12. I realized that God had not sent him, but that he had prophesied against me because Tobiah and Sanballat had hired him.
13. He had been hired to intimidate me so that I would commit a sin by doing this, and then they would give me a bad name to discredit me.
14. Remember Tobiah and Sanballat, my God, because of what they have done; remember also the prophet Noadiah and how she and the rest of the prophets have been trying to intimidate me.
15. So the wall was completed on the twenty-fifth of Elul, in fifty-two days.
16. When all our enemies heard about this, all the surrounding nations were afraid and lost their self-confidence, because they realized that this work had been done with the help of our God.
17. Also, in those days the nobles of Judah were sending many letters to Tobiah, and replies from Tobiah kept coming to them.
18. For many in Judah were under oath to him, since he was son-in-law to Shekaniah son of Arah, and his son Jehohanan had married the daughter of Meshullam son of Berekiah.