Nehemiah 6

1 And it comes to pass, when it has been heard by Sanballat, and Tobiah, and by Geshem the Arabian, and by the rest of our enemies, that I have built the wall, and there has not been left in it a breach (also, until that time I had not set up the doors in the gates),

Now when word was given to Sanballat and Tobiah and to Geshem the Arabian and to the rest of our haters, that I had done the building of the wall and that there were no more broken places in it (though even then I had not put up the doors in the doorways);

2 that Sanballat sends, also Geshem, to me, saying, “Come and we meet together in the villages, in the Valley of Ono”; and they are thinking to do to me evil.

Sanballat and Geshem sent to me saying, Come, let us have a meeting in one of the little towns in the lowland of Ono. But their purpose was to do me evil.

3 And I send to them messengers, saying, “A great work I am doing, and I am not able to come down; why does the work cease when I let it alone, and have come down to you?”

And I sent men to them saying, I am doing a great work, so that it is not possible for me to come down: is the work to be stopped while I go away from it and come down to you?

4 And they send to me, according to this word, four times, and I return them [word] according to this word.

And four times they sent to me in this way, and I sent them the same answer.

5 And Sanballat sends to me, according to this word, a fifth time, his servant, and an open letter in his hand;

Then Sanballat sent his servant to me a fifth time with an open letter in his hand;

6 it is written in it, “Among the nations it has been heard, and Gashmu is saying: You and the Jews are thinking to rebel, therefore you are building the wall, and you have been to them for a king—according to these words!

And in it these words were recorded: It is said among the nations, and Geshem says so, that you and the Jews are hoping to make yourselves free from the king's authority; and that this is why you are building the wall: and they say that it is your purpose to be their king;

7 And also, you have appointed prophets to call for you in Jerusalem, saying, A king [is] in Judah, and now it is heard by the king according to these words; and now come, and we take counsel together.”

And that you have prophets preaching about you in Jerusalem, and saying, There is a king in Judah: now an account of these things will be sent to the king. So come now, and let us have a discussion.

8 And I send to him, saying, “It has not been according to these words that you are saying, for from your own heart you are devising them”;

Then I sent to him, saying, No such things as you say are being done, they are only a fiction you have made up yourself.

9 for all of them are making us afraid, saying, “Their hands are too feeble for the work, and it is not done”; and now, strengthen my hands.

For they were hoping to put fear in us, saying, Their hands will become feeble and give up the work so that it may not get done. But now, O God, make my hands strong.

10 And I have entered the house of Shemaiah son of Delaiah, son of Mehetabeel—and he is restrained—and he says, “Let us meet at the house of God, at the inside of the temple, and we shut the doors of the temple, for they are coming to slay you—indeed, by night they are coming to slay you.”

And I went to the house of Shemaiah, the son of Delaiah, the son of Mehetabel, who was shut up; and he said, Let us have a meeting in the house of God, inside the Temple, and let the doors be shut: for they will come to put you to death; truly, in the night they will come to put you to death.

11 And I say, “A man such as I—does he flee? And who as I, that goes into the temple, and lives? I do not go in.”

And I said, Am I the sort of man to go in flight? what man, in my position, would go into the Temple to keep himself safe? I will not go in.

12 And I discern, and behold, God has not sent him, for in the prophecy he has spoken to me both Tobiah and Sanballat hired him,

Then it became clear to me that God had not sent him: he had given this word of a prophet against me himself: and Tobiah and Sanballat had given him money to do so.

13 so that he [is] a hired worker, that I may fear and do so, and I had sinned, and it had been to them for an evil name that they may reproach me.

For this reason they had given him money, in order that I might be overcome by fear and do what he said and do wrong, and so they would have reason to say evil about me and put shame on me.

14 Be mindful, O my God, of Tobiah, and of Sanballat, according to these his works, and also, of Noadiah the prophetess, and of the rest of the prophets who have been making me afraid.

Keep in mind, O my God, Tobiah and Sanballat and what they did, and Noadiah, the woman prophet, and the rest of the prophets whose purpose was to put fear into me.

15 And the wall is completed in the twenty-fifth of Elul, on the fifty-second day;

So the wall was complete on the twenty-fifth day of the month Elul, in fifty-two days.

16 and it comes to pass, when all our enemies have heard, and all the nations who are all around us see, that they fall greatly in their own eyes, and know that by our God has this work been done.

And when our haters had news of this, all the nations round about us were full of fear and were greatly shamed, for they saw that this work had been done by our God.

17 Also, in those days the nobles of Judah are multiplying their letters going to Tobiah, and those of Tobiah are coming to them;

And further, in those days the chiefs of Judah sent a number of letters to Tobiah, and his letters came to them.

18 for many in Judah are sworn to him, for he [is] son-in-law to Shechaniah son of Arah, and his son Jehohanan has taken the daughter of Meshullam son of Berechiah;

For in Judah there were a number of people who had made an agreement by oath with him, because he was the son-in-law of Shecaniah, the son of Arah; and his son Jehohanan had taken as his wife the daughter of Meshullam, the son of Berechiah.

19 also, they have been speaking of his good deeds before me, and they have been taking my words out to him; Tobiah has sent letters to make me afraid.

And they said much before me of the good he had done, and gave him accounts of my words. And Tobiah sent letters with the purpose of causing me fear.