ATTEMPTS TO DISCOURAGE THE BUILDERS

6 When Sanballat, Tobiah, Geshem the Arab, and the rest of our enemiesg heard that I had rebuilt the wall and that no gap was left in ith—though at that time I had not installed the doors in the city gatesi—2 Sanballat and Geshemj sent me a message: “Come, let’s meet together in the villages ofB the Ono Valley.”k They were planning to harm me.

3 So I sent messengers to them, saying, “I am doing important work and cannot come down. Why should the work cease while I leave it and go down to you?” 4 Four times they sent me the same proposal, and I gave them the same reply.