rsv Nehemiah:4:1-12 SEEK
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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 ."