Nehemiah 2:17-19

International Standard Version

¹⁷ Later I told them, “You all are watching the predicament we’re in, how Jerusalem lies desolate, with its gates burned by fire. Let’s rebuild the Jerusalem wall so we’re no longer a disgrace.” ¹⁸ Then I told them how good my God had been to^[a] me, and about what the king had told me.

They replied, “Let’s get out there and build!” So they encouraged themselves to do good.

Nehemiah Replies to Sanballat

¹⁹ But when Sanballat the Horonite, his servant Tobiah the Ammonite, and Geshem the Arab heard about it,^[b] they jeered at us and despised us when they said, “What is this thing that you’re doing? You’re rebelling against the king, aren’t you?”