JW subtitle extractor

As we learned in our audio drama,
the Jews returned to Jerusalem
to rebuild the temple in 537 B.C.E.
And by 515 B.C.E., it was finally completed.
However, the city’s walls were still left in ruins.
Jehovah’s time had now come to rebuild the walls,
and he used the faithful man Nehemiah
to take the lead in this work.
This would be a massive undertaking for the Jews.
And once again, there were opposers.
Nehemiah told the nation of Israel
that “the joy of Jehovah is your stronghold.”
How could he encourage them to be joyful
despite all the opposition?
What lessons can we learn from their example?
There are many,
but here are three to think about as you watch:
What role did prayer play in helping Nehemiah
to be a courageous person for Jehovah?
In addition to direct attacks,
what schemes did the enemies employ
to oppose the work?
Despite setbacks,
what was Nehemiah’s main source of joy?
Got it?
All right, then, with that in mind, please sit back
and enjoy the following video presentation
“The Joy of Jehovah Is Your Stronghold.”
It was a privilege to have a share
in the restoration of Jehovah’s worship.
People know we rebuilt the wall,
but there is so much more to the story.
Let’s start at the beginning.
In the 20th year of King Artaxerxes Longimanus,
I was in Shushan the palace.
I was cupbearer to the king.
He trusted me with his life.
Although I was far from Jerusalem,
I found great joy just thinking
about our people there serving Jehovah
—until one day when I received a visit
from my brother Hanani.
That visit changed everything.
What’s going on, Hanani?
How are our people?
Not good.
The conditions are disgraceful.
The walls of Jerusalem are broken down,
and its gates have been burned with fire.
What about the temple?
It stands,
but the services are nothing but empty rituals.
Most of the people and the priests ignore God’s Law.
You have to return with us.
For days, my conscience plagued me.
Would the king even allow me to go?
Our people had sinned
by not keeping Jehovah’s commandments,
but now I felt as if I were sinning
by not helping them in their time of need.
I begged Jehovah to grant me success.
Nehemiah,
why are you so gloomy when you’re not sick?
This can be nothing but gloominess of heart.
Why should I not look gloomy
when the city,
the place where my forefathers are buried,
lies in ruins,
and its gates have been consumed by fire?
Nehemiah, what is this?
Speak frankly.
What are you seeking?
At once, I prayed to the God of the heavens.
If it pleases the king
and if your servant has found favor with you,
send me to Judah,
to the city where my forefathers are buried,
and let me rebuild it.
You may go.
Jehovah was with us.
The king gave me supplies,
an army,
and an appointment as governor.
We were on our way to help rebuild Jerusalem’s walls.
I had seen a portion of the city,
but it wasn’t until I rose
by night to inspect the walls
that I saw just how badly God’s city had been treated.
Wait here.
I couldn’t believe the destruction.
The time had come
to reveal Jehovah’s purpose for Jerusalem.
I gathered the leaders.
Who is this man?
I’m told he’s Nehemiah, cupbearer to the king.
What does he want from us?
Men!
The holy city is completely vulnerable.
Let us rebuild the walls of Jerusalem,
so that this disgrace will not continue.
But what will our neighbors think?
Yes, we have many powerful enemies.
Artaxerxes commissioned me
to rebuild the walls and the entire city.
Didn’t you see the horsemen he sent
and all the timber?
He gave it all!
Brothers, the good hand of our God was upon me.
He is the one to fear, not men.
He will give us success.
Not everyone was happy
that we had come to do something good
for the people of Israel.
So that’s what this Nehemiah is up to.
Geshem, do you see what I’m seeing?
Without a wall,
we can keep the Jews under control.
If they rebuild it,
the Jews won’t need our land or resources.
That means he’s planning to rebel.
We can’t let him.
We must act, and act together.
Are you with me?
You have my support.
And mine, as always.
Good!
We must go to Jerusalem to keep an eye on Nehemiah.
The opposers wanted to maintain control
and to profit from Jehovah’s people.
They wasted little time trying to intimidate us.
Who are these?
That’s Sanballat, governor of Samaria.
Next to him is Tobiah, an Ammonite official
and landowner to many of our people.
They all look up to him.
