Nehemiah 4:4

4:4 Hear, O our God, for we are despised! Return their reproach on their own head! Reduce them to plunder in a land of exile!

Nehemiah 4:9

4:9 So we prayed to our God and stationed a guard to protect against them ¹  both day and night.

[4:9]  ¹ tn Heb “against them.” The words “to protect” are added in the translation for the sake of clarity and smoothness. Some emend MT עֲלֵיהֶם (’alehem, “against them”) to עָלֶיהָ (’aleha, “against it,” i.e., Jerusalem).