Nehemiah:4
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Now when Sanbal '
lat heard that we were building the wall ,
he was angry and greatly enraged ,
and he ridiculed the Jews .
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And he said in the presence of his brethren and of the army of Sama '
ria , "
What are these feeble Jews doing ?
Will they restore things ?
Will they sacrifice ?
Will they finish up in a day ?
Will they revive the stones out of the heaps of rubbish ,
and burned ones at that ?"
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Tobi '
ah the Ammonite was by him ,
and he said , "
Yes ,
what they are building --
if a fox goes up on it he will break down their stone wall !"
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Hear ,
O our God ,
for we are despised ;
turn back their taunt upon their own heads ,
and give them up to be plundered in a land where they are captives .
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Do not cover their guilt ,
and let not their sin be blotted out from thy sight ;
for they have provoked thee to anger before the builders .
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So we built the wall ;
and all the wall was joined together to half its height .
For the people had a mind to work .
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But when Sanbal '
lat and Tobi '
ah and the Arabs and the Ammonites and the Ash '
dodites heard that the repairing of the walls of Jerusalem was going forward and that the breaches were beginning to be closed ,
they were very angry ;
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and they all plotted together to come and fight against Jerusalem and to cause confusion in it .
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And we prayed to our God ,
and set a guard as a protection against them day and night .
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But Judah said , "
The strength of the burden-bearers is failing ,
and there is much rubbish ;
we are not able to work on the wall ."
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And our enemies said , "
They will not know or see till we come into the midst of them and kill them and stop the work ."
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When the Jews who lived by them came they said to us ten times , "
From all the places where they live they will come up against us ."
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So in the lowest parts of the space behind the wall ,
in open places ,
I stationed the people according to their families ,
with their swords ,
their spears ,
and their bows .
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And I looked ,
and arose ,
and said to the nobles and to the officials and to the rest of the people , "
Do not be afraid of them .
Remember the Lord ,
who is great and terrible ,
and fight for your brethren ,
your sons ,
your daughters ,
your wives ,
and your homes ."
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When our enemies heard that it was known to us and that God had frustrated their plan ,
we all returned to the wall ,
each to his work .
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From that day on ,
half of my servants worked on construction ,
and half held the spears ,
shields ,
bows ,
and coats of mail ;
and the leaders stood behind all the house of Judah ,
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who were building on the wall .
Those who carried burdens were laden in such a way that each with one hand labored on the work and with the other held his weapon .
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And each of the builders had his sword girded at his side while he built .
The man who sounded the trumpet was beside me .
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And I said to the nobles and to the officials and to the rest of the people , "
The work is great and widely spread ,
and we are separated on the wall ,
far from one another .
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In the place where you hear the sound of the trumpet ,
rally to us there .
Our God will fight for us ."
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So we labored at the work ,
and half of them held the spears from the break of dawn till the stars came out .
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I also said to the people at that time , "
Let every man and his servant pass the night within Jerusalem ,
that they may be a guard for us by night and may labor by day ."
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So neither I nor my brethren nor my servants nor the men of the guard who followed me ,
none of us took off our clothes ;
each kept his weapon in his hand .