Nehemiah 4

¹But when Sanballat heard that we builded the wall, then was he wroth and sore grieued, and mocked the Iewes,

²And sayde before his brethren and the armie of Samaria, thus he sayde, What doe these weake Iewes? wil they fortifie them selues? wil they sacrifice? will they finish it in a day? will they make the stones whole againe out of the heapes of dust, seeing they are burnt?

³And Tobiah the Ammonite was beside him, and said, Although they buylde, yet if a foxe goe vp, he shall euen breake downe their stonie wall.

⁴Heare, O our God (for we are despised) and turne their shame vpon their owne head, and giue them vnto a pray in the lande of their captiuitie,

⁵And couer not their iniquitie, neither let their sinne be put out in thy presence: for they haue prouoked vs before the builders.

⁶So we built the wall, and all the wall was ioyned vnto the halfe thereof, and the heart of the people was to worke.

⁷But when Sanballat, and Tobiah, and the Arabians, and the Ammonites, and the Ashdodims heard that the walles of Ierusalem were repayred, (for the breaches began to be stopped) then they were very wroth,

⁸And conspired all together to come and to fight against Ierusalem, and to hinder them.

⁹The we prayed vnto our God, and set watchmen by them, day and night, because of them.

¹⁰And Iudah said, The strength of the bearers is weakened, and there is much earth, so that we are not able to build the wall.

¹¹Also our aduersaries had sayde, They shall not knowe, neither see, till we come into the middes of them and slay them, and cause the worke to cease.