Nehemiah 4:16
14 And I looked, and rose up, and said unto the nobles, and to the rulers, and to the rest of the people, Be not ye afraid of them: remember the Lord, which is great and terrible, and fight for your brethren, your sons, and your daughters, your wives, and your houses.
15 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 the half of my servants wrought in the work, and the other half of them held both the spears, the shields, and the bows, and the habergeons; and the rulers were behind all the house of Judah.
17 They which builded on the wall, and they that bare burdens, with those that laded, every one with one of his hands wrought in the work, and with the other hand held a weapon.
18 For the builders, every one had his sword girded by his side, and so builded. And he that sounded the trumpet was by me.
Here the Bible tells a story about someone else. Ask yourself what it can say to us today. Do read the surrounding verses too, because the context often says more than a single verse.
Compare
- BSB
- And from that day on, half of my servants did the work while the other half held spears, shields, bows, and armor. The officers stationed themselves behind all the people of Judah
- KJV
- And it came to pass from that time forth, that the half of my servants wrought in the work, and the other half of them held both the spears, the shields, and the bows, and the habergeons; and the rulers were behind all the house of Judah.
- WEB
- From that time forth, half of my servants did the work, and half of them held the spears, the shields, the bows, and the coats of mail; and the rulers were behind all the house of Judah.
- ASV
- 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 all the house of Judah.
- DARBY
- And from that time forth the half of my servants wrought in the work, and the other half of them held the spears, and the shields, and the bows, and the corslets; and the captains were behind all the house of Judah.
- BLB
- And it came to pass from that day, [that] half of my servants worked at the construction, and half held the spears, and the shields, and the bows, and the armor. And the leaders [were] behind all the house of Judah.
- ÅB
- Fra den dag arbeidet bare den ene halvdel av mine unge menn på verket, mens den andre halvdel av dem sto der med sine spyd, skjold, buer og brynjer, og høvdingene sto bakenfor hele Judas folk.
- OTB
- Fra den dagen av arbeidet halvparten av mine menn på konstruksjonen, mens den andre halvparten var utstyrt med spyd, skjold, buer og rustning. Offiserene stilte seg bak hele folket i Juda.
- B1930
- Fra den dag arbeidet bare den ene halvdel av mine unge menn på verket, mens den andre halvdel av dem stod der med sine spyd, skjold, buer og brynjer, og høvdingene stod bakenfor hele Judas folk.
Study notes (Tyndale)
Original text and word study
Cross references
Nehemiah 4:23
So neither I, nor my brethren, nor my servants, nor the men of the guard which followed me, none of us put off our clothes, saving that every one put them off for washing.
Read in contextNehemiah 5:15–16
But the former governors that had been before me were chargeable unto the people, and had taken of them bread and wine, beside forty shekels of silver; yea, even their servants bare rule over the people: but so did not I, because of the fear of God.
Read in contextPsalms 101:6
Mine eyes shall be upon the faithful of the land, that they may dwell with me: he that walketh in a perfect way, he shall serve me.
Read in context