In those days the aristocrats of Judah repeatedly sent letters to Tobiah, and responses from Tobiah were repeatedly coming to them.

There were 150 Jews and officials who dined with me routinely, ¹  in addition to those who came to us from the nations ²  all around us.

You guided them with a pillar of cloud by day and with a pillar of fire by night to illumine for them the path they were to travel.

From the day that I was appointed ¹  governor ²  in the land of Judah, that is, from the twentieth year until the thirty-second year of King Artaxerxes – twelve years in all – neither I nor my relatives ³  ate the food allotted to the governor. ⁴ 

Joiada son of Paseah and Meshullam son of Besodeiah worked on the Jeshanah Gate. ¹  They laid its beams and positioned its doors, its bolts, and its bars.

Even I and my relatives ¹  and my associates ²  are lending them money and grain. But let us abandon this practice of seizing collateral! ³ 

And the gatekeepers: Akkub, Talmon and their colleagues who were guarding the gates – 172.

and the temple servants who were living on Ophel worked ¹  up to the area opposite the Water Gate toward the east and the protruding tower.

They were telling me about his good deeds and then taking back to him the things I said. ¹  Tobiah, on the other hand, sent letters in order to scare ²  me.

And the Levites: Jeshua, Binnui, Kadmiel, Sherebiah, Judah, and Mattaniah, who together with his colleagues ¹  was in charge of the songs of thanksgiving.

“You gave them kingdoms and peoples, and you allocated them to every corner of the land. ¹  They inherited the land of King Sihon of Heshbon ²  and the land of King Og of Bashan.

The men of Tekoa worked on the section adjacent to them, but their town leaders ¹  would not assist ²  with the work of their master. ³ 

Also in those days I saw the men of Judah who had married women from Ashdod, Ammon, and Moab.

I said to the king, “If the king is so inclined, let him give me letters for the governors of Trans-Euphrates ¹  that will enable me to travel safely until I reach Judah,

Written in it were the following words: “Among the nations it is rumored ¹  (and Geshem ²  has substantiated ³  this) that you and the Jews have intentions of revolting, and for this reason you are building the wall. Furthermore, according to these rumors ⁴  you are going to become their king.

We will also bring the first of our coarse meal, of our contributions, of the fruit of every tree, of new wine, and of olive oil to the priests at the storerooms of the temple of our God, along with a tenth of the produce ¹  of our land to the Levites, for the Levites are the ones who collect the tithes in all the cities where we work. ²