Nehemiah 2:17-20

Christian Standard Bible

¹⁷ So I said to them, “You see the trouble we are in. Jerusalem lies in ruins and its gates have been burned.^(A) Come, let’s rebuild Jerusalem’s wall,^(B) so that we will no longer be a disgrace.” ¹⁸ I told them how the gracious hand of my God had been on me,^(C) and what the king had said to me.

They said, “Let’s start rebuilding,” and their hands were strengthened^[a] to do this good work.

¹⁹ When Sanballat the Horonite, Tobiah the Ammonite official,^(D) and Geshem the Arab^(E) heard about this, they mocked and despised us, and said, “What is this you’re doing? Are you rebelling against the king?”

²⁰ I gave them this reply, “The God of the heavens is the one who will grant us success. We, his servants, will start building, but you have no share, right, or historic claim in Jerusalem.”^(F)