14. Then I rode on toward the Fountain Gate and the King’s Pool. But there was not enough room for the animal I was riding to get through.
15. So I went up the valley at night. I was inspecting the wall. Finally, I turned and went back in through the Valley Gate.
16. The officers did not know where I had gone or what I was doing. I had not yet said anything to the Jews, the priests, the important men or the officers. I had not said anything to any of the others who would do the work.
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. Then we won’t be full of shame any longer.”
18. I also told them how God had been kind to me. And I told them what the king had said to me.Then they answered, “Let’s start rebuilding.” So they began to work hard.
19. But Sanballat the Horonite, Tobiah the Ammonite leader 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?”