But it came to pass, athat when Sanballat heard that we builded the wall, he was wroth, and took great indignation, and bmocked the Jews. 2 And he spake before his brethren and the army of cSamaria, and said, What do these feeble Jews? will they †fortify themselves? will they sacrifice? will they make an end in a day? will they revive the stones out of the heaps of the rubbish which are burned? 3 Now aTobiah the Ammonite was by him, and he said, Even that which they build, if da fox go up, he shall even break down their stone wall. 4 eHear, O our God; for we are †despised: and fturn their reproach upon their own head, and give them for a prey in the land of captivity: 5 And gcover not their iniquity, and hlet not their sin be blotted out from before thee: for they have provoked thee to anger before the builders. 6 So built we the wall; and all the wall was joined together unto the half thereof: for the people had a mind to work.

7 But it came to pass, that when Sanballat, and Tobiah, and the iArabians, and the jAmmonites, and the kAshdodites, heard that the walls of Jerusalem †were made up, and that the breaches began to be stopped, then they were very wroth, 8 And lconspired all of them together to come and to fight against Jerusalem, and †to hinder it. 9 Nevertheless we made our prayer unto our God, and set a watch against them day and night, because of them. 10 And Judah said, The strength of the bearers of burdens is decayed, and there is much rubbish; so that we are not able to build the wall. 11 And our adversaries said, They shall not know, neither see, till we come in the midst among them, and slay them, and cause the work to cease. 12 And it came to pass, that when the Jews which dwelt by mthem came, they said unto us nten times, ||From all places whence ye shall return unto us they will be upon you. 13 Therefore set I †in the lower places behind the wall, and on the higher places, I even set the people after their families with their swords, their spears, and their bows. 14 And I looked, and rose up, and said unto the nobles, and to the rulers, and to the rest of the people, oBe not ye afraid of them: remember the Lord, which is pgreat and terrible, and qfight 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 rbrought their counsel to nought, that we returned all of us to the wall, every one unto his work. 16 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 sspears, the shields, and the bows, and the shabergeons; 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. 19 And tI said unto the nobles, and to the rulers, and to the rest of the people, The work is great and large, and we are separated upon the wall, one far from another. 20 In what place therefore ye hear the sound of the trumpet, resort ye thither unto us: uour God shall fight for us. 21 So we laboured in the work: and half of them held the spears from xthe rising of the morning till the stars appeared. 22 Likewise at the same time said I unto the people, Let every one with his servant lodge within Jerusalem, that in the night they may be a guard to us, and labour on the day. 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.