¹⁹ But when Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite official^[a] and Geshem the Arab heard of it, they mocked and ridiculed us, saying, “What is this that you are doing? Are you rebelling against the king?”^(A)

⁶ In it was written, “It is reported among the nations—and Geshem^[a] also says it—that you and the Jews intend to rebel; that is why you are building the wall; and according to this report you wish to become their king.^(A)

Intrigues of Enemies Foiled

6 Now when it was reported to Sanballat and Tobiah and to Geshem the Arab and to the rest of our enemies that I had built the wall and that there was no gap left in it (though up to that time I had not set up the doors in the gates),^{(A) 2} Sanballat and Geshem sent to me, saying, “Come and let us meet together in one of the villages^[a] in the plain of Ono.” But they intended to do me harm.^(B)

⁴⁰ And they laughed at him. Then he put them all outside and took the child’s father and mother and those who were with him and went in where the child was.

³⁶ Others suffered mocking and flogging and even chains and imprisonment.^(A)

⁵ We have, in fact, found this man a pestilent fellow, an agitator among all the Jews throughout the world, and a ringleader of the sect of the Nazarenes.^[a](A)

¹² From then on Pilate tried to release him, but the Jews cried out, “If you release this man, you are no friend of Caesar. Everyone who claims to be a king sets himself against Caesar.”^(A)

² They began to accuse him, saying, “We found this man inciting our nation, forbidding us to pay taxes to Caesar and saying that he himself is the Messiah, a king.”^[a](A)