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 it happened that, when Sanballat, and Tobiah, and Geshem, an Arab, and our other enemies, had heard that I had built the wall, and that there was no interruption remaining in it, (even though, at that time, I had not set up the double doors at the gates, )

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, and let us strike a pact together in the villages, on the plain of Ono.” But they were thinking that they would do me harm.

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?”

Therefore, I sent messengers to them, saying: “I am doing a great work, and I cannot descend, lest perhaps it may be neglected when I go out and descend to you.”

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

Then they sent to me, with this same word, four times. And I responded to them with the same word as before.

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

And Sanballat sent his servant to me a fifth time, with the former word, and he had a letter in his hand written in this manner:

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!

“It has been heard among the Gentiles, and Geshem has said it, that you and the Jews are planning to rebel, and because of this, you are building the wall and thinking to raise yourself as a king over them. For this reason,

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.”

you also have stationed prophets, who preach about you in Jerusalem, saying: ‘There is a king in Judea!’ But the king will hear about these words. Therefore, come now, so that we may go to counsel together.”

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”;

And I sent to them, saying: “There has been nothing done according to these words, which you have spoken. For you are inventing these things from your own heart.”

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 all these men wished to frighten us, thinking that our hands would cease from the work, and that we would cease. For this reason, I strengthened my hands all the more.

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 entered into the house of Shemaiah, the son of Delaiah, the son of Mehetabel, in secret. And he said: “Let us consult together in the house of God, in the midst of the temple. And let us close the doors of the temple. For they will come to kill you, and they will arrive in the night 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: “How could anyone like me flee? And who like me should enter the temple, so that he may live? I will not enter.”

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,

And I understood that God had not sent him, but he had spoken to me as if he were prophesying, and that Tobiah and Sanballat had hired him.

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 he had accepted money, so that I would be afraid, and would sin, and so that they would have some evil with which to rebuke 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.

Remember me, O Lord, because of Tobiah and Sanballat, because of their works of this kind. Then, too, Noadiah, a prophetess, and the rest of the prophets, would have made me afraid.

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

Now the wall was completed on the twenty-fifth day of the month of 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.

Then it happened that, when all our enemies had heard of it, all the nations that were around us were afraid, and they were downcast within themselves. For they knew that this work had been accomplished by 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;

But also, in those days, many letters were being sent by the nobles of the Jews to Tobiah, and were arriving from Tobiah 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 there were many in Judea who had sworn an oath to him, because he was the son-in-law of Shecaniah, the son of Arah, and because Jehohanan, his son, had married 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.

Moreover, they praised him before me, and they reported my words to him. And Tobiah sent letters, so that he might make me afraid.