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¹ And it comes to pass, when Sanballat has heard that we are building the wall, that it is displeasing to him, and he is very angry and mocks at the Jews,² and says before his brothers and the force of Samaria, indeed, he says, "What [are] the weak Jews doing? Are they left to themselves? Do they sacrifice? Do they complete in a day? Do they revive the stones out of the heaps of the rubbish—and they are burned?"³ And Tobiah the Ammonite [is] by him and says, "Also, that which they are building—if a fox goes up, then it has broken down their stone wall."⁴ Hear, O our God, for we have been despised; and return their reproach on their own head, and give them for a spoil in a land of captivity;⁵ and do not cover over their iniquity, and do not let their sin be blotted out from before You, for they have provoked [You] to anger in front of those building.⁶ And we build the wall, and all the wall is joined—to its half, and the people have a heart to work.

⁷ And it comes to pass, when Sanballat has heard, and Tobiah, and the Arabians, and the Ammonites, and the Ashdodites, that lengthening has gone up to the walls of Jerusalem, that the breeches have begun to be stopped, then it is very displeasing to them,⁸ and they conspire, all of them together, to come to fight against Jerusalem, and to do to it injury.⁹ And we pray to our God, and appoint a watch against them, by day and by night, because of them.¹⁰ And Judah says, "The power of the burden-bearers has become feeble, and the rubbish [is] abundant, and we are not able to build on the wall."¹¹ And our adversaries say, "They do not know, nor see, until we come into their midst, and have slain them, and caused the work to cease."¹² And it comes to pass, when the Jews have come who are dwelling near them, that they say to us ten times from all the places to where you return—[they are] against us.¹³ And I appoint at the lowest of the places, at the back of the wall, in the clear places, indeed, I appoint the people, by their families, with their swords, their spears, and their bows.¹⁴ And I see, and rise up, and say to the nobles, and to the prefects, and to the rest of the people, "Do not be afraid of them; remember the Lord, the great and the fearful, and fight for your brothers, your sons, and your daughters, your wives, and your houses."¹⁵ And it comes to pass, when our enemies have heard that it has been known to us, and God frustrates their counsel, and we return, all of us, to the wall, each to his work;

¹⁶ indeed, it comes to pass, from that day, half of my servants are working in the business, and half of them are keeping hold of both the spears, the shields, and the bows, and the coats of mail; and the heads [are] behind all the house of Judah.¹⁷ The builders on the wall, and the bearers of the burden, those loading, [each] with one of his hands is working in the business, and one is laying hold of the missile.¹⁸ And the builders [are] each with his sword, girded on his loins, and building, and he who is blowing with a horn [is] beside me.¹⁹ And I say to the nobles, and to the prefects, and to the rest of the people, "The work is abundant, and large, and we are separated on the wall, far off from one another;²⁰ in the place that you hear the voice of the horn there you are gathered to us; our God fights for us."²¹ And we are working in the business, and half of them are keeping hold of the spears, from the going up of the dawn until the coming forth of the stars.²² Also, at that time I said to the people, "Let each lodge with his servant in the midst of Jerusalem, and they have been a watch for us by night, and [for] the work by day":²³ and there are none—I, and my brothers, and my servants, the men of the watch who [are] after me—there are none of us putting off our garments, each [has] his vessel of water.