¹⁶ And the rulers knew not whither I was gone, nor what I did, neither did I as yet tell it unto the Jews, nor to the Priests, nor to the noble men, nor to the rulers, nor to the rest that labored in the work.

¹⁷ Afterward I said unto them, Ye see the misery that we are in, how Jerusalem lieth waste, and the gates thereof are burnt with fire: come, and let us build the wall of Jerusalem, that we be no more ^[a]a reproach.

¹⁸ Then I told them of the hand of my God, (which was good over me) and also of the king’s words that he had spoken unto me. And they said, Let us rise, and build. So they ^[b]strengthened their hand to good.