⁸ and a letter to Asaph the keeper of the king’s ^(A)forest, that he may give me timber to make beams for the gates of ^(B)the fortress which is by the house of God, for the wall of the city and for the house to which I will go.” And the king granted them to me because ^(C)the good hand of my God was on me.

⁹ Then I came to ^(D)the governors of the provinces beyond the River and gave them the king’s letters. Now ^(E)the king had sent with me commanders of the military force and horsemen. ¹⁰ Then ^(F)Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite ^[a]official heard about it, and it was a very great evil to them that someone had come to seek the good of the sons of Israel.