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14 Passing through Fountain Gate, I arrived at King's Pool, but the animal I was riding couldn't get through. 15 So I went through the valley that night and examined the wall. Then I turned back, entered Valley Gate, and returned. 16 The officials didn't know where I had gone or what I had done. I hadn't yet told the Jews, the priests, the leaders, the other officials, or any of the rest who would be doing the work. 17 Then I told them, |You see the trouble we're in. Jerusalem is in ruins, and its gates are burned down. Let's rebuild the wall of Jerusalem, and we will no longer be insulted.| 18 Then I told them that my God had been guiding me and what the king had told me. They replied, |Let's begin to rebuild.| So they encouraged one another to begin this God-pleasing work. 19 When Sanballat the Horonite, Tobiah the Ammonite servant, and Geshem the Arab heard about this, they made fun of us and ridiculed us. They asked, |What are you doing? Are you going to rebel against the king?| 20 |The God of heaven will give us success,| I answered them. |We, his servants, are going to rebuild. You have no property or claim or historic right in Jerusalem.| Nehemiah 2:14-20, God's Word Translation. Copyright © 1995 by God's Word to the Nations.
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