Hanani, one of my brothers, and some men from Judah came; and I asked them about the surviving Jews who had escaped and survived the captivity, and about Jerusalem.

The officials did not know where I had gone or what I had done; nor had I yet told the Jews, the priests, the nobles, the officials, or the rest who did the work.

But when Sanballat heard that we were rebuilding the wall, he became furious, completely enraged, and he ridiculed the Jews.

He spoke before his brothers and the army of Samaria, “What are these feeble Jews doing? Can they restore it for themselves? Can they offer sacrifices? Can they finish in a day? Can they revive the stones from the heaps of dust and rubbish, even the ones that have been burned?”

When the Jews who lived near them came, they said to us ten times (repeatedly), “From every place you turn, they will come up against us.”

Moreover, there were at my table a hundred and fifty Jews and officials, besides those who came to us from the nations that were around us.

In it was written, “It is reported among the [neighboring] nations, and Gashmu is saying that you and the Jews are planning to revolt, and that is the reason you are rebuilding the wall. And according to these reports, you are to be their king.

When the Jews heard the law, they separated from Israel all who were of foreign descent.

In those days I also saw Jews who had married women from Ashdod, Ammon, and Moab.