1. When Sanballat heard that we Jews had begun rebuilding the wall, he was furious and began to ridicule us.
2. In front of his companions and the Samaritan troops he said, “What do these miserable Jews think they're doing? Do they intend to rebuild the city? Do they think that by offering sacrifices they can finish the work in one day? Can they make building stones out of heaps of burnt rubble?”
3. Tobiah was standing there beside him, and he added, “What kind of wall could they ever build? Even a fox could knock it down!”
4. I prayed, “Listen to them mocking us, O God! Let their ridicule fall on their own heads. Let them be robbed of everything they have, and let them be taken as prisoners to a foreign land.
5. Don't forgive the evil they do and don't forget their sins, for they have insulted us who are building.”
6. So we went on rebuilding the wall, and soon it was half its full height, because the people were eager to work.
7. Sanballat, Tobiah, and the people of Arabia, Ammon, and Ashdod heard that we were making progress in rebuilding the wall of Jerusalem and that the gaps in the wall were being closed, and they were very angry.