Daily Text and Bible Reading: Monday, June 2 [Press play below]

4.1 Now as soon as Sanballat heard that we were rebuilding the wall, he became angry and very upset, and he kept mocking the Jews.
4.2 And in the presence of his brothers and the army of Samaria, he said: “What are the feeble Jews doing? Will they do this by themselves? Will they offer sacrifices? Will they finish up in a day? Will they bring the charred stones to life out of the heaps of dusty rubble?”
4.3 Now Tobiah the Ammonite, who was standing beside him, said: “If even a fox would climb up on what they are building, it would knock down their stone wall.”
4.4 Hear, O our God, for we are being treated with contempt, and make their reproach return on their own heads, and give them over as plunder in a land of captivity.
4.5 And do not cover over their guilt or let their sin be erased from before you, for they have insulted the builders.
4.6 So we kept building the wall, and the entire wall was joined together and rebuilt up to half its height, and the people continued to put their heart into the work.
4.7 Now as soon as Sanballat, Tobiah, the Arabians, the Ammonites, and the Ashdodites heard that the repairing of the walls of Jerusalem was progressing and that the gaps were being filled in, they became very angry.
4.8 They conspired together to come and fight against Jerusalem and to create a disturbance in it.
4.9 But we prayed to our God and kept a guard posted against them day and night.
4.10 However, people of Judah were saying: “The strength of the laborers has failed, and there is so much rubble; we will never be able to build the wall.”
4.11 And our enemies kept saying: “Before they know it or see us, we will come right in among them and kill them and stop the work.”
4.12 Whenever the Jews living near them came in, they told us again and again: “They will come at us from all directions.”
4.13 So I kept men posted at the lowest parts of the space behind the wall at the exposed places, and I posted them by families with their swords, their lances, and their bows.
4.14 When I saw their fear, I immediately rose and said to the nobles and the deputy rulers and the rest of the people: “Do not be afraid of them. Remember Jehovah, who is great and awe-inspiring; and fight for your brothers, your sons and daughters, your wives and homes.”
4.15 Now after our enemies heard that what they were doing had become known to us and that the true God had frustrated their plan, we all went back to work on the wall.
4.16 From that day forward, half of my men would do the work and half of them would hold the lances, the shields, the bows, and the coats of mail. And the princes stood behind the whole house of Judah
4.17 who were building the wall. Those who were carrying the loads did the work with one hand while holding a weapon in the other hand.
4.18 And each of the builders had a sword strapped to his hip while building, and the one to blow the horn stood beside me.
4.19 I then said to the nobles and the deputy rulers and the rest of the people: “The work is large and extensive, and we are spread out on the wall far apart from one another.
4.20 When you hear the sound of the horn, gather together to where we are. Our God will fight for us.”
4.21 So we kept working while the other half were holding the lances, from the break of dawn until the stars came out.
4.22 At that time I said to the people: “Let the men, each along with his attendant, spend the night inside Jerusalem, and they will guard us by night and work during the day.”
4.23 So neither I nor my brothers, my attendants, and the guards who followed me ever took off our garments, and each of us kept his weapon in his right hand.

