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 came to pass, when Sanaballat, and Tobias, and Gesam the Arabian, and the rest of our enemies, heard that I had built the wall, and [that] there was no opening left therein; ([but] hitherto I had not set up the doors on 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.

that Sanaballat and Gesam sent to me, saying, Come and let us meet together in the villages in the plain of Ono. But they [were] plotting to do me mischief.

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?”

So I sent messengers to them, saying, I am doing a great work, and I shall not be able to come down, lest the work should cease: as soon as I shall have finished it, I will 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 they sent to me [again] to this effect; and I sent them [word] accordingly.

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

Then Sanaballat sent his servant to me 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 was written, It has been reported among the Gentiles that you and the Jews are planning to revolt: therefore you are building the wall, and you will be a king to them.

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 moreover you has appointed prophets to yourself, that you might dwell in Jerusalem as a king over Juda: and now these words will be reported to the king. Now then, come, let us take 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 him, saying, It has not happened according to these words, [even] as you say, for you frame them falsely out of your 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 were trying to alarm us, saying, Their hands shall be weakened from this work, and it shall not be done. Now therefore I have strengthened my hands.

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 came into the house of Semei the son of Dalaia the Son of Metabeel, and he was shut up; and he said, Let us assemble together in the house of God, in the midst of it, and let us shut the doors of it; for they are coming by night to kill you.

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, Who is the man that shall enter into the house, that he may live?

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 observed, and, behold, God had not sent him, for the prophecy was a fable [devised] against me:

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.

and Tobias and Sanaballat had hired against me a multitude, that I might be frightened, and do this, and sin, and become to them an ill name, that they might reproach 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, O God, Tobias and Sanaballat, according to these their deeds, and the prophetess Noadia, and the rest of the prophets who tried to alarm me.

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

So the wall was finished 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 it came to pass, when all our enemies heard [of it], that all the nations round about us feared, and great alarm fell upon them, and they knew that it was of our God that this work should be finished.

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 in those days letters came to Tobias from many nobles of Juda, and those of Tobias 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 many in Juda were bound to him by oath, because he was son-in-law of Sechenias the son of Herae; and Jonan his son had taken the daughter of Mesulam the son of Barachia to wife.

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 reported his words to me, and carried out my words to him: and Tobias sent letters to terrify me.