1 When Sanballat heard that we were rebuilding the wall, he became angry and was greatly irritated, and he mocked the Jews.
2 He spoke before his relatives and the army of Samaria and said, “What are these feeble Jews doing? Are they fortifying themselves? Will they make sacrifices? Can they complete this in a day? Can they revive the burned-up stones out of the rubbish heaps?”
3 Now Tobiah the Ammonite was beside him, and he said, “Even what they are rebuilding, if even a fox climbed it, that would break down their stone wall.”
4 Hear, O our God, that we are despised. Turn their reproach back upon their own head, and give them as spoil in a land of captivity:
5 No longer cover their iniquity nor blot out their sin, which is before You since they have made insults against the builders.
6 So we rebuilt the wall until all of it was solidified up to half its height. The people had a passion for the work.