NE-4:1  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.

NE-4:2  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?

NE-4:3  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.

NE-4:4  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:

NE-4:5  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.

NE-4:6  So built we the wall; and all the wall was joined

together unto the

half thereof: for the people had a mind to work.

NE-4:7  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,

NE-4:8  And conspired all of them together to come [and] to

fight against

Jerusalem, and to hinder it.

NE-4:9  Nevertheless we made our prayer unto our God, and set a

watch against

them day and night, because of them.

NE-4:10  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.

NE-4:11  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.

NE-4:12  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].

NE-4:13  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.

NE-4:14  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.

NE-4:15  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.

NE-4:16  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.

NE-4:17  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.

NE-4:18  For the builders, every one had his sword girded by his

side, and

[so] builded. And he that sounded the trumpet [was] by me.

NE-4:19  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.

NE-4:20  In what place [therefore] ye hear the sound of the

trumpet, resort ye

thither unto us: our God shall fight for us.

NE-4:21  So we laboured in the work: and half of them held the

spears from the

rising of the morning till the stars appeared.

NE-4:22  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.

NE-4:23  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.

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