That’s Geshem;
he’s a very wealthy Arabian and close ally to Sanballat.
Nehemiah, are you rebelling against the king?
The king himself gave us the authority.
To rebuild the city and the wall?
To rebuild the city and the wall
is what the king expects us to do.
Why did you not consult with me?
I am the governor of Samaria.
Well, yes, but the king appointed
Nehemiah as governor of Judah.
So why have you not asked for our help?
We worship Jehovah too.
We’ve sacrificed to him for generations.
Along with sacrifices to all of your other gods.
The God of the heavens
is the One that will grant us success,
and we, his servants,
will get up and build.
No one should let his religious beliefs
come before national unity.
You have neither share
nor claim nor memorial in Jerusalem.
Sanballat,
could it be you
who is rebelling against the highest King of all?
Despite opposition,
the people worked strenuously.
Nehemiah, these things have to go somewhere.
Their struggles went far beyond building a wall.
Jehovah remembers brothers like Peleth.
Seeing how he dealt with personal challenges
strengthened my faith.
Peleth.
Raham.
We’ll never finish this work.
It’s nothing but rubble.
At least we’re trying to make a change.
Always an optimist.
By the way, you’re late on your rent
—again.
Raham, I’m sorry;
I need more time.
With the work on the wall, . . .
I have enough troubles.
Look, if I don’t get payment
by the end of the month,
you and your family are out.
Is there anything we can do?
Maybe I can work it off till we get caught up.
Seriously?
You don’t have time to work it off,
but maybe your daughter can help.
She can come stay with us.
As a slave?
No, I’ll hire her to help Azubah
—to pay off your debt.
Look, I’m trying to help,
but you don’t have many options here, my friend.
Think about it.
So Raham spoke to me today.
About what?
He wants to hire Simcha to help Azubah in the house.
He says he’ll care for her like his own daughter.
Imma, I’ve known Raham and Azubah
ever since I came here with Ezra.
Raham helped us.
Our house belongs to him.
I don’t trust him.
He wants our Simcha to live with him?
Imma, . . .
What about Jehovah’s command
that parents raise their own children?
Don’t you want her to have a better life?
I-I cannot agree
to having her live apart from us,
even if we have to survive on gleanings.
How do you know we’ll survive at all?
Because Jehovah always takes care
of those who love and obey him.
Men like Peleth threw their burden on Jehovah
and kept working.
Sanballat set up camp near Jerusalem
to keep an eye on our progress.
So, what is it?
My lord.
Yes?
The wall
—it’s up to half its height all around the city.
This has gone too far!
Geshem, how long will it take
to assemble an attack force?
Attack force?
My lord, Sanballat, an attack on the Jews
would be an attack on the king.
What are you talking about?
He’s right.
Nehemiah has authorization from Artaxerxes himself.
You saw how many horsemen the king sent with him.
Yes!
Would you be talking like this if those horsemen
were still here?
And they can come back.
Nonsense!
Never mind the horsemen.
This is my province!
Out here, I decide what to do.
Now, we need to threaten them.
Geshem, you bring Samaritan troops
and come in from this way.
They’re preparing to attack us!
How do you know that?
I heard them talking.
Brothers, please.
Have they attacked anyone yet?
They must have.
He saw something.
Are you going to wait until they start killing us?
Of course not!
Of course not!
Hanani,
post men by families at the lowest parts of the wall
—at all the exposed places.
Yes, Nehemiah.
That’s not going to work.
Brothers,
if we let mere threats frighten us into stopping,
they will have achieved their goal.
It’s no use. Don’t you see?
These people hate what we’re doing.
They hate us.
You don’t have to live and work around them like we do.
Brothers,
where is your faith?
It is Jehovah’s will that we build this wall.
If it is really Jehovah’s will,
then why are we getting all this opposition?
Maybe this isn’t the right time.
Besides, this work is too much for us.
We’re worn out.
Why do we need a wall anyway?
To protect Jehovah’s people.
Brothers,
do not be afraid of them.
Remember Jehovah,
who is great and awe-inspiring;
and fight for your brothers,
your sons and daughters,
your wives and homes.
So when you hear the sound of the horn,
gather together to where we are.
Our God will fight for us.
Listen for this signal.
The threats aren’t working.
