Nehemiah 6
Revised Geneva Translation
6 And when Sanballat and Tobiah and Geshem the Arabian and the rest of our enemies heard that I had built the wall, and that there were no more breaches in it (though at that time I had not set up the doors upon the gates),
2 then Sanballat and Geshem sent to me, saying, “Come, so that we may meet together in the villages in the plain of Ono.” And they thought to do me evil.
3 Therefore, I sent messengers to them, saying, “I have a great work to do, and I cannot come down. Why should the work cease while I leave it and come down to you?”
4 Still, they sent to me four times in the same way. And I answered them in the same way.
5 Then Sanballat sent his servant to me as before for the fifth time, with an open letter in his hand,
6 in which was written, “It is reported among the heathen, and Gashmu has said so, that you and the Jews plan to rebel, for which reason you built the wall. And you will be their king according to these words.
7 “You have also ordained the Prophets to preach of you at Jerusalem, saying, “There is a king in Judah.” And now according to these words, it shall come to the king’s ears. Come now, therefore, and let us take counsel together.”
8 Then I sent to him, saying, “Nothing is done according to these words that you speak. For you feign them from your own heart.”
9 For they were all trying to frighten us, saying, “Their hands shall be weakened from the work, and it shall not be done.” Now, therefore, encourage me.
10 And I came to the house of Shemaiah, the son of Delaiah, the son of Mehetabel. And he was shut up. And he said, “Let us come together into the House of God, in the midst of the Temple, and shut the doors of the Temple. For they will come to kill you. Yea, in the night will they come to kill you.”
11 Then I said, “Should such a man as I flee? Who is he, being as I am, who would go into the Temple to live? I will not go in.”
12 And lo, I perceived that God had not sent him, but that he pronounced this prophecy against me. For Tobiah and Sanballat had hired him.
13 Therefore, he was hired so that I might be afraid, and do such, and sin, so that they might have an evil report, so that they might reproach me.
14 My God, remember Tobiah and Sanballat, according to these their works, and Noadiah the prophetess also, and the rest of the prophets who would have put me in fear.
15 Notwithstanding, the wall was finished in fifty-two days, on the twenty-fifth day of Elul.
16 And when all our enemies heard of it, all the heathen who were around us, they were afraid. And their courage failed them. For they knew that this work was done by our God.
17 And in these days, there were many of the princes of Judah whose letters went to Tobiah. And those of Tobiah came to them.
18 For there were many in Judah who had sworn allegiance to him. For he was the son-in-law of Shechaniah, the son of Arah. And his son, Jehohanan, had the daughter of Meshullam, the son of Berechiah.
19 Yea, they spoke his praise before me, and told him my words. And Tobiah sent letters to put me in fear.
Nehemiah 6
EasyEnglish Bible
Enemies try to frighten Nehemiah
6 We had finished building the city's wall. There were no holes in it now, but we had not fixed the doors in the gates. Sanballat, Tobiah, Geshem (the Arab) and all our enemies heard that we had finished building the wall. 2 Sanballat and Geshem sent this message to me: ‘Come and meet with us in a village on the low land of Ono.’
I realized that they wanted to cause trouble for me. 3 So I sent this message back to them: ‘I am too busy to come and meet you. The work here is too important. I cannot stop the work here to come and meet you.’
4 They sent me the same message four times. Each time, I refused. 5 Then Sanballat sent his officer to me with a fifth message. He carried a letter that was open for anyone to read. 6 This is what the letter said: ‘To Nehemiah. Other nations have heard the news that you and the other Jews have decided to turn against the king. Geshem also says that this is true. This is why you are building the city's wall. People are saying that you want to rule the Jews as their king. 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.’
10 One day I went to Shemaiah's house.[a] He was the son of Delaiah, Mehetabel's son. He could not go out of his house. He said to me, ‘Meet me inside the temple of God. We will close the temple's doors. Our enemies are coming to kill you. One night soon, they will come to kill you.’
11 But I said, ‘I am not a man who would run away to be safe. I will not go into the temple to save my life.’ 12 Then I realized that Shemaiah was not telling me a message from God. I knew that Tobiah and Sanballat had paid him to say this to me. 13 They wanted to frighten me so that I would hide in the temple. My enemies knew that this would be a sin.[b] If I did that, I would be ashamed. People would no longer respect me.
14 My God, please remember all the bad things that Tobiah and Sanballat have done. Also remember the prophetess, Noadiah, and the other prophets who have tried to frighten me.
The wall is finished
15 We finished the city's wall on the 25th day of the month Elul.[c] It had taken 52 days to build the wall again. 16 When our enemies heard this news, they were afraid. The people of all the nations who lived near Jerusalem were very afraid. They knew that our God had helped us to finish this great work.
17 During this time, the leaders in Judah were sending letters to Tobiah. Tobiah was also sending his replies to them. 18 Many people in Judah had promised to obey Tobiah. That was because his wife was the daughter of Arah's son, Shecaniah. Also, his son Jehohanan had married the daughter of Berekiah's son, Meshullam.[d] 19 The leaders would often speak about the good things that Tobiah had done. They would then go and tell Tobiah everything that I had said. So Tobiah continued to send letters to frighten me.
Footnotes
- 6:10 Shemaiah was a friend of Tobiah. Even when they had finished the wall, Nehemiah's enemies wanted to cause trouble for him.
- 6:13 Nehemiah was not a priest. Only the priests could go into the temple. So it would be a sin if Nehemiah went into the temple.
- 6:15 The name of a Jewish month, which comes in August – September.
- 6:18 Meshullam was one of the Jews who repaired Jerusalem's wall. See Nehemiah 3:4.
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