But when Sanballat the Horonite, and Tobiah the servant, the Ammonite, and Geshem the Arabian, heard, then they mocked us and despised us. And they said, What is this that you are doing? Will you rebel against the king?
The former governors who were before me were too heavy on the people, and had taken bread and wine from them, besides forty shekels of silver. Yes, even their young men bore rule over the people. But I did not do this, because of the fear of God.
For I will not again pity those living in the land, a statement of Jehovah. But, behold! I will cause to be found the men, each man into his neighbor’s hand, and into his king’s hand. And they shall crush the land, and I will not deliver out of their hand.