The next sound they hear will be our battle cry.
Wait!
We already spoke about this.
A direct attack would be seditious.
Besides, they’ve armed themselves.
Wait!
My-my lord,
Geshem is right.
We’d never get away with this.
Don’t you recall who commissioned Nehemiah?
It was the king.
It was the king of Persia, let me remind you.
Nehemiah is setting himself up as a king.
I recommend we turn the accusation of sedition
against Nehemiah.
That’s brilliant!
Yes,
he will beg for our help.
Let’s go back to Samaria.
Hanani,
you look like you’ve been working.
I must smell like it too.
Yes!
Yes, you do.
Brothers!
Brothers, we are well on our way to completing the wall.
Jehovah is helping us,
but we must not let our hands drop.
From now on,
we will all spend the night inside Jerusalem.
We will take turns keeping watch.
Hanani will give out assignments.
Good work today.
Everyone was working hard on the wall.
But there were more issues to contend with.
My brothers, how can I help you?
Nehemiah, we, with our sons and daughters, are many.
We need food to stay alive.
We gave our fields and vineyards
and houses as security to get grain during
the food shortage.
We borrowed money
on our fields and our vineyards to pay the king’s tribute.
And we’ve had to sell some of our children into slavery.
We’re powerless to stop this
because our fields and vineyards belong to others.
Thank you for bringing this to my attention.
I must ponder all this.
Thank you, Nehemiah.
Thank you.
Hanani, please tell all the nobles
and deputy rulers to come to me
first thing tomorrow morning.
With God’s help, we can make this right.
Men of Judah,
each of you is demanding interest from your brother.
You should be ashamed of yourselves.
Should you not walk in the fear of our God
so that the nations, our enemies,
cannot reproach us?
Let us, please, stop this lending on interest.
Please restore to them their fields,
vineyards, olive groves, houses,
and the interest.
Nehemiah, I will restore the fields this day at sunset.
We all will restore these things to our brothers.
Before Jehovah,
do you swear to these promises?
We do!
May the true God shake out from his house
every man who does not carry out this promise.
Amen!
Meshullam,
we must inform Tobiah about this.
This will be successful.
Jehovah will bless it.
Raham!
I bring good news.
Is that so?
Yes.
We have your rent.
Oh?
Come by anytime and collect it.
But I thought we—
What about Simcha?
She’ll be staying with us.
Well, how were you able to put it together so quickly?
Jehovah always takes care of those
who love and obey him.
Ever since Nehemiah got here,
things have been getting better and better.
Nehemiah thinks we’re still as young
as when we came here with Ezra.
I’ve worked hard.
But now Nehemiah treats us like it all fell out of heaven,
and we just have to pick it up.
I worked hard for what I have, didn’t I?
Yes, you worked hard.
If I give back my fields,
what am I to eat?
What am I to drink?
What’s wrong with lending on interest?
You borrow, you pay with interest.
Raham, Jehovah just wants us
to treat our brothers fairly, doesn’t he?
Haven’t you heard a word I said?
I treat everyone fairly!
Then why are you so angry?
I’m not angry!
Why are you talking to me like this?
I just feel betrayed.
By whom?
By the people I’ve lent money to!
What can I do about it?
Only what a wife is supposed to do!
Give me a son!
If not a son, then a daughter.
I cannot give you what Jehovah does not give us.
One day,
it will be too late.
I say we write a letter to the king.
Well, let’s see what the boy reports when he returns.
My lord, Sanballat.
Now what?
The wall has no more gaps.
What?
How can they advance so quickly?
Also, there’s a letter for Tobiah.
Nehemiah is forcing
landlords to return their fields to the original owners.
We’re running out of time.
Enough!
Tell this to Nehemiah:
“Come, and let us set a time
to meet together in the Valley Plain of Ono.”
They’re trying to lure me away from Jerusalem
to do me harm.
Please, tell your master:
“I am engaged in a great work,
“and I am not able to go down.
“Why should the work stop
while I leave it to come to you?”
They sent me the same message several times.
Each time I gave them the same response.
My lord, he has rejected your offer a fourth time.
Geshem,
it’s time to implement your plan.
Tobiah,
write this down:
“Among the nations it has been heard,
“and Geshem is also saying it,
“that you and the Jews
“are scheming to rebel.
