be able to put it away: and desolation shall come upon thee suddenly, which thou knowest not.
And when it was day, the Jews banded together, and bound themselves under a curse, saying that they would neither eat nor drink till they had killed Paul.
Do not thou therefore yield unto them: for there lie in wait for him of them more than forty men, who have bound themselves under a curse, neither to eat nor to drink till they have slain him: and now are they ready, looking for the promise from thee.
For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night.