19 But Sanballat from Horon, Tobiah the Ammonite official, and Geshem the Arab heard that we were building again. They made fun of us in a very ugly way. They said, “What are you doing? Are you turning against the king?”
19 But when Sanballat the Horonite, and Tobiah the servant, the Ammonite, and Geshem the Arabian, heard it, they laughed us to scorn, and despised us, and said, What is this thing that ye do? will ye rebel against the king?
19 But when Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the servant, the Ammonite, and Geshem the Arab heard of it, they laughed us to scorn and despised us and said, What is this thing you are doing? Will you rebel against the king?
19 But when Sanballat the Horonite, and Tobiah the servant, the Ammonite, and Geshem the Arabian, heard it, they laughed us to scorn, and despised us, and said, What is this thing that ye do? will ye rebel against the king?
19 But when Sanballat the Horonite, Tobiah the Ammonite official, and Geshem the Arab heard about it, they mocked and made fun of us. “What are you doing?” they asked. “Are you rebelling against the king?”
19 But Sanballat, a Horonite, and the servant Tobiah, an Ammonite, and Geshem, an Arab, heard of it. And they ridiculed and disparaged us, and they said: "What is this thing that you are doing? Could you be rebelling against the king?"
This is what that letter said: “There is a rumor going around. People are talking about it everywhere. And, by the way, Geshem says it is true. People are saying that you and the Jews are planning to turn against the king. That is why you are building the wall of Jerusalem. People are also saying that you will be the new king of the Jews.
But all the people laughed at Jesus. Jesus told the people to leave the house. Then Jesus went into the room where the child was. He brought the child’s father and mother and his three followers into the room with him.
After this, Pilate tried to let Jesus go free. But the Jewish leaders yelled, “Any person who makes himself a king is against Caesar. {\cf2\super [240]} So if you let this man (Jesus) go free, that means you are not Caesar’s friend.”
They began to accuse Jesus. They told Pilate, “We caught this man trying to change the thinking of our people. He says we should not pay taxes to Caesar. {\cf2\super [369]} He calls himself the Christ, {\cf2\super [370]} a king.”
Every time I speak, I shout.\par I am always shouting about\par violence and destruction.\par I tell the people about the message\par that I received from the Lord.\par But people only insult me\par and make fun of me.\par
But now, even the men who are younger than I am are making fun of me.\par And their fathers were so worthless\par that I wouldn’t put them with the dogs\par guarding my sheep.\par
Our enemies were only trying to make us afraid. They are thinking to themselves, “The Jews will be afraid and too weak to keep on working. Then the wall won’t be finished.”
Sanballat and Tobiah were two men that heard about what I was doing. They were very upset and angry that someone had come to help the people of Israel. Sanballat was from Horon and Tobiah is an Ammonite official.
Joiada was the son of Eliashib the high priest. One of Joiada’s sons was a son-in-law of Sanballat from Horon. I forced that man to leave this place. I forced him to run away.
Ishmael captured all the other people in the town of Mizpah and started to cross over to the country of the Ammonite people. (Those people included the king’s daughters, and all the other people that were left there. Nebuzaradan, the commander of the king of Babylon’s special guards, had chosen Gedaliah to watch over those people.)
I tell you if you are trusting in power and smart plans for battle—then that is useless. Those are nothing but empty words. Now I ask you, who do you trust so much that you are willing to rebel against me?