Nehemiah 6

1 And it was just when it was heard by Sanballat and Tobiah and by Geshem the Arab and by [the] rest of enemies our that I had rebuilt the wall and not it was left in it a breach also until the time that doors not I had set up 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 And he sent Sanballat and Geshem to me saying come! so let us meet together at Kephirim in [the] plain of Ono and they [were] planning to do to me harm.

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 And I sent! to them messengers saying a work great I [am] doing and not I am able to go down why? will it cease the work when I will let drop it and I will 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 And they sent to me according to the manner this four times and I sent back to them according to the manner this.

They sent me the same message four times, and each time when I replied to them I said the same thing.

5 And he sent to me Sanballat according to the manner this a time fifth servant his and a letter open [was] in hand his.

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 [was] written In it among the nations it has been heard and Gashmu [is] saying you and the Jews [are] planning to rebel there-fore you [are] rebuilding the wall and you [are] about to become of them king according to the words these.

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 also prophets you have appointed to proclaim on you in Jerusalem saying a king [is] in Judah and now it will be heard by the king according to the words these and therefore come! so let us take counsel 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 And I sent! to him saying not it has occurred according to the words these which you [are] saying that from heart your you [are] inventing them.

[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 all of them [were] making afraid us saying they will drop hands their from the work and not it will be done and therefore strengthen hands my.

[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 And I I went [the] house of Shemaiah [the] son of Delaiah [the] son of Mehetabel and he [was] shut up and he said let us meet to [the] house of God to [the] middle of the temple and let us close [the] doors of the temple for [people are] coming to kill you and night [people 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 And I said! ¿ a man like me will he flee and who? [is] like me who he will go into the temple and he will live not I will 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 And I recognized! and there! not God he had sent him for the prophecy he had spoken on me and Tobiah and Sanballat he 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 So that [was] hired he so that I may be afraid and I may act thus and I will sin and it will become for them a name bad so that they may reproach 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 Remember! O God my to Tobiah and to Sanballat according to works his these and also Noadiah the prophetess and to [the] rest of the prophets who they were making afraid 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 And it was complete the wall on [day] twenty and five of Elul to fifty and two day[s].

On October 2 we finished rebuilding the wall. We did it all in 52 days.

16 And it was just when they heard all enemies our and they were afraid all the nations which [were] around us and they fell exceedingly in own eyes their and they knew that from with God our it had been done the work this.

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 the days those [were] multiplying [the] nobles of Judah letters their [which were] going to Tobiah and [those] which [belonged] to Tobiah [were] coming 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 [people] in Judah [were] lords of oath to him for [was] a son-in-law he of Shecaniah [the] son of Arah and Jehohanan son his he had taken [the] daughter of Meshullam [the] son of Berekiah.

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 Also good deeds his they were telling before me and words my they were sending out to him letters he sent Tobiah to make afraid 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.