¹⁹ Then I spoke to the nobles, the officials and the rest of the people. I said, “This is a big job. It covers a lot of territory. We’re separated too far from one another along the wall. ²⁰ When you hear the sound of the trumpet, join us at that location. Our God will fight for us!”

²¹ So we continued the work. Half of the men held spears. We worked from the first light of sunrise until the stars came out at night.