Samaritans, and all
that inhabited Celesyria, heard that the building went on apace, they
took it heinously, and proceeded to lay snares for them, and to hinder
their intentions. They also slew many of the Jews, and sought how they
might destroy Nehemiah himself, by hiring some of the foreigners to
kill him. They also put the Jews in fear, and disturbed them, and spread
abroad rumors, as if many nations were ready to make an expedition
against them, by which means they were harassed, and had almost left off
the building. But none of these things could deter Nehemiah from being
diligent about the work; he only set a number of men about him as
a guard to his body, and so unweariedly persevered therein, and was
insensible of any trouble, out of his desire to perfect this work. And
thus did he attentively, and with great forecast, take care of his own
safety; not that he feared death, but of this persuasion, that if he
were dead, the walls for his citizens would never be raised. He also
gave orders that the builders should keep their ranks, and have their
armor on while they were building. Accordingly, the mason had his sword
on, as well as he that brought the materials for building. He also
appointed that their shields should lie very near them; and he placed
trumpeters at every five hundred feet, and charged them, that if their
enemies appeared, they should give notice of it to the people, that they
might fight in their armor, and their enemies might not fall upon them
naked. He also went about the compass of the city by night, being never
discouraged, neither about the work itself, nor about his own diet and
sleep, for he made no use of those things for his pleasure, but out of
necessity. And this trouble he underwent for two years and four months;
[14] for in so long a time was the wall built, in the twenty-eighth
year of the reign of Xerxes, in the ninth month. Now when the walls were
finished, Nehemiah and the multitude offered sacrifices to God for the
building of them, and they continued in feasting eight days. However,
when the nations which dwelt in Syria heard that the building of the
wall was finished, they had indignation at it. But when Nehemiah saw
that the city was thin of people, he exhorted the priests and the
Levites that they would leave the country, and remove themselves to the
city, and there continue; and he built them houses at his own expenses;
and he commanded that part of the people which were emplo