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¹ But it came to pass that, when Sanballat heard that we were building the wall, he was angry, and took great indignation, and mocked the Jews.² And he spoke before his brothers and the army of Samaria, and said, What are these feeble Jews doing? 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 fox goes up, he shall break down their stone wall.⁴ Hear, O our God; for we are despised: and turn back their reproach on their own head, and give them up for a spoil in a land of captivity;⁵ and don't cover their iniquity, and don't let their sin be blotted out from before you; for they have provoked [you] to anger before the builders.⁶ So we built the wall; and all the wall was joined together to 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 the repairing of the walls of Jerusalem went forward, [and] that the breaches began to be stopped, then they were very angry;⁸ and they conspired all of them together to come and fight against Jerusalem, and to cause confusion in it.⁹ But we made our prayer to 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, until 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 to us ten times from all places, You must return to us.¹³ Therefore I set 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 to the nobles, and to the rulers, and to the rest of the people, Don't be afraid of them: remember the Lord, who is great and awesome, and fight for your brothers, your sons, and your daughters, your wives, and your houses.¹⁵ And it came to pass, when our enemies heard that it was known to us, and God had brought their counsel to nothing, that we returned all of us to the wall, every one to his work.

¹⁶ And it came to pass from that time forth, that half of my attendants wrought in the work, and half of them held the spears, the shields, and the bows, and the coats of mail; and the rulers were behind all the house of Judah.¹⁷ They all built the wall and those that bore burdens loaded themselves; every one with one of his hands wrought in the work, and with the other held his weapon;¹⁸ and the builders, every one had his sword girded by his side, and so built. And he that sounded the trumpet was by me.¹⁹ And I said to the nobles, and to the rulers and to the rest of the people, The work is great and large, and we are separated on the wall, one far from another:²⁰ in whatever place you hear the sound of the trumpet, resort there to us; our God will fight for us.²¹ So we wrought in the work: and half of them held the spears from the rising of the morning until the stars appeared.²² Likewise at the same time I said to the people, Let every one with his attendant lodge inside Jerusalem, that in the night they may be a guard to us, and may labor in the day.²³ So neither I, nor my brothers, nor my attendants, nor the men of the guard that followed me, none of us put off our clothes, every one [went with] his weapon [to] the water.