4 But it came to pass that, when Sanballat heard that we were building the wall, he was wroth, and took great indignation, and mocked the Jews. ² And he spake before his brethren and the army of Samaria, and said, What are these feeble Jews doing? ^[a]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 rubbish, seeing they are burned? ³ Now Tobiah the Ammonite was by him, and he said, Even that which they are building, if a ^[b]fox go up, he shall break down their stone wall. ⁴ Hear, O our God; for we are despised: and turn back their reproach upon their own head, and give them up for a spoil in a land of captivity; ⁵ and cover not their iniquity, and let not their sin be blotted out from before thee; for they have provoked thee to anger before the builders. ⁶ So we built the wall; and all the wall was joined together unto half the height thereof: for the people had a mind to work.

⁷ But it came to pass that, when Sanballat, and Tobiah, and the Arabians, and the Ammonites, and the Ashdodites, heard that ^[c]the repairing of the walls of Jerusalem went forward, and that the breaches began to be stopped, then they were very wroth; ⁸ and they conspired all of them together to come and fight against Jerusalem, and to cause confusion therein. ⁹ But 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 into the midst of them, and slay them, and cause the work to cease. ¹² And it came to pass that, when the Jews that dwelt by them came, they said unto us ten times ^[d]from all places, Ye must return unto us. ¹³ Therefore set I in the lowest parts of the space behind the wall, in the open places, I set there 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 ^[e]rulers, and to the rest of the people, Be not ye afraid of them: remember the Lord, who is great and terrible, and fight for your brethren, your sons, and your daughters, your wives, and your houses.