Sanballat and Tobiah mock the builders and plot against them. Nehemiah prays and posts guards, and half the people work while the other half hold spears. Everyone keeps a weapon ready as they build.
1 But it came to pass, that when Sanballat heard that we builded the wall , he was wroth , and took great indignation , and mocked the Jews .
2 And he spake before his brethren and the army of Samaria , and said , What do these feeble Jews ? 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 the rubbish which are burned ?
3 Now Tobiah the Ammonite was by him , and he said , Even that which they build , if a fox go up , he shall even 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 for 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 the half 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 walls of Jerusalem were made up , and that the breaches began to be stopped , then they were very wroth ,
8 And conspired all of them together to come and to fight against Jerusalem , and to hinder it.
9 Nevertheless we made our prayer unto 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 , till we come in the midst among them, and slay them, and cause the work to cease .
12 And it came to pass, that when the Jews which dwelt by them came , they said unto us ten times , From all places whence ye shall return unto us they will be upon you.
13 Therefore set I in the lower places behind the wall , and on the higher places , I even set the people after their families with their swords , their spears , and their bows .
14 And I looked , and rose up , and said unto the nobles , and to the rulers , and to the rest of the people , Be not ye afraid of them : remember the Lord , which is great and terrible , and fight for your brethren , your sons , and your daughters , your wives , and your houses .
15 And it came to pass, when our enemies heard that it was known unto us, and God had brought their counsel to nought , that we returned all of us to the wall , every one unto his work .
16 And it came to pass from that time forth, that the half of my servants wrought in the work , and the other half of them held both the spears , the shields , and the bows , and the habergeons ; and the rulers were behind all the house of Judah .
17 They which builded on the wall , and they that bare burdens , with those that laded , every one with one of his hands wrought in the work , and with the other hand held a weapon .
18 For the builders , every one had his sword girded by his side , and so builded . And he that sounded the trumpet was by me .
19 And I said unto the nobles , and to the rulers , and to the rest of the people , The work is great and large , and we are separated upon the wall , one far from another .
20 In what place therefore ye hear the sound of the trumpet , resort ye thither unto us: our God shall fight for us.
21 So we laboured in the work : and half of them held the spears from the rising of the morning till the stars appeared .
22 Likewise at the same time said I unto the people , Let every one with his servant lodge within Jerusalem , that in the night they may be a guard to us, and labour on the day .
23 So neither I, nor my brethren , nor my servants , nor the men of the guard which followed me, none of us put off our clothes , saving that every one put them off for washing .