¹But it happened that when Sanballat heard that we were building the wall, he was angry, and took great indignation, and mocked the Jews.

¹参巴拉的恼恨与讥笑

²He spoke before his brothers and the army of Samaria, and said, “What are these feeble Jews doing? Will they fortify themselves? Will they sacrifice? Will they finish in a day? Will they revive the stones out of the heaps of rubbish, since they are burned?”

²在他的兄弟和撒玛利亚的军队面前，说：“这些软弱的犹大人在作什么呢？想自己修筑城墙吗？想要献祭吗？想要在一天之内完成吗？想要使废土堆中被火烧过的石头复活吗？”

³Now Tobiah the Ammonite was by him, and he said, “What they are building, if a fox climbed up it, he would break down their stone wall.”

³亚扪人多比雅在参巴拉旁边说：“这些人建造的，只要一只狐狸走上去，石墙就崩塌。”

⁴“Hear, our God; for we are despised; and turn back their reproach on their own head, give them up for a spoil in a land of captivity;

⁴“我们的　神啊，求你垂听，我们被藐视，求你使他们的毁谤归到他们头上，使他们在被掳之地成为掠物。

⁵don’t cover their iniquity, and don’t let their sin be blotted out from before you; for they have insulted the builders.”

⁵不要遮蔽他们的罪孽，也不要从你面前涂抹他们的罪恶，因为他们在这些建造的人面前惹你发怒。”

⁶So we built the wall; and all the wall was joined together to half its height: for the people had a mind to work.

⁶这样，我们重建城墙，把全部城墙连接起来，城墙达到一半的高度，因为众人都全心作工。（本章第1-6节在《马索拉抄本》为3:33-38）

⁷But it happened that when Sanballat, Tobiah, the Arabians, the Ammonites, and the Ashdodites heard that the repairing of the walls of Jerusalem went forward, and that the breaches began to be filled, then they were very angry;

⁷敌人密谋拦阻与破坏当参巴拉、多比雅、阿拉伯人、亚扪人、亚实突人听见耶路撒冷城墙重修工程仍然进行，已经堵塞城墙的缺口，就非常忿怒。（本节在《马索拉抄本》为4:1）

⁸and they conspired all of them together to come and fight against Jerusalem, and to cause confusion therein.

⁸他们就一同计划阴谋要来攻击耶路撒冷，制造混乱。

⁹But we made our prayer to our God, and set a watch against them day and night, because of them.

⁹所以我们向我们的　神祷告，又因他们的缘故，设立守卫，日夜防备他们。

¹⁰Judah said, “The strength of the bearers of burdens is fading, and there is much rubbish; so that we are not able to build the wall.”

¹⁰因为有些犹大人说：“搬运的人气力已经衰弱，但瓦砾仍多，我们不能再建城墙了！”

¹¹Our adversaries said, “They shall not know, neither see, until we come into their midst, and kill them, and cause the work to cease.”

¹¹同时我们的敌人说：“趁着他们不知道，还未看见之前，我们就进入他们中间，杀死他们，使那工程停止。”

¹²It happened that when the Jews who lived by them came, they said to us ten times from all places, “Wherever you turn, they will attack us.”

¹²住在他们附近的一些犹大人，也曾十次前来通知我们说：“他们将从各方上来攻击你们。”（或译：“他们十次从各方来对我们说：‘你们来到我们这里吧！’”本节颇残缺，意义难确定。）

¹³Therefore set I in the lowest parts of the space behind the wall, in the open places, I set the people after their families with their swords, their spears, and their bows.

¹³所以我分派众人站岗，在低洼或高处，在城墙后隐蔽处或空旷的地方，叫他们按着家族，带着刀、枪和弓。

¹⁴I looked, and rose up, and said to the nobles, and to the rulers, and to the rest of the people, “Don’t be afraid of them! Remember the Lord, who is great and awesome, and fight for your brothers, your sons, and your daughters, your wives, and your houses.”

¹⁴我巡视之后，就起来，对贵族、官长和其余的人民说：“不要怕他们，要记得主是伟大可畏的，要为你们的兄弟、儿女、妻子和你们的家争战。”

¹⁵It happened, when our enemies heard that it was known to us, and God had brought their counsel to nothing, that we returned all of us to the wall, everyone to his work.

¹⁵一面工作、一面防守我们的仇敌既然听见我们知道了这阴谋，　神也破坏了他们的计谋，就不敢来了。我们全都回到城墙那里，各人回到原来的工作岗位。

¹⁶It happened from that time forth, that half of my servants worked 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.

¹⁶从那天起，我的仆人一半工作，一半紧握着枪、盾牌、弓和盔甲。众领袖都站在犹大全家的后面。

¹⁷They all built the wall and those who bore burdens loaded themselves; everyone with one of his hands worked in the work, and with the other held his weapon;

¹⁷那些在城墙建造城墙，搬运重物的，都是一只手作工，一只手紧握兵器。

¹⁸and the builders, everyone wore his sword at his side, and so built. He who sounded the trumpet was by me.

¹⁸建造的人，都腰间佩着刀来建造；吹号角的人在我旁边。

¹⁹I said to the nobles, and to the rulers and to the rest of the people, “The work is great and large, and we are separated on the wall, one far from another.

¹⁹我对贵族、官长和其余的人民说：“这工程浩大，范围广阔；我们在城墙上彼此相隔很远。

²⁰Wherever you hear the sound of the trumpet, rally there to us. Our God will fight for us.”

²⁰所以你们无论在什么地方，一听见号角声，就要集合到我们那里来。我们的　神必为我们争战。”

²¹So we worked in the work: and half of them held the spears from the rising of the morning until the stars appeared.

²¹我们就这样作工；一半人紧握着枪，从黎明直到星宿出现的时候。

²²Likewise at the same time said I to the people, “Let everyone with his servant lodge within Jerusalem, that in the night they may be a guard to us, and may labor in the day.”

²²那时，我又对众人说：“各人和他的仆人都要在耶路撒冷城中过夜，这样他们可以在夜间作我们的守卫，日间工作。”

²³So neither I, nor my brothers, nor my servants, nor the men of the guard who followed me, none of us took off our clothes. Everyone took his weapon to the water.

²³这样，我与我的兄弟、我的仆人和跟随我的人，都不脱衣服，各人时常右手拿着自己的兵器（原文残缺，传统有译作“各人只有在沐浴时才脱衣服”，或“各人打水的时候，都手里拿着自己的兵器”）。