After these things he departed from Athens and came to Corinth.

And having found a certain Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, recently come from Italy, and Priscilla his wife (because  ¹Claudius had ordered all the Jews to depart from Rome), he went to them.

And because he was of the same trade, he remained with them and worked; for they were tentmakers by trade.

And he reasoned  ¹in the  ²synagogue every  ³Sabbath, persuading both Jews and  ⁴Greeks.

And  ¹when both Silas and Timothy came down from Macedonia, Paul was  ²constrained by the word, solemnly testifying to the Jews that Jesus was the Christ.

But when they resisted and blasphemed, he shook out his garments and said to them, Your blood be upon your head; I am clean. From now on I will  ¹go to the Gentiles.

And he left there and went into the house of one named Titius Justus, one who worshipped God, whose house was next to the synagogue.

And Crispus, the ruler of the synagogue, believed in the Lord with his whole  ¹household; and many of the Corinthians, when they heard, believed and were baptized.

And the Lord said to Paul in the night by a  ¹vision, Do not be afraid, but speak and do not be silent;

Because I Myself am with you, and no one will assail you to harm you, because I have many people in this city.

And he  ¹remained there a year and six months, teaching the word of God among them.

But while Gallio was proconsul of Achaia, the Jews rose up against Paul with one accord and brought him to the judgment seat,

Saying, This man incites men to worship God contrary to the law.

But when Paul was about to open his mouth, Gallio said to the Jews, If it were a matter of wrongdoing or some wicked crime, O Jews, I would for that reason tolerate you;

But if there are questions concerning words and names and your own law, look after it yourselves. A judge of these things I do not intend to be.

And he drove them away from the judgment seat.

And they all laid hold of  ¹Sosthenes, the ruler of the synagogue, and beat him in front of the judgment seat. And Gallio was not concerned about any of these things.

And Paul, having remained there yet a considerable number of days, took leave of the brothers and sailed away to Syria, and with him Priscilla and Aquila, having shorn his head in Cenchrea, for he had a  ¹vow.

And they arrived at Ephesus, and he left them there; but he  ¹entered into the synagogue and reasoned with the JEWS.

And when they asked him to remain for a longer time, he did not consent;

But taking leave of them and saying, I will come back to you again, God willing,

he put out to sea from Ephesus.

And coming down to Caesarea, he went up to Jerusalem and greeted the church and  ¹went down to Antioch.

And when Sanballat heard that we were building the wall, he became angry and was greatly enraged; and he mocked the Jews.

And he spoke to his brothers and the army of Samaria and said, What are these feeble Jews doing? Will they restore it for themselves? Will they sacrifice? Will they finish in a day? Will they revive the stones out of the dust heaps, though they are burned?

And Tobiah the Ammonite was beside him, and he said, Even their stone wall that they are building, if a fox were to go up on it, he would breach it.

Hear, O our God, for we are despised; and turn their reproach upon their own head, and give them as spoil in the land of captivity;

And do not cover their iniquity and do not let their sin be blotted out before You, for they made provocations before the builders.

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

And when Sanballat and Tobiah and the Arabians and the Ammonites and the Ashdodites heard that the restoration of the walls of Jerusalem was advancing, that the breaches were beginning to be closed up, they became very angry;

And all of them conspired together to come and fight against Jerusalem and cause confusion in it.

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

And Judah said,
The strength of the burden bearers fails,
And the debris is great;
And we are not able
To build the wall.

And our adversaries said, They will not know, nor even see, until we come into their midst and slay them and cause the work to stop.

And when the Jews who dwelt near them came, they said to us ten times, They will come up against us from all the places that you turn to.

So I set men in the lowest places behind the wall, on the exposed areas, and I set the people by families with their swords, their spears, and their bows.

And when I saw the situation, I rose up and said to the nobles and the rulers and the rest of the people, Do not be afraid of them; remember the great and awesome Lord, and  ¹fight for your brothers, your sons and your daughters, your wives and your houses.

And when our enemies heard that their counsel was known to us and that God frustrated it, we all returned to the wall, each man to his work.

And from that day half of my servants labored in the work, and half of them held the spears and the shields and the bows and the armor; and the rulers were behind all the house of Judah.

Those who built the wall and those who carried burdens took the loads with one hand doing the work and with the other holding a weapon.

And as for the builders, each had his sword strapped to his side, and so they built; and he who sounded the trumpet was beside  ¹me.

And I said to the nobles, the rulers, and the rest of the people, The work is great and large, and we are separated on the wall, each far from the other.

In whatever place you hear the sound of the trumpet, gather yourselves to us there. Our God will fight for us.

So we labored in the work; and half of them held spears from the start of dawn until the stars came out.

I also said to the people at that time, Let every man and his servant spend the nights inside Jerusalem so that they may be a guard for us by night and work by day.

So neither I nor my brothers nor my servants nor the men of the guard who followed me, none of us took off our clothes;  ¹each had his weapon at his right hand.

And there was a great cry of the people and their wives against their brothers the Jews,

For there were some who said, With our sons and our daughters we are many; therefore we must get grain that we may eat and live.

And there were some who said, We have pledged our fields and our vineyards and our houses that we might get grain in this famine.

And there were some who said, We have borrowed money against our fields and our vineyards for the king's tribute.

