4 But it came to pass that when Sanballat heard that we were building the wall, he was wroth and felt great indignation and mocked the Jews.

² And he spoke before his brethren and the army of Samaria, and said, “What are these feeble Jews doing? Will they fortify themselves? Will they make sacrifice? Will they finish it in a day? Will they revive the stones out of the heaps of the rubbish which are burned?”

³ Now Tobiah the Ammonite was by him, and he said, “Indeed that which they build, if a fox go up, even he shall break down their stone wall.”

⁴ Hear, O our God, for we are despised; and turn their reproach upon their own head, and give them as a prey in the 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 built we the wall; and all the wall was joined together unto half its height, 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 the walls of Jerusalem were being rebuilt, and that the breaches began to be stopped, then they were very wroth,