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1 And so it was when Sanballat heard that we were building the wall, that he burned within him and he was very angry and he mocked the Jews.
2 And he spoke before the face of his brothers and the army of Samaria, and he said, “What are the feeble Jews doing? Will they restore for themselves? Will they sacrifice? Will they finish in a day? Will they bring to life the stones from piles of dust— and these having been burned?
3 Tobiah the Ammonite was beside him, and he said, “Even what they are building, if a fox went up, then he would break through the wall of their stones!”
4 Hear, our God, how we are despised. And turn back their taunts on their own heads and give them up to plunder in a land of captivity.
5 And do not cover over their iniquity and do not erase their sin from before your face, for they have provoked vexation in the presence of the builders.
6 So we built the wall. And all the wall was connected halfway, for the people had a heart to work.
7 And so it was that when Sanballat, and Tobiah, and the Arabians, and the Ammonites, and the Ashdodites heard that the walls of Jerusalem were becoming permanent and the breaches were beginning to be closed up, it burned in them greatly.
8 So they all conspired together to come to fight against Jerusalem and to cause confusion in it.
9 Then we prayed to our God and we installed a guard against them by day and night in their faces.
10 And Judah said, “The strength of the burden- bearers is failing, and there is much debris, so we are not able to build the wall.”
11 Then our enemies said, “They will not know, and they will not see, until when we come to the midst of them and we kill them; and we will stop the work.”
12 And so it was that the Jews who were living near them came and spoke to us ten times, "From all the places where you turn, they will be on us!"
13 And I positioned— in the lowest parts of the place, behind the wall, in the glazed places— I positioned the people by family with their swords, their spears, and their bows.
14 And I looked, and I stood up, and I said to the nobles, and to the rulers, and to the rest of the people, “Do not be afraid of their faces. Remember my Lord, great and feared! And fight for your brothers, your sons, and your daughters; your wives, and your homes.”
15 And so it was that when our enemies heard that it was known to us, and God had frustrated their plans, all of us returned to the wall, a man to his work.
16 And so it was from that day, the half of my servants did work and half of them stood firm, with the spears, the shields, and the bows, and the armor; and the leaders were behind all the house of Judah,
17 who were building the wall and those carrying burdens. Those who were loading, with one hand did work and with one held the spear.
18 And the builders: a man strapped his sword to his waist, and so he built. And the one who blew the trumpet was beside me.
19 And I said to the nobles and to the officials and to the rest of the people, “The work is great and extensive, and we are separated on the wall, a man far from his brother.
20 At the place where you hear a sound of a trumpet, in that direction assemble to us. Our God will fight for us.”
21 So we did the work. And half of them stood firm with spears from the rising of the dawn until the coming forth of the stars.
22 Moreover at that time I said to the people, “Let a man and his servant lodge in the midst of Jerusalem, and be for us a night guard and a day worker.”
23 And neither I, nor my brothers, nor my servants, nor the men of the guard who were behind me, none of us stripped off our clothes, or a man his spear, for water.
The Book of Nehemiah