When they heard about this, Sanballat the Horonite, Tobiah the Ammonite official, and Geshem the Arab mocked and ridiculed us. “What are you doing?” they asked. “Are you rebelling against the king?”
For thus said the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel: By waiting and by calm you shall be saved, in quiet and in trust shall be your strength. But this you did not will.
We have all become like something unclean, all our just deeds are like polluted rags; We have all withered like leaves, and our crimes carry us away like the wind.