But it came to pass, that when Sanballat heard that we builded the wall,.... Or were building it; for as yet it was not finished, see Nehemiah 4:6,
he was wroth, and took great indignation; inwardly, though outwardly he pretended to treat the work with contempt, as if it never would be accomplished, which yet he feared:
and mocked the Jews; as a set of foolish builders, and unable to finish what they had begun.