In his previous paragraph, Nehemiah had recorded the scorn Sanballat and Tobiah had directed against the men rebuilding Jerusalem’s broken-down walls. He had recorded also his response, namely, that he brought this abuse to God in God-centred prayer. The Lord granted that the builders maintained their resolve to keep building so that good progress was being made on the wall’s reconstruction. The present paragraph records the enemies’ frustration with the failure of their earlier attempt to stop the rebuilding and how they sought to increase the pressure.
7 Mais Sanballat, Tobija, les Arabes, les Ammonites et les Asdodiens, furent très irrités en apprenant que la réparation des murs avançait et que les brèches commençaient à se fermer.