That is why you are building the wall.”
Yes?
Give this to Nehemiah.
Tell your master:
“None of the things you are saying have taken place.
You are making them up out of your own imagination.”
They’re bluffing.
They’re trying to frighten us into stopping the work.
Yes, they know that the king won’t change his decree.
But believe me, they won’t stop.
Jehovah, I pray,
strengthen my hands.
What can we do to stop him?
We don’t have much time.
The wall is almost complete.
Sanballat,
I think I know a way.
Shemaiah, you called for me.
Yes!
Quickly!
You are in great danger.
And so am I because I know about it.
Talk sense, man!
What danger?
They’re coming to kill you—by night!
We must go into the temple and close the doors.
Shemaiah,
should a man like me run away?
You don’t understand.
What would that do to the spirit of the entire nation?
It’s the only safe place.
Besides, I’m not a priest.
If I entered the temple,
that would be valid reason to kill me.
I will not go in.
That decision would be foolish, Nehemiah.
Oh, I see!
Tobiah and Sanballat put you up to this,
didn’t they, you hypocrite?
May Jehovah remember them
and all of you false prophets
who keep trying to frighten me.
Come, Hanani,
we have work to do.
Argh!
We just kept working day and night.
But before we knew it,
we were finishing the very last section of the wall.
Jehovah helped us to achieve the impossible.
We were tired,
but we discovered something we had lost
—joy.
Nehemiah, the wall is complete!
Yeah! Yes!
That’s it.
In just 52 days.
My lord, it’s from Shemaiah.
What does it say?
The wall is complete.
Only the doors are left to be put in.
Sanballat, we must act quickly.
Sanballat . . .
Stop it, Tobiah.
No, there’s still time.
Write that letter to the king.
Tobiah,
don’t you see?
God must be helping the Jews.
It’s over.
We’ll lose all control over them.
This isn’t over.
Rebuilding the walls was only the beginning.
We would definitely need God’s help
for what was coming next.

Nehemiah: “The Joy of Jehovah Is Your Stronghold”—Part I
- 

Nehemiah: “The Joy of Jehovah Is Your Stronghold”—Part I

As we learned in our audio drama,
the Jews returned to Jerusalem
to rebuild the temple in 537 B.C.E.
And by 515 B.C.E., it was finally completed.
However, the city’s walls were still left in ruins.
Jehovah’s time had now come to rebuild the walls,
and he used the faithful man Nehemiah
to take the lead in this work.
This would be a massive undertaking for the Jews.
And once again, there were opposers.
Nehemiah told the nation of Israel
that “the joy of Jehovah is your stronghold.”
How could he encourage them to be joyful
despite all the opposition?
What lessons can we learn from their example?
There are many,
but here are three to think about as you watch:
What role did prayer play in helping Nehemiah
to be a courageous person for Jehovah?
In addition to direct attacks,
what schemes did the enemies employ
to oppose the work?
Despite setbacks,
what was Nehemiah’s main source of joy?
Got it?
All right, then, with that in mind, please sit back
and enjoy the following video presentation
<i>“The Joy of Jehovah Is Your Stronghold.”</i>
It was a privilege to have a share
in the restoration of Jehovah’s worship.
People know we rebuilt the wall,
but there is so much more to the story.
Let’s start at the beginning.
In the 20th year of King Artaxerxes Longimanus,
I was in Shushan the palace.
I was cupbearer to the king.
He trusted me with his life.
Although I was far from Jerusalem,
I found great joy just thinking
about our people there serving Jehovah
—until one day when I received a visit
from my brother Hanani.
That visit changed everything.
What’s going on, Hanani?
How are our people?
Not good.
The conditions are disgraceful.
The walls of Jerusalem are broken down,
and its gates have been burned with fire.
What about the temple?
It stands,
but the services are nothing but empty rituals.
Most of the people and the priests ignore God’s Law.
You have to return with us.
For days, my conscience plagued me.
Would the king even allow me to go?
Our people had sinned
by not keeping Jehovah’s commandments,
but now I felt as if I were sinning
by not helping them in their time of need.
I begged Jehovah to grant me success.
