⁷ You have chosen some prophets to speak your message in Jerusalem. You have told them to say, “There is now a king in Judah!” The king of Persia will surely hear this news. So we must meet together and talk about it.’

⁸ I sent this reply: ‘What you say is not true. Nothing like that is happening. You are only speaking your own ideas.’

⁹ All our enemies wanted to frighten us. They thought, ‘The Jews will be so afraid that they will not be able to work well. They will not finish building the wall.’

So I prayed to God, ‘Give me strength to continue the work.’