The rulers - The principal authorities of the city, in the absence of the special governor.
The rest that did the work - i. e. “the laboring class that (afterward) actually built the wall.”
Related Commentaries of Nehemiah 2:16
Nehemiah 2:16
16 And the rulers knew not whither I went, or what I did; neither had I as yet told it to the Jews, nor to the priests, nor to the nobles, nor to the rulers, nor to the rest that did the work.