14. I crossed over to the Fountain Gate and to the King’s Pool, but there was no place for my mount to cross over.
15. So I went up by the valley during the night and was examining the wall. Then I returned and came to the Valley Gate and returned.
16. The prefects did not know where I had gone and what I was doing. I had not yet told the Jews, the priests, the nobles, the prefects, and the rest of the workers.
17. Then I said to them, “You see the misery that we are in, that Jerusalem is ruined and its gates burned by the fire. Come, build the walls of Jerusalem and we shall no longer be a disgrace.”
18. I told them of the good hand of my God that was upon me and surely the words of the king that were spoken to me. And they said, “Let us arise and build!” And they strengthened their hands for this good work.
19. But Sanballat the Horonite, the Ammonite servant Tobiah, and Geshem the Arab heard it, and they mocked and despised us, saying, “What is this thing that you are doing? Are you rebelling against the king?”
20. Then I answered and said to them, “The God of the heavens himself will let us succeed, and we his servants shall arise and build. But for you there is no share, right, or memorial in Jerusalem.”