5.1 However, there was a great outcry from the people and their wives against their Jewish brothers.
5.2 Some were saying: “We are many with our sons and our daughters. We must get grain in order to eat and stay alive.”
5.3 Others were saying: “We are giving our fields and our vineyards and our houses as security to get grain during the food shortage.”
5.4 Still others were saying: “We have borrowed money on our fields and our vineyards for the king’s tribute.
5.5 Now we are of the same flesh and blood as our brothers, and our children are just like their children; yet we have to subject our sons and daughters to slavery, and some of our daughters are already in slavery. But we are powerless to stop this, because our fields and our vineyards belong to others.”
5.6 I became very angry when I heard their outcry and these words.
5.7 So I considered these things in my heart, and I took issue with the nobles and the deputy rulers and said to them: “Each one of you is demanding interest from your own brother.” Further, I arranged for a great assembly because of them.
5.8 And I said to them: “To the extent possible, we have bought back our own Jewish brothers who were sold to the nations; but will you now sell your own brothers, and are they to be sold back to us?” At this they became speechless, and they could find nothing to say.
5.9 Then I said: “What you are doing is not good. Should you not walk in the fear of our God so that the nations, our enemies, cannot reproach us?
5.10 Moreover, I, my brothers, and my attendants are lending them money and grain. Let us, please, stop this lending on interest.
5.11 Please, restore to them on this very day their fields, their vineyards, their olive groves, and their houses, as well as the hundredth of the money, the grain, the new wine, and the oil that you are demanding as interest from them.”
5.12 To this they said: “We will restore these things to them and ask nothing back. We will do precisely as you say.” So I called the priests and made those men swear to keep this promise.
5.13 Also, I shook out the folds of my garment and said: “In this manner may the true God shake out from his house and from his possessions every man who does not carry out this promise, and in this manner may he be shaken out and emptied.” To this all the congregation said: “Amen!” And they praised Jehovah, and the people did as they promised.
5.14 Moreover, from the day that he commissioned me to become their governor in the land of Judah, from the 20th year to the 32nd year of King Artaxerxes, 12 years, neither I nor my brothers ate the food allowance due the governor.
5.15 But the former governors who were before me had burdened the people and had been taking from them 40 silver shekels for bread and wine each day. Also, their attendants had oppressed the people. But I did not do that because of the fear of God.
5.16 Furthermore, I took a hand in the work on this wall, and not a field did we acquire; all my attendants were gathered there for the work.
5.17 There were 150 Jews and deputy rulers dining at my table, as well as those who came to us from the nations.
5.18 Every day one bull, six choice sheep, and birds were prepared for me, and once every ten days we had all sorts of wine in abundance. Despite all this I did not demand the food allowance due the governor, because the people were already bearing their burden of service.
5.19 Do remember me favorably, O my God, for all that I have done in behalf of this people.

6.1 Now as soon as Sanballat, Tobiah, Geshem the Arabian, and the rest of our enemies were told that I had rebuilt the wall and that there were no gaps left in it (although up to that time I had not set up the doors in the gates),
6.2 Sanballat and Geshem immediately sent this message to me: “Come, and let us set a time to meet together in the villages of the Valley Plain of Ono.” But they were scheming to harm me.
6.3 So I sent messengers to them, saying: “I am engaged in a great work, and I am not able to go down. Why should the work stop while I leave it to come to you?”
6.4 They sent me the same message four times, and I gave them the same reply each time.
6.5 Then Sanballat sent his attendant to me with the same message a fifth time, with an open letter in his hand.
6.6 There it was written: “Among the nations it has been heard, and Geshem is also saying it, that you and the Jews are scheming to rebel. That is why you are building the wall; and according to these reports you are to become their king.
6.7 Also, you have appointed prophets to proclaim about you throughout Jerusalem, ‘There is a king in Judah!’ And now these things will be told to the king. So come, and let us discuss this together.”
6.8 However, I sent him this reply: “None of the things you are saying have taken place; you are making them up out of your own imagination.”
6.9 For they were all trying to frighten us, saying: “Their hands will slacken in the work, and it will not be done.” Now, I pray, strengthen my hands.
6.10 Then I went to the house of Shemaiah the son of Delaiah the son of Mehetabel while he was confined there. He said: “Let us set a time to meet at the house of the true God, within the temple, and let us close the doors of the temple, for they are coming to kill you. They are coming to kill you by night.”
6.11 But I said: “Should a man like me run away? Can a man like me go into the temple and live? I will not go in!”
6.12 Then I realized that God had not sent him, but that Tobiah and Sanballat had hired him to speak this prophecy against me.
6.13 He had been hired to frighten me and to cause me to sin, so that they would have grounds to damage my reputation in order to reproach me.
6.14 Do remember, O my God, Tobiah and Sanballat and these deeds, and also Noadiah the prophetess and the rest of the prophets who were constantly trying to frighten me.
6.15 So the wall was completed on the 25th day of Elul, in 52 days.
6.16 As soon as all our enemies heard of it and all the surrounding nations saw it, they became greatly ashamed, and they realized that it was with our God’s help that this work had been done.
6.17 In those days the nobles of Judah were sending many letters to Tobiah, and Tobiah would reply to them.
6.18 Many in Judah swore allegiance to him, for he was a son-in-law of Shecaniah the son of Arah, and his son Jehohanan had married the daughter of Meshullam the son of Berechiah.
6.19 Also, they would constantly tell me good things about him and then report to him what I said. Then Tobiah would send letters to frighten me.