Emily: Welcome to immerse: the daily bible reading experience.
Day 300 and 52.
So I arrived in Jerusalem three days later.
I slipped out during the night, taking only a few others with me.
I had not told anyone about the plans God had put in my heart for Jerusalem.
We took no pack animals with us except the donkey I was riding after dark.
I went out through the valley gate, past the jackal's well, and
over to the dung gate to inspect the broken walls and burned gates.
Then I went to the fountain gate and to the King's pool, but my donkey
couldn't get through the rubble, so though it was still dark, I went up
the Kidron Valley instead inspecting the wall before I turned back and
entered again at the valley gate.
The city officials did not know I had been out there or what I
was doing for, I had not yet said anything to anyone about my plans.
I had not yet spoken to the Jewish leaders.
The priests, the nobles, the officials, or anyone else in the administration.
But now I said to them, you know very well what trouble we are in
Jerusalem, lies in ruins, and its gates have been destroyed by fire.
Let us rebuild the wall of Jerusalem and end this disgrace.
Then I told them about how the gracious hand of God had been on me and
about my conversation with the king.
They replied at once, yes, let's rebuild the wall.
So they began the good work.
But when San Ballad, Tobiah and Geshem, the Arab heard of our plan, they scoffed,
contemptuously, what are you doing?
Are you rebelling against the king?
They asked, I replied, the god of heaven will help us succeed.
We, his servants will start rebuilding this wall.
But you have no share, legal right, or historic claim in Jerusalem.
Then Eliashib, the high priest and the other priests started
to rebuild at the sheep gate.
They dedicated it and set up its doors building the wall as far as the tower
of the hundred, which they dedicated, and the Tower of Hanal people from the
town of Jericho worked next to them and beyond them was Zacker son of Ri.
The fish gate was built by the sons of Hasan.
They laid the beams, set up its doors, and installed its bolts and bars.
Mammoth son of Uriah and grandson of Haass repaired The next section of
Wall beside him were Ma Shula, son of Baraka and grandson of Jezebel,
and then Za Doc, son of Bayona.
Next were the people from Tcoa, though their leaders refused to work
with the construction supervisors.
The old city gate was repaired by Jota son of Pasilla and Ma Shula son of Baadilla.
They laid the beams, set up its doors, and installed its bolts and bars.
Next to them were Mela from Gibeon, Jaydon from Mironov, people from
Gibeon, and people from mpa.
The headquarters of the governor of the province, west of the Euphrates River.
Next was Zeel son of Jia, a Goldsmith by trade, who also worked on the wall.
Beyond him was Hananiah, a manufacturer of perfumes.
They left out a section of Jerusalem as they built the broad wall Rapa.
Son of her, the leader of half the district of Jerusalem,
was next to them on the wall.
Next Judea son of Haru math repaired the wall across from his own house and next
to him was Haddish, son of Hasib Nia.
Then came Mal Caja, son of Harem and Hasib, son of payoff, Moab,
who repaired another section of the wall and the tower of the ovens.
Shalom, son of Haloes and his daughters repaired.
The next section.
He was the leader of the other half of the district of Jerusalem.
The Valley gate was repaired by the people from Anoa, led by Hanan.
They set up its doors and installed its bolts and bars.
They also repaired the 1,500 feet of wall to the dung gate.
The dung gate was repaired by Mal Caja son of rehab, the leader
of the Beth Hacker District.
He rebuilt it, set up its doors, and installed its bolts and bars.
The Fountain Gate was repaired by Shalom son of Khoza, the
leader of the MPA district.
He rebuilt it, roofed it, set up its doors, and installed its bolts and bars.
Then he repaired the wall of the pool of Siloam near the King's
garden, and he rebuilt the wall.
As far as the stairs that descend from the city of David.
Next to him was Nehemiah, son of Asbu, the leader of half the district of Beth Zu.
He rebuilt the wall from a place across from the tombs of David's family as
far as the water reservoir and the house of the Warriors next to him.
Repairs were made by a group of Levites working under the
supervision of Reim, son of be Nai.
Then came has Shabiah the leader of half the district of Keah, who
supervised the building of the wall on behalf of his own district.
Next down the line were his countrymen led by Bin Uai, son of Heida.
The leader of the other half of the district of Keah next to them, zer,
son of Jesu, the leader of mpa, repaired another section of Wall
across from the ascent to the armory.
Near the angle in the wall next to him was Baric son of Zabe ai, who
zealously repaired an additional section from the angle to the door of the
house of Elia Sheib, the high priest.
Marath son of Uriah and grandson of Haas rebuilt another section of
the wall extending from the door of Eliashib's house to the end of the house.
The next repairs were made by the priests from the surrounding region.
After them, Benjamin and Hasib repaired this section across from
their house and Azariah, son of Maia and grandson of Anaya repaired
the section across from his house.
Next was Bin ui, son of Heida who rebuilt another section of the wall from Azaria's
house to the angle and the corner.
Pallo son of Uai carried on the work from a point opposite the angle and the tower
that projects up from the king's upper house beside the court of the guard.
Next to him were pad son of pash with the temple servants
living on the hill of Oell.
Who repaired the wall as far as a point across from the Watergate to the
east, and the projecting tower then came the people of Tcoa who repaired
another section across from the great projecting tower and over to the
wall of Oell above the horse gate.
The priests repaired the wall, each one repaired the section
immediately across from his own house.
Next Zadok son of Emmer also rebuilt the wall across from his own house and
beyond him was Shamaya son of Aya, the gatekeeper of the East Gate Next Aya son
of she, Maya and Hanan, the sixth son of Zaef, repaired another section while Ms.
