1. When Sanballat heard that we were building the wall, he became angry and raged. He mocked the Jews,
2. saying in the presence of his associates and the army of Samaria: "What are those feeble Jews doing? Will they restore things themselves? Will they offer sacrifices? Will they finish it in a day? Will they revive the stones from the piles of rubble, even though they are burned?"
3. Tobiah the Ammonite, who was beside him, added: "If even a fox climbs on whatever they build, their wall of stones will crumble."
4. Listen, God; we are despised! Turn their insults to us back on their heads and make them like plunder in a captive land.
5. Don’t forgive their iniquity or blot out their sins from your sight. They have thrown insults at the builders!
6. We continued to build the wall. All of it was joined together, and it reached half of its intended height because the people were eager to work.