But it came to pass that, when Sanballat, and Tobiah, and the Arabians, and the Ammonites, and the Ashdodites, heard that the repairing of the walls of Jerusalem went forward, [and] that the breaches began to be stopped, then they were very wroth;
Nehemiah 4:5 and cover not their iniquity, and let not their sin be blotted out from before thee; for they have provoked [thee] to anger before the builders.
Nehemiah 4:6 So we built the wall; and all the wall was joined together unto half [the height] thereof: for the people had a mind to work.
Nehemiah 4:7 But it came to pass that, when Sanballat, and Tobiah, and the Arabians, and the Ammonites, and the Ashdodites, heard that the repairing of the walls of Jerusalem went forward, [and] that the breaches began to be stopped, then they were very wroth;
Nehemiah 4:8 and they conspired all of them together to come and fight against Jerusalem, and to cause confusion therein.
Nehemiah 4:9 But we made our prayer unto our God, and set a watch against them day and night, because of them.
The verse centers on "came", "pass", "sanballat", "tobiah", "arabians", "ammonites", "ashdodites", and "heard". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "came" and "pass", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.
The nearby context moves from verse 6's "So we built the wall and all..." into verse 8's "and they conspired all of them together...", so "came" and "pass" belong inside that flow. In Nehemiah context, the local focus is covenant, worship, and faithfulness.
A plain takeaway is to answer the verse's own emphasis on "came" and "pass" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.