1 ¶ When Sanballat heard that we were rebuilding the wall, he was angry, and in a great rage, and mocked the Jews.

2 And he said before his brethren and the army of Samaria, What are these feeble Jews doing? can they rebuild by themselves? are they planning to sacrifice? can they finish it in a day? will they get stones out of the heaps rubble that has been burned?

3 Now Tobiah the Ammonite was with him, and he said, If a fox walked up on what they are building, he would break down their stone wall.

4 Hear, O our God; for we are despised: and turn their insults back upon their own heads, and give them up to be plundered in a land where they are captives:

5 Do not cover their iniquity, and do not let their sin be blotted out before you: for they have provoked you to anger before these builders.

6 So we built the wall; and the entire wall was joined together to half its height: for the people had a mind to work.

7 ¶ But when Sanballat, and Tobiah, and the Arabians, and the Ammonites, and the Ashdodites, heard that the walls of Jerusalem were going up, and that the broken places were being filled in, they were very angry,

8 And all of them conspired together to come and to fight against Jerusalem, and to hinder it.

9 Nevertheless we prayed to our God, and set guards to watch day and night, to protect ourselves from them.

10 Then the people of Judah said, The strength of the laborers is wearing down, and there is too much rubble; we cannot continue to build the wall.

11 And our enemies were saying, They will not know we are present, or see us, before we come among them, kill them, and cause the work to stop.

12 As a result, when the Jews who lived near them came, they said to us ten times, They will come upon you from every direction.

13 Therefore I placed armed men behind the wall where it was lowest, and most open, according to their families with their swords, their spears, and their bows.

14 And after inspecting them, I said to the nobles, the leaders, and the rest of the people, Do not be afraid of them: remember the Lord, who is great and terrible, and fight for your brethren, your sons, your daughters, your wives, and your homes.

15 And when our enemies heard that their plot was known to us, and that God had brought their plan to nothing, all of us returned to the wall, every one to his work.

16 ¶ From that time forth, one half of my workmen worked at the task, and the other half held the spears, shields, bows, and body armor; and the officers stood behind all the people of Judah.

17 Those who were building the wall, and those who carried the loads, loaded themselves, so that every one did the work with one hand, and held a weapon in the other hand.

18 For every one of the builders, had his sword fastened to his side, and so worked. And the man who blew the trumpet was by me.

19 And I said to the nobles, and to the leaders, and to the rest of the people, The work covers a large area, and we are separated on the wall, far from one another.

20 Therefore wherever you hear the trumpet sound, rally to us there: our God will fight for us.

21 So we labored at the work: while half of them held the spears from sunrise until the stars appeared.

22 At the same time I said to the people, Let every man and his servant spend the night in Jerusalem, so that we can set a guard at night, and work during the day.

23 So none of us, not I, my brethren, my servants, or the men of the guard who followed me, took off our clothes, except when each man took them off for washing.