1And it came to be, when Sanballat heard that we were rebuilding the wall, that he was wroth and highly offended, and mocked the Yehuḏim.

2And he spoke before his brothers and the army of Shomeron, and said, “What are these feeble Yehuḏim doing? Are they going to restore, slaughter, complete it in a day? Are they going to bring to life the stones from the heaps of rubbish which are burned?”

3And Toḇiyah the Ammonite was beside him, and he said, “Whatever they build, if a fox should climb on it, he shall break down their stone wall.”

4“Hear, O our Elohim, for we have become despised. And turn back their reproach on their own heads, and give them as a prey in a land of captivity!

5“And do not cover over their crookedness, and do not let their sin be blotted out from before You, for they have provoked You before the builders.”

6So we built the wall, and the entire wall was joined together up to the half of it, for the people had a heart to work.

7And it came to be, when Sanballat and Toḇiyah, and the Araḇs, and the Ammonites, and the Ashdoḏites heard that the walls of Yerushalayim were being repaired and the broken places began to be filled, that they became very wroth,

8and all of them conspired together to come to fight against Yerushalayim and to do harm to it.

9But we prayed to our Elohim, and set a watch against them day and night, because of them.

10And Yehuḏah said, “The strength of the burden bearers is weakening, and there is so much rubbish that we are unable to build the wall.”

11And our adversaries said, “Let them not know or see it until we come into their midst and shall slay them, and cause the work to cease.”

12And it came to be, when the Yehuḏim who dwelt near them came, that they said to us ten times, “From whatever place you turn, they are against us.”

13So I set men behind the lower parts of the wall, at the openings – I set the people according to their clans, with their swords, their spears, and their bows.

14And I looked, and rose up and said to the nobles, and to the deputy rulers, and to the rest of the people, “Do not be afraid of them. Remember the great and awesome, יהוה, and fight for your brothers, your sons and your daughters, your wives and your houses.”

15And it came to be, when our enemies heard that it was known to us, and that Elohim had brought their counsel to naught, that all of us returned to the wall, everyone to his work.

16And it came to be, from that time on, that half of my servants were working in the work, while the other half were holding the spears, the shields, and the bows, and the breastplates. And the rulers were behind all the house of Yehuḏah,

17who were building on the wall, and those bearing burdens, those loading, working with one hand in the work, and with the other holding a weapon.

18As for the builders, each one had his sword girded at his side as he built. And the one who sounded the ram’s horn was beside me.

19And I said to the nobles, and to the deputy rulers, and to the rest of the people, “The work is great and large, and we are separated far from one another on the wall.

20“In whatever place you hear the sound of the ram’s horn, join us there. Our Elohim fights for us.”

21So we laboured in the work, and half of them held the spears from the break of day until the stars appeared.

22At that time I also said to the people, “Let each man and his servant spend the night in Yerushalayim, and they shall be our guard by night, and for the work by day.”

23So neither I, nor my brothers, nor my servants, nor the men of the guard who followed me, none of us took off our garments, each one his weapon even at the water.