3
Now Tobiah, the Ammonite,
was by him, and he said, Even that which they build, if a fox
were to go up
it, he would 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 their captivity.
5
And do not cover their iniquity, nor let their sin be blotted out from before thee, for they have become angry against the builders.
6
But we built the wall, and all the wall was joined together unto the half thereof, for the people were motivated to work.
7
And it came to pass when Sanballat and Tobiah and the Arabians and the Ammonites and the Ashdodites heard that the walls of Jerusalem were sound
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 over the
builders 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 or see until we come in the midst among them and slay them and cause the work to cease.
12
But it came to pass, that when the Jews who dwelt among them came, they advised us ten times of all the places from which they would come upon us.
13
Therefore, I set in the lower places behind the wall,
and on the higher places, I set the people by families with their swords, their spears, and their bows.