Nehemiah 4:1-7

1Sanballat was very angry when he learned that we were rebuilding the wall. He flew into a rage and mocked the Jews,

2saying in front of his friends and the Samarian army officers, “What does this bunch of poor, feeble Jews think they’re doing? Do they think they can build the wall in a single day by just offering a few sacrifices? Do they actually think they can make something of stones from a rubbish heap—and charred ones at that?”

3Tobiah the Ammonite, who was standing beside him, remarked, “That stone wall would collapse if even a fox walked along the top of it!”

4Then I prayed, “Hear us, our God, for we are being mocked. May their scoffing fall back on their own heads, and may they themselves become captives in a foreign land!

5Do not ignore their guilt. Do not blot out their sins, for they have provoked you to anger here in front of the builders.”

6At last the wall was completed to half its height around the entire city, for the people had worked with enthusiasm.

7But when Sanballat and Tobiah and the Arabs, Ammonites, and Ashdodites heard that the work was going ahead and that the gaps in the wall of Jerusalem were being repaired, they were furious.