1. Now when Sanballat, Tobiah, Geshem the Arab, and the rest of our enemies heard that I had rebuilt the wall and that there were no gaps left in it (although I hadn’t yet hung the doors in the gates),
2. Sanballat and Geshem sent me this message: "Come, let’s meet together in one of the villages in the plain of Ono."But they wanted to harm me,
3. so I sent messengers to tell them, "I’m doing important work, so I can’t come down. Why should the work stop while I leave it to come down to you?"
4. They sent me a message like this four times, and every time I gave them a similar reply.
5. But the fifth time, Sanballat sent his servant to me in the same way, except that now he carried an open letter.