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 fight 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 me.

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; each had his weapon at his right hand.