Nehemiah,
why are you so gloomy when you’re not sick?
This can be nothing but gloominess of heart.
Why should I not look gloomy
when the city,
the place where my forefathers are buried,
lies in ruins,
and its gates have been consumed by fire?
Nehemiah, what is this?
Speak frankly.
What are you seeking?
At once, I prayed to the God of the heavens.
If it pleases the king
and if your servant has found favor with you,
send me to Judah,
to the city where my forefathers are buried,
and let me rebuild it.
You may go.
Jehovah was with us.
The king gave me supplies,
an army,
and an appointment as governor.
We were on our way to help rebuild Jerusalem’s walls.
I had seen a portion of the city,
but it wasn’t until I rose
by night to inspect the walls
that I saw just how badly God’s city had been treated.
Wait here.
I couldn’t believe the destruction.
The time had come
to reveal Jehovah’s purpose for Jerusalem.
I gathered the leaders.
Who is this man?
I’m told he’s Nehemiah, cupbearer to the king.
What does he want from us?
Men!
The holy city is completely vulnerable.
Let us rebuild the walls of Jerusalem,
so that this disgrace will not continue.
But what will our neighbors think?
Yes, we have many powerful enemies.
Artaxerxes commissioned me
to rebuild the walls and the entire city.
Didn’t you see the horsemen he sent
and all the timber?
He gave it all!
Brothers, the good hand of our God was upon me.
He is the one to fear, not men.
He will give us success.
Not everyone was happy
that we had come to do something good
for the people of Israel.
So that’s what this Nehemiah is up to.
Geshem, do you see what I’m seeing?
Without a wall,
we can keep the Jews under control.
If they rebuild it,
the Jews won’t need our land or resources.
That means he’s planning to rebel.
We can’t let him.
We must act, and act together.
Are you with me?
You have my support.
And mine, as always.
Good!
We must go to Jerusalem to keep an eye on Nehemiah.
The opposers wanted to maintain control
and to profit from Jehovah’s people.
They wasted little time trying to intimidate us.
Who are these?
That’s Sanballat, governor of Samaria.
Next to him is Tobiah, an Ammonite official
and landowner to many of our people.
They all look up to him.
That’s Geshem;
he’s a very wealthy Arabian and close ally to Sanballat.
Nehemiah, are you rebelling against the king?
The king himself gave us the authority.
To rebuild the city and the wall?
To rebuild the city and the wall
is what the king expects us to do.
Why did you not consult with me?
I am the governor of Samaria.
Well, yes, but the king appointed
Nehemiah as governor of Judah.
So why have you not asked for our help?
We worship Jehovah too.
We’ve sacrificed to him for generations.
Along with sacrifices to all of your other gods.
The God of the heavens
is the One that will grant us success,
and we, his servants,
will get up and build.
No one should let his religious beliefs
come before national unity.
You have neither share
nor claim nor memorial in Jerusalem.
Sanballat,
could it be you
who is rebelling against the highest King of all?
Despite opposition,
the people worked strenuously.
Nehemiah, these things have to go somewhere.
Their struggles went far beyond building a wall.
Jehovah remembers brothers like Peleth.
Seeing how he dealt with personal challenges
strengthened my faith.
Peleth.
Raham.
We’ll never finish this work.
It’s nothing but rubble.
At least we’re trying to make a change.
Always an optimist.
By the way, you’re late on your rent
—again.
Raham, I’m sorry;
I need more time.
With the work on the wall, . . .
I have enough troubles.
Look, if I don’t get payment
by the end of the month,
you and your family are out.
Is there anything we can do?
Maybe I can work it off till we get caught up.
Seriously?
You don’t have time to work it off,
but maybe your daughter can help.
She can come stay with us.
As a slave?
No, I’ll hire her to help Azubah
—to pay off your debt.
Look, I’m trying to help,
but you don’t have many options here, my friend.
Think about it.
So Raham spoke to me today.
About what?
He wants to hire Simcha to help Azubah in the house.
He says he’ll care for her like his own daughter.
Imma, I’ve known Raham and Azubah
ever since I came here with Ezra.
Raham helped us.
Our house belongs to him.
I don’t trust him.
He wants our Simcha to live with him?
Imma, . . .
