2 that Sanballat sendeth, also Geshem, unto me, saying, ‘Come and we meet together in the villages, in the valley of Ono;’ and they are thinking to do to me evil.
3 And I send unto them messengers, saying, ‘A great work I am doing, and I am not able to come down; why doth the work cease when I let it alone, and have come down unto you?’
4 and they send unto me, according to this word, four times, and I return them [word] according to this word.
6 it is written in it, ‘Among the nations it hath been heard, and Gashmu is saying: Thou and the Jews are thinking to rebel, therefore thou art building the wall, and thou hast been to them for a king — according to these words!
8 And I send unto him, saying, ‘It hath not been according to these words that thou art saying, for from thine own heart thou art devising them;’
9 for all of them are making us afraid, saying, ‘Their hands are too feeble for the work, and it is not done;’ and now, strengthen Thou my hands.