But Sanballat, the Horonite, heard about it. So did Tobiah, the official from Ammon. Geshem, the Arab, heard about it too. All of them laughed at us. They made fun of us. “What do you think you are doing?” they asked. “Are you turning against the king?”
The Lord and King is the Holy One of Israel. He says, “You will find peace and rest when you turn away from your sins and depend on me. You will receive the strength you need when you stay calm and trust in me. But you do not want to do what I tell you to.
You come to help those who enjoy doing what is right. You help those who thank you for teaching them how to live. But when we continued to disobey you, you became angry with us. So how can we be saved?
In that way, “ ‘They will see but never know what they are seeing. They will hear but never understand. Otherwise they might turn and be forgiven!’ ” (Isaiah 6:9,10)