Nehemiah:4

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* And it came to pass that when Sanballat heard that we built the wall , he was angry and very indignant , and mocked the Jews . * And he spoke before his brethren and the army of Samaria , and said , What do these feeble Jews ? shall they be permitted to go on ? Will they offer sacrifices ? Will they finish in a day ? Will they revive the stones out of the heaps of rubbish , when they are burned ? * And Tobijah the Ammonite was by him , and he said , Even that which they build , if a fox went up , it would break down their stone wall . -- * Hear , our God , for we are despised , and turn their reproach upon their own head , and give them for a prey in a land of captivity ! * And cover not their iniquity , and let not their sin be blotted out from before thee ; for they have provoked the builders . * But we built the wall ; and all the wall was joined together to the half thereof ; for the people had a mind to work . * And it came to pass , when Sanballat , and Tobijah , and the Arabians , and the Ammonites , and the Ashdodites heard that the walls of Jerusalem were being repaired , that the breaches began to be stopped , then they were very wroth , * and conspired all of them together to come to fight against Jerusalem , and to hinder it . * Then we prayed to our God , and set a watch against them day and night , because of them . * And Judah said , The strength of the bearers of burdens faileth , and there is much rubbish ; so that we are not able to build at the wall . * And our adversaries said , They shall not know , neither see , till we come into the midst of them and kill them , and put an end to the work . * And it came to pass that when the Jews that dwelt by them came and told us so ten times , from all the places whence they returned to us , * I set in the lower places behind the wall in exposed places , I even set the people , according to their families , with their swords , their spears and their bows . * And I looked , and rose up , and said to the nobles , and to the rulers , and to the rest of the people , Be not afraid of them : remember the Lord who is great and terrible , and fight for your brethren , your sons and your daughters , your wives and your houses . * And it came to pass that when our enemies heard that it was known to us , and that God had defeated their counsel , we returned all of us to the wall , every one to his work . * And from that time forth the half of my servants wrought in the work , and the other half of them held the spears , and the shields , and the bows , and the corslets ; and the captains were behind all the house of Judah . * They that built on the wall , and they that bore burdens , with those that loaded , wrought in the work with one hand , and with the other they held a weapon . * And the builders had every one his sword girded by his side , and built . And he that sounded the trumpet was by me . * And I said to the nobles , and to the rulers , and to the rest of the people , The work is great and extended , and we are scattered upon the wall , one far from another : * in what place ye hear the sound of the trumpet , thither shall ye assemble to us ; our God will fight for us . * And we laboured in the work ; and half of them held the spears from the rising of the dawn till the stars appeared . * Likewise at the same time I said to the people , Let every one with his servant lodge within Jerusalem , that in the night they may be a guard to us , and [be for ] labour in the day . * And neither I , nor my brethren , nor my servants , nor the men of the guard that followed me , none of us put off our garments : every one had his weapon on his right side .

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