Opposition to the Work

4 ^[a] Now when ^(A)Sanballat heard that we were building the wall, he was angry and greatly enraged, and he jeered at the Jews.

¹⁰ But when ^(A)Sanballat the Horonite and ^(B)Tobiah the Ammonite servant heard this, it displeased them greatly that someone had come to seek the welfare of the people of Israel.

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

¹⁹ But when Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite servant and ^(A)Geshem the Arab heard of it, ^(B)they jeered at us and despised us and said, “What is this thing that you are doing? ^(C)Are you rebelling against the king?”

The Apostles Arrested and Freed

¹⁷ But the high priest rose up, and all who were with him (that is, the party of ^(A)the Sadducees), and filled with ^(B)jealousy

²⁹ and twisting together a crown of thorns, they put it on his head and put a reed in his right hand. And kneeling before him, they ^(A)mocked him, saying, “Hail, ^(B)King of the Jews!”

Adversaries Oppose the Rebuilding

4 Now when ^(A)the adversaries of Judah and Benjamin heard that the returned exiles were building a temple to the Lord, the God of Israel, ² they approached Zerubbabel and the heads of fathers' houses and said to them, “Let us build with you, for we worship your God as you do, and we have been sacrificing to him ever ^(B)since the days of ^(C)Esarhaddon king of Assyria ^(D)who brought us here.” ³ But Zerubbabel, Jeshua, and the rest of the heads of fathers' houses in Israel said to them, ^(E)“You have nothing to do with us in building a house to our God; but we alone will build to the Lord, the God of Israel, ^(F)as King Cyrus the king of Persia has commanded us.”

⁴ Then ^(G)the people of the land discouraged the people of Judah and made them afraid to build ⁵ and bribed counselors against them to frustrate their purpose, all the days of Cyrus king of Persia, even until the reign of Darius king of Persia.