Labor, Ridicule and the Watch

When Sanballat hears that the wall is being built, he is furious and mocks the Jews before his brothers and the army of Samaria: "What do these feeble Jews? will they fortify themselves?… will they revive the stones out of the heaps of the rubbish which are burned?" Tobiah adds: "Even that which they build, if a fox go up, he shall even break down their stone wall."

Nehemiah prays: "Hear, O our God; for we are despised: and turn their reproach upon their own head… and cover not their iniquity." "So built we the wall; and all the wall was joined together unto the half thereof: for the people had a mind to work."

Sanballat, Tobiah, the Arabians, the Ammonites and the Ashdodites conspire to fight against Jerusalem. "Nevertheless we made our prayer unto our God, and set a watch against them day and night." Judah complains: "The strength of the bearers of burdens is decayed, and there is much rubbish; so that we are not able to build the wall." Jews living near the enemies warn them ten times.

Nehemiah sets the people by families with swords, spears and bows in the low open places: "Be not ye afraid of them: remember the Lord, which is great and terrible, and fight for your brethren." From then on half his servants work and half hold spears, shields, bows and armour. "They which builded on the wall, and they that bare burdens… every one with one of his hands wrought in the work, and with the other hand held a weapon."

The trumpeter stays beside Nehemiah: "In what place therefore ye hear the sound of the trumpet, resort ye thither unto us: our God shall fight for us." Everyone lodges inside Jerusalem. "So neither I, nor my brethren… put off our clothes, saving that every one put them off for washing."

Chapter numbers

The Hebrew Bible ends chapter 3 at 3:38; English 4:1–6 is Hebrew 3:33–38, and English 4:7–23 is Hebrew 4:1–17. The library's Hebrew (WLC) follows the Hebrew numbering; the KJV and Giguet's French follow the English. The site gives both where it matters.

Threat and rumor

The chapter reports mockery, a conspiracy and repeated warnings, but no actual attack. Nehemiah's measures are deterrence. Readers should distinguish what happened from what was feared.

"The army of Samaria"

Sanballat speaks before "the army (hayil) of Samaria," a provincial militia or garrison. Persian provinces kept local forces, and Elephantine had a Persian-era Jewish garrison. The opposition is political rivalry between neighboring provinces as much as religion.

A prayer for reversal

4:4–5 (Hebrew 3:36–37) asks God not to forgive the opponents. It belongs with imprecatory psalms (Psalm 79:12; 109) and Jeremiah 18:23. Later readers set it beside Jesus' teaching to pray for enemies (Matthew 5:44). The site shows the prayer as it stands, without softening it or treating it as the Bible's single word on enemies.

How strong was the wall?

"If a fox go up" is a taunt that the new wall is flimsy. Archaeologists debate whether any surviving masonry belongs to Nehemiah's wall (see the investigation). The 52-day completion suggests repair of an existing line rather than a new massive fortification.