The upshot of the letter was this (ii.

19): 'What is this thing that ye do?
will ye rebel against the king ?' Do you, Nehemiah, intend to fortify Jerusalem, and then set up the standard of rebellion against Persia?
Our master, the king, may be deceived by you, but I, Sanballat, see through your hypocrisy and your wicked designs.
Nehemiah's answer was clear and to the point.

Three things he would have Sanballat know: (1) We have higher authority than that of man for what we do.
'The God of heaven, He will prosper us.' (2) We intend to go on with our work in spite of anything you may say or do.
'We His servants will arise and build.' (3) It is no business or concern of yours.

You, Sanballat, have nothing whatever to do with it.
'Ye have no portion, nor right, nor memorial, in Jerusalem.' Be content then, Sanballat, to manage your own province of Samaria, and to leave Jerusalem and the Jews to me and to their God.
No answer came back to Nehemiah's letter, and perhaps he and his companions fondly dreamed that this was an end to the matter, that the storm had blown over, and that Sanballat, when he saw that they were determined, and that they did not heed his threats or his ridicule, would in the future let them alone.
But one day, quite suddenly, the clouds returned, and the storm rose.
The work is progressing splendidly.

The priests and the merchants, and the goldsmiths and the apothecaries, the daughters of Shallum, earnest Baruch, and white-headed Shemaiah, are all at their post, when suddenly, as they look up, they see an unexpected sight.