¹ These are the words of Nehemiah ²  son of Hacaliah: It so happened that in the month of Kislev, in the twentieth year, ³  I was in Susa ⁴  the citadel.

You are righteous with regard to all that has happened to us, for you have acted faithfully. ¹  It is we who have been in the wrong!

So it happened that the Jews who were living near them came and warned us repeatedly ¹  about all the schemes ²  they were plotting ³  against us.

It so happened that when our adversaries heard that we were aware of these matters, ¹  God frustrated their intentions. Then all of us returned to the wall, each to his own work.

So Ezra the priest brought the law before the assembly which included men and women and all those able to understand what they heard. (This happened on the first day of the seventh month.)

(3:33) ¹  Now when Sanballat heard that we were rebuilding the wall he became angry and was quite upset. He derided the Jews,

Our adversaries also boasted, ¹  “Before they are aware or anticipate ²  anything, we will come in among them and kill them, and we will bring this work to a halt!”

I sent word back to him, “We are not engaged in these activities you are describing. ¹  All of this is a figment of your imagination.” ² 

But prior to this time, Eliashib the priest, a relative of Tobiah, had been appointed over the storerooms ¹  of the temple of our God.

(4:1) ¹  When Sanballat, Tobiah, the Arabs, the Ammonites, and the people of Ashdod heard that the restoration of the walls of Jerusalem ²  had moved ahead and that the breaches had begun to be closed, they were very angry.

When all our enemies heard and all the nations who were around us saw ¹  this, they were greatly disheartened. ²  They knew that this work had been accomplished with the help of our God.

When Sanballat, Tobiah, Geshem the Arab, and the rest of our enemies heard that I had rebuilt the wall and no breach remained in it (even though up to that time I had not positioned doors in the gates),