Yet now our flesh is like the flesh of our brothers, our children like their children; and now we are bringing our sons and daughters into bondage as slaves. And some of our daughters have already been brought into bondage; and it is not in our power to deliver them, for our fields and vineyards belong to others.

And I was very angry when I heard their cry and these words.

And when I had considered this matter in my heart, I rebuked the nobles and the rulers and said to them, You men are charging interest, each man against his brother! And I set a great assembly against them.

And I said to them, We have bought back our brothers the Jews who have been sold to the nations according to the best of our ability. So would you even sell your brothers that they would have to be sold back to us? And they held their peace and could find not a word to answer.

Then I said, The thing that you are doing is not good. Should you not walk in the fear of our God because of the reproach of the nations our enemies?

And even I, my brothers, and my servants lend them money and grain. Let us now abandon such taking of interest.

Restore now to them, as of today, their fields, their vineyards, their olive groves, and their houses, as well as the hundredth part of the money and of the grain, new wine, and fresh oil that you charge them as interest.

And they said, We will restore it, and we will require nothing from them; so will we do, even as you say. Then I called for the priests and took an oath from them that they would do according to this promise.

I also shook out the lap of my garment and said, May God shake out in the same way every man from his house and from his possessions who does not perform this promise; even so may he be shaken out and emptied. And all the assembly said, Amen; and they praised Jehovah. And the people acted according to this promise.

Moreover from the time that the king appointed me to be governor in the land of Judah, from the twentieth year even to the thirty-second year of Artaxerxes the king, twelve years, I and my brothers did  ¹not eat the food appointed for the governor.

But the former governors, who were before me, laid heavy burdens on the people and took from them food and wine, besides forty shekels of silver; even their servants tyrannized the people. But I did not do so, because of the fear of God.

And I also applied myself to the work on this wall. And we did not acquire fields, and all my servants were gathered there for the work.

And there were at my table one hundred fifty men, Jews and rulers, besides those who came to us from the nations that surrounded us.

And what was prepared for one day was one ox and six choice sheep; also fowl was prepared for me, as well as all kinds of wine in abundance every ten days. Yet for this I did not demand the food appointed for the governor, for the service was heavy upon this people.

Remember me, O my God, for good, according to all that I have done for this people.

And when it was reported to Sanballat and Tobiah and Geshem the Arabian and the rest of our enemies that I had built the wall and that no breach remained in it (though as yet I had not set up the doors in the gates),

Sanballat and Geshem sent word to me, saying, Come; let us meet together among the villages in the plain of Ono. But they intended to do me harm.

And I sent messengers to them, saying, I am doing a great work and cannot come down. Why should the work cease while I leave it to come down to you?

And they sent word to me four times in this way, and I answered them in this way.

Then Sanballat sent his servant to me in this way the fifth time, with an open letter in his hand,

In which was written: It is reported among the nations, and Geshem says it, that you and the Jews intend to rebel; therefore you are building the wall. And, according to these words, you are to be their king.

And you have also set up prophets to declare in Jerusalem concerning you, saying, There is a king in Judah! And now a report will be made to the king according to these words. Come now therefore, and let us take counsel together.

Then I sent word to him, saying, None of these things that you are saying have happened; rather you have invented them in your own heart.

For all of them tried to frighten us, thinking, Their hands will be weakened from working, and it will not be done. But now strengthen my hands!

And I went to the house of Shemaiah the son of Delaiah, the son of Mehetabel, who had shut himself up. And he said, Let us meet together in the house of God, within the temple; and let us shut the doors of the temple, for they are coming to slay you; indeed at night they are coming to slay you.

But I said, Should a man like me flee? And who, being like me, would go into the temple  ¹to save his life? I will not go in.

Then I perceived that surely God had not sent him but that he spoke this prophecy against me and that Tobiah and Sanballat had hired him.

He had been hired for this reason, that I would be frightened and that I would act in such a way as to sin; then they would have cause for an evil report in order to reproach me.

Remember, O my God, Tobiah and Sanballat according to these works of theirs, and also the prophetess Noadiah and the rest of the prophets, who tried to frighten me.

So the wall was completed on the twenty-fifth day of the month of Elul, in fifty-two days.

And when all our enemies heard of it, all the nations that surrounded us were afraid and fell very low in their own eyes, for they knew that this work was done with the help of our God.

Moreover in those days the nobles of Judah sent many letters unto Tobiah, and the letters of Tobiah came to them;

For many in Judah were sworn to his cause because he was the son-in-law of Shecaniah the son of Arah; and his son Jehohanan had taken the daughter of Meshullam the son of Berechiah as his wife.

They also spoke of his good deeds before me and reported my words to him. And Tobiah sent letters to intimidate me.

And when the wall was built and I had set up the doors, and the gatekeepers and the singers and Levites had been appointed,

I gave my brother Hanani, as well as Hananiah the commander of the citadel, charge over Jerusalem, for he was a faithful man and feared God more than most.

And I said to them, Do not let the gates of Jerusalem be opened until the sun is hot; and while some are standing guard, let them shut the doors, and you bar them; and appoint watches from the inhabitants of Jerusalem, each at his own watch and each opposite his own house.

Now the city was wide and large; but the people were few in it and no houses had been built.