Nehemiah 2:17-20

New Century Version

¹⁷ Then I said to them, “You can see the trouble we have here. Jerusalem is a pile of ruins, and its gates have been burned. Come, let’s rebuild the wall of Jerusalem so we won’t be full of shame any longer.” ¹⁸ I also told them how God had been kind to me and what the king had said to me.

Then they answered, “Let’s start rebuilding.” So they began to work hard.

¹⁹ But when Sanballat the Horonite, Tobiah the Ammonite officer, and Geshem the Arab heard about it, they made fun of us and laughed at us. They said, “What are you doing? Are you turning against the king?”

²⁰ But I answered them, “The God of heaven will give us success. We, his servants, will start rebuilding, but you have no share, claim, or memorial in Jerusalem.”