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),

And it came to pass, when it was reported to Sanballat and Tobiah and to Geshem the Arabian and to the rest of our enemies, that I had built the wall, and there was left therein no breach, —though, up to that time, the doors, had I not set up in 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 Sanballat and Geshem sent unto me, saying, Come! and let us meet together in the villages, in the valley of Ono, —But, they, were plotting to 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?”

So I sent unto them messengers, saying, A great work, am, I, doing, and cannot come down, —wherefore should the work cease whilst I leave it, and come down unto you?

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

Yet they sent unto me, according to this message, four times, —and I replied to them according to this 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 unto me, according to this message, a fifth time, by his young man, —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!

wherein was written—Among the nations, it is reported, and, Gashmu, saith it, that, thou and the Jews, are plotting to rebel, for which cause, thou art building the wall, —and, thou, art to become their king, according to these words.

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.”

Moreover also, prophets, hast thou set up to make proclamation concerning thee in Jerusalem, saying, He hath become king in Judah! Now, therefore, will it he reported to the king, according to these words. Now, therefore, come, and 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”;

Then sent I unto him, saying, Nothing hath been done, according to these words, which thou art saying, —but, out of thine own heart, art thou feigning them.

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 all, were seeking to put us in fear, saying, Their hands will slacken from the work, and it will not be accomplished. Now, therefore, strengthen thou 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.”

When, I, came into the house of Shemaiah, son of Delaiah, son of Mehetabel, he, being shut in, he said, Let us meet together in the house of God, in the midst of the temple, and let us close the doors of the temple, for they are coming to slay thee, yea, by night, are they coming to slay thee.

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.”

Then said I, Should, such a man as I, flee? Who then, being such as I, would enter the temple to save his life? 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,

Then perceived I, that lo! it was, not God, who had sent him, —though, a prophecy, he had spoken concerning me, but, 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.

to this end, hired, he was, to the end that I might be afraid and do so, and might sin, —and it might serve them for an evil report, to the end they might bring reproach upon 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.

Have remembrance, O my God, of Tobiah and of Sanballat, according to these their doings, —moreover also, of Noadiah the prophetess, and of the rest of the prophets, who would have put me in fear.

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 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.

And it came to pass, when all our enemies heard, and all the nations that were round about us saw, that they fell greatly in their own eyes, and took knowledge that, from God, had this work been wrought.

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

Moreover, in those days, were the nobles of Judah busy with their letters which were going unto Tobiah, —and those of Tobiah were coming unto 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 Judah, had taken an oath to him, because he was in marriage affinity with Shecaniah son of Arah, —and, Jehohanan his son, had taken the daughter of Meshullam, 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, his good deeds, were they telling before me, and, my affairs, were they carrying out to him, —letters, did Tobiah send to put me in fear.