[Sidenote:  Neh. 3:28-32]

Above the Horse Gate the priests repaired, each one opposite his own house.  After them Zadok the son of Immer repaired opposite his own house.  After him Shemaiah the son of Shechaniah, the keeper of the East Gate, repaired.  After him Hananiah the son of Shelemiah and Hanum the sixth son of Zalaph repaired another section.  After him Meshullam the son of Berschiah repaired opposite his chamber.  After him Malchijah, one of the goldsmiths, repaired as far as the house of the temple servants and of the merchants, opposite the Gate of the Watch Tower and to the ascent of the corner.  And between the ascent of the corner and the Sheep Gate the goldsmiths and the merchants repaired.

[Sidenote:  Neh. 4:1-5] Now when Sanballat heard that we were rebuilding the wall, his anger was aroused and he was very indignant, and mocked the Jews.  And he spoke before his kinsmen and the army of Samaria and said, ’What are these feeble Jews doing?  Will they leave it to God?  Will they sacrifice?  Will they complete it in a day?  Will they revive the stones out of the heaps of rubbish, although they are burned?  Now Tobiah the Ammonite was with him, and he said, ’Even that which they are building, if a fox should go up on it, he would break down their stone wall!’ Hear, O our God—­for we are despised—­and turn back their reproach upon their own head and give them up as an object of spoil in a land of captivity, and cover not their iniquity and let not their sin be blotted out from thy sight, for they have provoked thee to anger before the builders.

[Sidenote:  Neh. 4:6-8] So we built the wall; and all the wall was joined together to half its height, for the people were eager to work.  But when Sanballat and Tobiah and the Arabians and the Ammonites and the Ashdodites, heard that the restoration of the walls of Jerusalem was progressing, so that the breaches began to be stopped, they were very angry.  And they all conspired together to come and fight against Jerusalem and to produce a panic therein.

[Sidenote:  Neh. 4:9-14] But we made supplication to our God, and set a watch as a protection against them day and night.  Then the Judean community said, ’The strength of the burden-bearers is broken, for there is much rubbish; so that we shall not be able to rebuild the wall.  And our adversaries have said, “They shall neither know nor see, until we come into their midst and slay them and bring the work to a standstill."’ And it came to pass that when the Jews who dwelt by them came, they said to us ten times, ’From all the places where they dwell they will come up against us.’  Therefore I stationed in the lowest parts of the space behind the wall, in the protected places, I set there the people by their families with their swords, their spears, and their bows.  And when I saw their fear, I rose up and said to the nobles and to the rulers and to the rest of the people, ’Be not afraid of them.  Remember the Lord, who is great and terrible, and fight for your kinsmen, your sons and your daughters, your wives and your homes.’