^11 (A)So I went to Jerusalem and was there three days. ¹² Then I arose in the night, I and a few men with me. And I told no one what my God had put into my heart to do for Jerusalem. There was no animal with me but the one on which I rode. ¹³ I went out by night by ^(B)the Valley Gate to the Dragon Spring and to ^(C)the Dung Gate, and I inspected the walls of Jerusalem ^(D)that were broken down ^(E)and its gates that had been destroyed by fire. ¹⁴ Then I went on to ^(F)the Fountain Gate and to ^(G)the King's Pool, but there was no room for the animal that was under me to pass. ¹⁵ Then I went up in the night ^(H)by the valley and inspected the wall, and I turned back and entered by the Valley Gate, and so returned. ¹⁶ And the officials did not know where I had gone or what I was doing, and I had not yet told the Jews, the priests, the nobles, the officials, and the rest who were to do the work.

¹⁷ Then I said to them, “You see the trouble we are in, ^(I)how Jerusalem lies in ruins with its gates burned. Come, let us build the wall of Jerusalem, that we may no longer ^(J)suffer derision.” ¹⁸ And I told them ^(K)of the hand of my God that had been upon me for good, and also of the words that the king had spoken to me. And they said, “Let us rise up and build.” ^(L)So they strengthened their hands for the good work. ¹⁹ But when Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite servant and ^(M)Geshem the Arab heard of it, ^(N)they jeered at us and despised us and said, “What is this thing that you are doing? ^(O)Are you rebelling against the king?” ²⁰ Then I replied to them, ^(P)“The God of heaven will make us prosper, and we his servants will arise and build, but you have no portion or right or claim^[a] in Jerusalem.”

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. ² And he said in the presence of his brothers and of the army of ^(B)Samaria, “What are these feeble Jews doing? Will they restore it for themselves?^[b] Will they sacrifice? Will they finish up in a day? Will they revive the stones out of the heaps of rubbish, and burned ones at that?” ^3 (C)Tobiah the Ammonite was beside him, and he said, “Yes, what they are building—^(D)if a fox goes up on it he will break down their stone wall!” ^4 (E)Hear, O our God, for we are despised. ^(F)Turn back their taunt on their own heads and give them up to be plundered in a land where they are captives. ^5 (G)Do not cover their guilt, and let not their sin be blotted out from your sight, for they have provoked you to anger in the presence of the builders.

⁶ So we built the wall. And all the wall was joined together to half its height, for the people had a mind to work.