³ Therefore, we prayed to our God and posted guards against them day and night in an attempt to foil their plans.

⁴ Meanwhile, the Judahites were saying: “The strength of the laborers is beginning to falter, and the rubbish is so extensive that we will not be able to rebuild the wall.” ⁵ However, our enemies, who were adamant in their belief that we would not know or see anything before they came into our midst, prepared to kill us and put a stop to the work.