Nehemiah 4:1-6

New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition

Hostile Plots Thwarted

4 ^[a]Now when Sanballat heard that we were building the wall, he was angry and greatly enraged, and he mocked the Jews.^{(A) 2} He said in the presence of his associates and of the army of Samaria, “What are these feeble Jews doing? Will they restore it by themselves?^[b] Will they offer sacrifice? Will they finish it in a day? Will they revive the stones out of the heaps of rubbish—burned ones at that?”^{(B) 3} Tobiah the Ammonite was beside him, and he said, “That stone wall they are building—any fox going up on it would break it down!”^{(C) 4} Hear, O our God, for we are despised; turn their taunt back on their own heads, and give them over as plunder in a land of captivity.^{(D) 5} Do not cover their guilt, and do not let their sin be blotted out from your sight, for they have raged against the builders.^[c](E)

⁶ So we rebuilt the wall, and all the wall was joined together to half its height, for the people had a mind to work.