What about Jehovah’s command
that parents raise their own children?
Don’t you want her to have a better life?
I-I cannot agree
to having her live apart from us,
even if we have to survive on gleanings.
How do you know we’ll survive at all?
Because Jehovah always takes care
of those who love and obey him.
Men like Peleth threw their burden on Jehovah
and kept working.
Sanballat set up camp near Jerusalem
to keep an eye on our progress.
So, what is it?
My lord.
Yes?
The wall
—it’s up to half its height all around the city.
This has gone too far!
Geshem, how long will it take
to assemble an attack force?
Attack force?
My lord, Sanballat, an attack on the Jews
would be an attack on the king.
What are you talking about?
He’s right.
Nehemiah has authorization from Artaxerxes himself.
You saw how many horsemen the king sent with him.
Yes!
Would you be talking like this if those horsemen
were still here?
And they can come back.
Nonsense!
Never mind the horsemen.
This is my province!
Out here, I decide what to do.
Now, we need to threaten them.
Geshem, you bring Samaritan troops
and come in from this way.
They’re preparing to attack us!
How do you know that?
I heard them talking.
Brothers, please.
Have they attacked anyone yet?
They must have.
He saw something.
Are you going to wait until they start killing us?
Of course not!
Of course not!
Hanani,
post men by families at the lowest parts of the wall 
—at all the exposed places.
Yes, Nehemiah.
That’s not going to work.
Brothers,
if we let mere threats frighten us into stopping,
they will have achieved their goal.
It’s no use. Don’t you see?
These people hate what we’re doing.
They hate us.
You don’t have to live and work around them like we do.
Brothers,
where is your faith?
It is Jehovah’s will that we build this wall.
If it is really Jehovah’s will,
then why are we getting all this opposition?
Maybe this isn’t the right time.
Besides, this work is too much for us.
We’re worn out.
Why do we need a wall anyway?
To protect Jehovah’s people.
Brothers,
do not be afraid of them.
Remember Jehovah,
who is great and awe-inspiring;
and fight for your brothers,
your sons and daughters,
your wives and homes.
So when you hear the sound of the horn,
gather together to where we are.
Our God will fight for us.
Listen for this signal.
The threats aren’t working.
The next sound they hear will be our battle cry.
Wait!
We already spoke about this.
A direct attack would be seditious.
Besides, they’ve armed themselves.
Wait!
My-my lord,
Geshem is right.
We’d never get away with this.
Don’t you recall who commissioned Nehemiah?
It was the king.
It was the king of Persia, let me remind you.
Nehemiah is setting himself up as a king.
I recommend we turn the accusation of sedition
against Nehemiah.
That’s brilliant!
Yes,
he will beg for our help.
Let’s go back to Samaria.
Hanani,
you look like you’ve been working.
I must smell like it too.
Yes!
Yes, you do.
Brothers!
Brothers, we are well on our way to completing the wall.
Jehovah is helping us,
but we must not let our hands drop.
From now on,
we will all spend the night inside Jerusalem.
We will take turns keeping watch.
Hanani will give out assignments.
Good work today.
Everyone was working hard on the wall.
But there were more issues to contend with.
My brothers, how can I help you?
Nehemiah, we, with our sons and daughters, are many.
We need food to stay alive.
We gave our fields and vineyards
and houses as security to get grain during
the food shortage.
We borrowed money
on our fields and our vineyards to pay the king’s tribute.
And we’ve had to sell some of our children into slavery.
We’re powerless to stop this
because our fields and vineyards belong to others.
Thank you for bringing this to my attention.
I must ponder all this.
Thank you, Nehemiah.
Thank you.
Hanani, please tell all the nobles
and deputy rulers to come to me
first thing tomorrow morning.
With God’s help, we can make this right.
Men of Judah,
each of you is demanding interest from your brother.
You should be ashamed of yourselves.
Should you not walk in the fear of our God
so that the nations, our enemies,
cannot reproach us?
Let us, please, stop this lending on interest.
Please restore to them their fields,
vineyards, olive groves, houses,
and the interest.
Nehemiah, I will restore the fields this day at sunset.
We all will restore these things to our brothers.
Before Jehovah,
do you swear to these promises?
We do!
May the true God shake out from his house
every man who does not carry out this promise.