Son of Bar Kaya rebuilt the wall across from where he lived.
Mal Caja, one of the goldsmiths repaired the wall as far as the housing for
the temple servants and merchants across from the inspection gate.
Then he continued as far as the upper room at the corner, the other
goldsmiths and merchants repaired the wall from that corner to the sheep gate.
Sand Ballad was very angry when he learned that we were rebuilding the wall.
He flew into a rage and mocked the Jews.
Saying in front of his friends and the Sumerian army officers.
What does this bunch of poor feeble Jews think they're doing?
Do they think they can build the wall in a single day by
just offering a few sacrifices?
Do they actually think they can make something of stones from a rubbish
heap and charred ones at that Tobiah?
The ammonite who was standing beside him remarked that Stonewall would collapse
if even a fox walked along the top of it.
Then I prayed.
Hear us are God, for we are being mocked.
May their scoffing fall back on their own heads and may they themselves
become captives in a foreign land.
Do not ignore their guilt.
Do not blot out their sins for they have provoked you to anger,
hear in front of the builders.
At last, the wall was completed to half its height around the entire city for
the people had worked with enthusiasm.
But when San Ballad and Tobiah and the Arabs, Ammonites and Ashtons heard
that the work was going ahead and that the gaps in the wall of Jerusalem were
being repaired, they were furious.
They all made plans to come and fight against Jerusalem and throw
us into confusion, but we prayed to our God and guarded the city
day and night to protect ourselves.
Then the people of Judah began to complain.
The workers are getting tired and there is so much rubble to be moved.
We will never be able to build the wall by ourselves.
Meanwhile, our enemies were saying before they know what's happening,
we will swoop down on them and kill them and end their work.
The Jews who lived near the enemy came and told us again and again, they will
come from all directions and attack us.
So I placed armed guards behind the lowest parts of the wall in the exposed areas.
I stationed the people to stand guard by families armed
with swords, spears, and bows.
Then as I looked over the situation, I called together the nobles and
the rest of the people and said to them, don't be afraid of the enemy.
Remember the Lord who is great and glorious.
And fight for your brothers, your sons, your daughters,
your wives, and your homes.
When our enemies heard that we knew of their plans and that
God had frustrated them, we all returned to our work on the wall.
But from then on, only half my men worked.
While the other half stood guard with spears, shields, bows, and
coats of mail, the leaders stationed themselves behind the people of
Judah who were building the wall.
The laborers carried on their work with one hand supporting their
load and one hand holding a weapon.
All the builders had a sword belted to their side.
The trumpeter stayed with me to sound the alarm.
Then I explained to the nobles and officials and all the people, the work
is very spread out, and we are widely separated from each other along the wall.
When you hear the blast of the trumpet rush to wherever it is sounding.
Then our God will fight for us.
We worked early and late from sunrise to sunset, and half
the men were always on guard.
I also told everyone living outside the walls to stay in Jerusalem.
That way they and their servants could help with guard duty at
night and work during the day.
During this time, none of us, not I nor my relatives, nor my servants,
nor the guards who were with me.
Ever took off our clothes, we carried our weapons with us at all
times, even when we went for water.
About this time, some of the men and their wives raised a cry of
protest against their fellow Jews.
They were saying, we have such large families, we need more food to survive.
Others said, we have mortgaged our fields, vineyards, and homes
to get food during the famine.
And others said, we have had to borrow money on our fields
and vineyards to pay our taxes.
We belong to the same family as those who are wealthy and our
children are just like theirs.
Yet we must sell our children into slavery just to get enough money to live.
We have already sold some of our daughters and we are helpless to do
anything about it for our fields and vineyards are already mortgaged to others.
When I heard their complaints, I was very angry.
After thinking it over, I spoke out against these nobles and officials.
I told them, you are hurting your own relatives by charging
interest when they borrow money.
Then I called a public meeting to deal with the problem.
At the meeting, I said to them, we are doing all we can to redeem our
Jewish relatives who have had to sell themselves to pagan foreigners.
But you are selling them back into slavery again.
How often must we redeem them?
And they had nothing to say in their defense.
Then I pressed further, what you are doing is not right should you not walk
in the fear of our God in order to avoid being mocked by enemy nations.
I, myself, as well as my brothers and my workers, have been lending
the people money and grain.
But now let us stop this business of charging interest.
You must restore their fields, vineyards, olive groves, and homes
to them this very day and repay the interest you charged when you lent them
money, grain, new wine, and olive oil.
They replied, we will give back everything and demand nothing more
from the people we will do, as you say.
Then I called the priests and made the nobles and officials swear
to do what they had promised.
I shook out the folds of my robe and said, if you fail to keep your
promise, may God shake you like this from your homes and from your property.
The whole assembly responded, amen.
And they praised the Lord and the people did as they had promised for the
entire 12 years that I was governor of Judah from the 20th year to the 32nd
year of the Reign of King Arteris.
Neither I nor my officials drew on our official food allowance.
The former governors, in contrast, had laid heavy burdens on the people
demanding a daily ration of food and wine besides 40 pieces of silver.
Even their assistance took advantage of the people, but because I
feared God, I did not act that way.
I also devoted myself to working on the wall and refused to acquire any land.
And I required all my servants to spend time working on the wall.
I asked for nothing, even though I regularly fed 150
Jewish officials at my table.
Besides all the visitors from other lands, the provisions I paid for each
day included one ox, six choice sheep or goats, and a large number of poultry.
And every 10 days we needed a large supply of all kinds of wine.
Yet I refuse to claim the Governor's food allowance because the people
already carried a heavy burden.
Remember, oh my God, all that I have done for these people, and bless me for it.