the men of the guard. The Persian guard attached to Nehemiah.
none of us, &c. The Hebrew is literally "none of us put off our clothes; each man went with his weapon (or tool) [and his] water".. single and measured part of the ration "water" being put for the whole. Figure of speech Synecdoche (of the Part), App-6. just as we use "salt" for "salary", because it was once the most important part of the salary. Or, the water may have been required for making the mortar. The Figure of speech is used to emphasize the exigency of the circumstances. The text is thus not "defective".