Then I said to the king, "If it pleases the king, and if your servant has [found] favor in your presence, [I ask] that you send me to Judah, to the city of my ancestors' burial sites, so that I may rebuild it."

With the queen sitting beside him, the king said to me, "How long will your journey be and when will you return?" So it pleased the king and he sent me, and I set for him an appointed time.

I came to the governors of [the province] Beyond the River, and I gave them the letters of the king. Then the king sent troop commanders and horses with me.

Wherever you hear the sound of the trumpet, come together to us there. Our God will fight for us."

Sanballat and Geshem sent to me, saying, "Come and let us meet together in [one of] the villages in the plain of Ono." But they planned to do evil to me.

So I sent messengers to them, saying, "I am doing a great work and I am not able to come down. Why should the work stop while I leave it and come down to you all?"

And they sent a message to me four times like this, and I returned an answer like this to them.

And Sanballat sent his servant with an open letter, [another] word like this to me a fifth time, in his hand.

So I sent to him saying, "None of these words you have spoken has happened. You are indeed saying [things] created in your own mind"--

Then I look and realized God had not sent him; rather, he had spoken the prophecy against me [because] Tobiah and Sanballat had hired him.

Also, in those days the nobles of Judah increasingly sent their letters to Tobiah, and [letters] from Tobiah returned to them.

They also were speaking of his good deeds in my presence, and they were sending my words out to him. Tobiah sent letters to intimidate me.

Then he said to them, "Go, eat festive food and drink sweet drinks, and send a share to those for whom nothing is prepared; for this day is holy to our lord. Do not be grieved because the joy of Yahweh is your refuge."

All of the people went to eat, to drink, to send a share, and to have great joy because they understood the words that they had made known to them.