7. When Sanballat, Tobiah, and the Arabs, Ammonites, and Ashdodites heard that the repair to the walls of Jerusalem was progressing and that the gaps were being closed, they became furious.
8. They all plotted together to come and fight against Jerusalem and throw it into confusion.
9. So we prayed to our God and stationed a guard because of them day and night.
10. In Judah, it was said: The strength of the laborer fails,since there is so much rubble.We will never be ableto rebuild the wall.
11. And our enemies said, “They won’t know or see anything until we’re among them and can kill them and stop the work.”
12. When the Jews who lived nearby arrived, they said to us time and again, “Everywhere you turn, they attack us.”
13. So I stationed people behind the lowest sections of the wall, at the vulnerable areas. I stationed them by families with their swords, spears, and bows.