Nehemiah 6
1 When Sanballat, Tobiah, Geshem the Arab, and the rest of our enemies heard that I had rebuilt the wall and not a gap was left—though to that time I had not yet installed the doors in the gates—
Sanballat, Tobiah, Geshem, and our other enemies heard [a report] that we had finished rebuilding the wall, and that now there were no more (gaps/places where the wall was not finished) (although we had not yet put the doors in the gates).
2 Sanballat and Geshem sent me this message: “Come, let us meet together in one of the villages on the plain of Ono.” But they were planning to harm me.
So Sanballat and Geshem sent [a message] to me, in which they said “Come and talk with us at a place in Ono Plain [north of Jerusalem].” But [I knew that] really they wanted to harm me [if I went there].
3 So I sent messengers to them, saying, “I am doing a great work and cannot come down. Why should the work stop while I leave it to go down to you?”
So I sent messengers to them, to tell them, “I am doing an important work, and I cannot go down [there]. (Why should I stop doing this work just to go down to [talk with] you?/I do not want to stop doing this work just to go down to [talk with] you.)” [RHQ]
4 Four times they sent me the same message, and each time I gave the same reply.
They sent me the same message four times, and each time when I replied to them I said the same thing.
5 The fifth time, Sanballat sent me this same message by his young servant, who had in his hand an unsealed letter
Then Sanballat sent one of his servants to me, bringing a fifth message. This one was written, but it was not sealed. [He did that in order that others would read the message that the servant was carrying] in his hand.
6 that read: “It is reported among the nations—and Geshem agrees—that you and the Jews are plotting to revolt, and this is why you are building the wall. According to these reports, you are to become their king,
This is what was written in the message: “Some people in the nearby countries have heard a report that you and the other Jews are rebuilding the wall [in order to be able to resist attacks], because you are planning to revolt [against the king of Babylon]. And the report also says that you are planning to become the king [of the Israelis]. Geshem says that what they have reported is true.
7 and you have even appointed prophets in Jerusalem to proclaim on your behalf: ‘There is a king in Judah.’ Soon these rumors will reach the ears of the king. So come, let us confer together.”
[People are also saying that] you have appointed some prophets to proclaim in Jerusalem that you, [Nehemiah, ] are now the king in Judea. King [Artaxerxes] will certainly hear these reports, [and then you will be in big trouble]. So I suggest that we should meet together to talk about this matter.”
8 Then I sent him this reply: “There is nothing to these rumors you are spreading; you are inventing them in your own mind.”
[When I read that message, ] I sent [the messenger] back to Sanballat to say, “None of what you are saying is true. You have (made this up/concocted this) in your own head/mind.”
9 For they were all trying to frighten us, saying, “Their hands will be weakened in the work, and it will never be finished.” But now, my God, strengthen my hands.
[I said that because I knew that] they were trying to cause us to be afraid, with the result that we would stop working [on the wall]. So I actually became more determined (OR, I prayed to God to help me) [to continue the work].
10 Later, I went to the house of Shemaiah son of Delaiah, the son of Mehetabel, who was confined to his house. He said: “Let us meet at the house of God inside the temple. Let us shut the temple doors because they are coming to kill you— by night they are coming to kill you!”
[One day] I went to talk with Shemaiah, son of Delaiah and grandson of Mehetabel. I went to talk with him in his house, because he was not able (OR, allowed) to leave his house. He said to me, “You and I must enter the very sacred place in the temple and lock the doors, because people are going to come to kill you at night.”
11 But I replied, “Should a man like me run away? Should one like me go into the temple to save his own life? I will not go!”
I replied, “I (am not that kind of person/do not do things like that) [RHQ]! I would not run and hide in the temple to save my life! No, I will not do that!”
12 I realized that God had not sent him, but that he had uttered this prophecy against me because Tobiah and Sanballat had hired him.
When I thought [about what he had said], I realized that God had not told Shemaiah to say that to me. I realized that Tobiah and Sanballat had bribed him [to say that to me].
13 He had been hired to intimidate me so that I would sin by doing as he suggested, so they could give me a bad name in order to discredit me.
They had bribed him to cause me to be afraid. They wanted me to [disobey God’s commands and] sin [by hiding in the temple]. If I did that, they would be able to ruin my reputation [MTY] and discredit me.
14 O my God, remember Tobiah and Sanballat for what they have done, and also Noadiah the prophetess and the other prophets who tried to intimidate me.
[So I prayed, ] “My God, do not forget what Tobiah and Sanballat have done. Punish them. And do not forget that the female prophet Noadiah and some of the other prophets have also tried to cause me to be afraid.”
15 So the wall was completed in fifty-two days, on the twenty-fifth of Elul.
On October 2 we finished rebuilding the wall. We did it all in 52 days.
16 When all our enemies heard about this, all the surrounding nations were afraid and disheartened, for they realized that this task had been accomplished by our God.
When our enemies in the nearby countries heard about that, they realized that they had been humiliated, because everyone knew that it was because God helped us that we had been able to do this work [and that they had not been able to force us to quit].
17 Also in those days, the nobles of Judah sent many letters to Tobiah, and Tobiah’s letters came back to them.
During this time, the Jewish leaders had been sending many messages/letters to Tobiah, and Tobiah had been sending messages back to them.
18 For many in Judah were bound by oath to him, since he was a son-in-law of Shecaniah son of Arah, and his son Jehohanan had married the daughter of Meshullam son of Berechiah.
Many people in Judea were closely associated with Tobiah, because he was the son-in-law of Shecaniah the son of Arah. Furthermore, Tobiah’s son Jehohanan had married the daughter of Meshullam the son of Berekiah.
19 Moreover, these nobles kept reporting to me Tobiah’s good deeds, and they relayed my words to him. And Tobiah sent letters to intimidate me.
People often talked in my presence about all the good things that Tobiah had done, and then they would tell him everything that I said. So Tobiah sent many letters to me to try to cause me to become afraid.
