and I said to the king, If it please the king, and if your servant has found favor in your sight, I pray that you would send me to Judah, to the city of my fathers' tombs, so that I may build it.

And the king said to me (the queen also sitting by him), For how long shall your journey be? And when will you return? So it pleased the king to send me, and I set him a time.

And I came to the governors of the province Beyond the River and gave them the king's letters. And the king had sent captains of the army and horsemen with me.

In whatever place you hear the sound of the trumpet, gather there to us. Our God will fight for us.

Sanballat and Geshem sent to me, saying, Come, let us meet together in the villages in the plain of Ono. But they thought to do me harm.

And I sent messengers to them, saying, I am doing a great work, so I cannot come down. Why should the work cease while I leave it and come down to you?

And they sent to me four times in this way. And I answered them in the same way.

Then Sanballat sent his servant to me in the same way the fifth time with an open letter in his hand, in which was written,

And I sent to him saying, These things which you are saying are not happening, but you pretend them out of your own heart.

And, behold, I understood that God had not sent him, but that he said this prophecy against me because Tobiah and Sanballat had hired him.

Also they reported his good deeds before me, and told my words to him. Tobiah sent letters to make me afraid.

Then he said to them, Go eat the fat and drink the sweet, and send portions to him for whom nothing is prepared. For this day is holy to our LORD. And do not be sorry, for the joy of Jehovah is your strength.

And all the people went to eat, and to drink, and to send portions, and to make great rejoicing, because they had understood the words which were declared to them.