¹⁸ I also told them how my gracious God was helping me. And I told them what the king had said to me.

They replied, “Let’s start rebuilding.” So they began that good work.

¹⁹ But Sanballat, the Horonite, heard about it. So did Tobiah, the official from Ammon. Geshem, the Arab, heard about it too. All of them laughed at us. They made fun of us. “What do you think you are doing?” they asked. “Are you turning against the king?”

²⁰ I answered, “The God of heaven will give us success. We serve him. So we’ll start rebuilding the walls. But you don’t have any share in Jerusalem. You don’t have any claim to it. You don’t have any right to worship here.”