2:18 also of the words that the king had spoken. Nehemiah’s acknowledgment of God’s sovereignty as the ultimate source of his plan does not exclude the providentially ordered actions of the king (v. 8 note).

Let us rise up. Nehemiah’s initiative met with wholehearted support on the part of the leaders of Judah; by now the reader knows that this response, too, is governed by God’s purpose (Ezra 1:5 note).