Amen!
Meshullam,
we must inform Tobiah about this.
This will be successful.
Jehovah will bless it.
Raham!
I bring good news.
Is that so?
Yes.
We have your rent.
Oh?
Come by anytime and collect it.
But I thought we—
What about Simcha?
She’ll be staying with us.
Well, how were you able to put it together so quickly?
Jehovah always takes care of those
who love and obey him.
Ever since Nehemiah got here,
things have been getting better and better.
Nehemiah thinks we’re still as young
as when we came here with Ezra.
I’ve worked hard.
But now Nehemiah treats us like it all fell out of heaven,
and we just have to pick it up.
I worked hard for what I have, didn’t I?
Yes, you worked hard.
If I give back my fields,
what am I to eat?
What am I to drink?
What’s wrong with lending on interest?
You borrow, you pay with interest.
Raham, Jehovah just wants us
to treat our brothers fairly, doesn’t he?
Haven’t you heard a word I said?
I treat everyone fairly!
Then why are you so angry?
I’m not angry!
Why are you talking to me like this?
I just feel betrayed.
By whom?
By the people I’ve lent money to!
What can I do about it?
Only what a wife is supposed to do!
Give me a son!
If not a son, then a daughter.
I cannot give you what Jehovah does not give us.
One day,
it will be too late.
I say we write a letter to the king.
Well, let’s see what the boy reports when he returns.
My lord, Sanballat.
Now what?
The wall has no more gaps.
What?
How can they advance so quickly?
Also, there’s a letter for Tobiah.
Nehemiah is forcing
landlords to return their fields to the original owners.
We’re running out of time.
Enough!
Tell this to Nehemiah:
“Come, and let us set a time
to meet together in the Valley Plain of Ono.”
They’re trying to lure me away from Jerusalem
to do me harm.
Please, tell your master:
“I am engaged in a great work,
“and I am not able to go down.
“Why should the work stop
while I leave it to come to you?”
They sent me the same message several times.
Each time I gave them the same response.
My lord, he has rejected your offer a fourth time.
Geshem,
it’s time to implement your plan.
Tobiah,
write this down:
“Among the nations it has been heard,
“and Geshem is also saying it,
“that you and the Jews
“are scheming to rebel.
That is why you are building the wall.”
Yes?
Give this to Nehemiah.
Tell your master:
“None of the things you are saying have taken place.
You are making them up out of your own imagination.”
They’re bluffing.
They’re trying to frighten us into stopping the work.
Yes, they know that the king won’t change his decree.
But believe me, they won’t stop.
Jehovah, I pray,
strengthen my hands.
What can we do to stop him?
We don’t have much time.
The wall is almost complete.
Sanballat,
I think I know a way.
Shemaiah, you called for me.
Yes!
Quickly!
You are in great danger.
And so am I because I know about it.
Talk sense, man!
What danger?
They’re coming to kill you—by night!
We must go into the temple and close the doors.
Shemaiah,
should a man like me run away?
You don’t understand.
What would that do to the spirit of the entire nation?
It’s the only safe place.
Besides, I’m not a priest.
If I entered the temple,
that would be valid reason to kill me.
I will not go in.
That decision would be foolish, Nehemiah.
Oh, I see!
Tobiah and Sanballat put you up to this,
didn’t they, you hypocrite?
May Jehovah remember them
and all of you false prophets
who keep trying to frighten me.
Come, Hanani,
we have work to do.
Argh!
We just kept working day and night.
But before we knew it,
we were finishing the very last section of the wall.
Jehovah helped us to achieve the impossible.
We were tired,
but we discovered something we had lost
—joy.
Nehemiah, the wall is complete!
Yeah! Yes!
That’s it.
In just 52 days.
My lord, it’s from Shemaiah.
What does it say?
The wall is complete.
Only the doors are left to be put in.
Sanballat, we must act quickly.
Sanballat . . .
Stop it, Tobiah.
No, there’s still time.
Write that letter to the king.
Tobiah,
don’t you see?
God must be helping the Jews.
It’s over.
We’ll lose all control over them.
This isn’t over.
Rebuilding the walls was only the beginning.
We would definitely need God’s help
for what was coming next.


-