¹⁹ But when Sanballat^(A) the Horonite, Tobiah the Ammonite official and Geshem^(B) the Arab heard about it, they mocked and ridiculed us.^(C) “What is this you are doing?” they asked. “Are you rebelling against the king?”

²⁰ I answered them by saying, “The God of heaven will give us success. We his servants will start rebuilding,^(D) but as for you, you have no share^(E) in Jerusalem or any claim or historic right to it.”