Nehemiah 4:1-7

1Sanballat heard that we were building the wall. He was very angry and upset. He laughed at the Jews.

2His officers and Samaria's army were with him. He said to them, ‘Those Jews have great ideas, but they are weak. How will they ever repair the wall? Will they give sacrifices to their God? Will that help them to repair the wall in one day? They will never build anything from this heap of stones that fire has destroyed!’

3Tobiah the Ammonite was with him. Tobiah said, ‘The wall that the Jews are trying to build is very weak. Even if a little fox climbs up on it, the stones would all fall down again!’

4So I prayed, ‘Hear us, our God. Our enemies think that we are fools. Make them seem like fools themselves! Let their enemies take them away as slaves.

5Do not forgive their sins. Do not say that they are not guilty. They have insulted us when we are trying to build.’

6The people worked hard because they wanted to build the wall. As a result, the wall all round the city soon became half as high as the old wall.

7Sanballat, Tobiah, the Arab people, the Ammonites and the people who came from Ashdod all heard that the work was continuing. They could see that we were repairing the holes in the wall. So they were very angry.