Ἔσδρας Βʹ 6
1 καὶ ἐγένετο καθὼς ἠκούσθη τῷ Σαναβαλλατ καὶ Τωβια καὶ τῷ Γησαμ τῷ Αραβι καὶ τοῖς καταλοίποις τῶν ἐχθρῶν ἡμῶν ὅτι ᾠκοδόμησα τὸ τεῖχος καὶ οὐ κατελείφθη ἐν αὐτοῖς πνοή ἕως τοῦ καιροῦ ἐκείνου θύρας οὐκ ἐπέστησα ἐν ταῖς πύλαις
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 καὶ ἀπέστειλεν Σαναβαλλατ καὶ Γησαμ πρός με λέγων δεῦρο καὶ συναχθῶμεν ἐπὶ τὸ αὐτὸ ἐν ταῖς κώμαις ἐν πεδίῳ Ωνω καὶ αὐτοὶ λογιζόμενοι ποιῆσαί μοι πονηρίαν
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 καὶ ἀπέστειλα ἐπ’ αὐτοὺς ἀγγέλους λέγων ἔργον μέγα ἐγὼ ποιῶ καὶ οὐ δυνήσομαι καταβῆναι μήποτε καταπαύσῃ τὸ ἔργον ὡς ἂν τελειώσω αὐτό καταβήσομαι πρὸς ὑμᾶς
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 καὶ ἀπέστειλαν πρός με ὡς τὸ ῥῆμα τοῦτο καὶ ἀπέστειλα αὐτοῖς κατὰ ταῦτα
They sent me the same message four times, and each time when I replied to them I said the same thing.
5 καὶ ἀπέστειλεν πρός με Σαναβαλλατ τὸν παῖδα αὐτοῦ καὶ ἐπιστολὴν ἀνεῳγμένην ἐν χειρὶ αὐτοῦ
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 καὶ ἦν γεγραμμένον ἐν αὐτῇ ἐν ἔθνεσιν ἠκούσθη ὅτι σὺ καὶ οἱ Ιουδαῖοι λογίζεσθε ἀποστατῆσαι διὰ τοῦτο σὺ οἰκοδομεῖς τὸ τεῖχος καὶ σὺ γίνῃ αὐτοῖς εἰς βασιλέα
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 καὶ πρὸς τούτοις προφήτας ἔστησας σεαυτῷ ἵνα καθίσῃς ἐν Ιερουσαλημ εἰς βασιλέα ἐν Ιουδα καὶ νῦν ἀπαγγελήσονται τῷ βασιλεῖ οἱ λόγοι οὗτοι καὶ νῦν δεῦρο βουλευσώμεθα ἐπὶ τὸ αὐτό
[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 καὶ ἀπέστειλα πρὸς αὐτὸν λέγων οὐκ ἐγενήθη ὡς οἱ λόγοι οὗτοι οὓς σὺ λέγεις ὅτι ἀπὸ καρδίας σου σὺ ψεύδῃ αὐτούς
[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 ὅτι πάντες φοβερίζουσιν ἡμᾶς λέγοντες ἐκλυθήσονται αἱ χεῖρες αὐτῶν ἀπὸ τοῦ ἔργου τούτου καὶ οὐ ποιηθήσεται καὶ νῦν ἐκραταίωσα τὰς χεῖράς μου
[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 καὶ ἐγὼ εἰσῆλθον εἰς οἶκον Σεμεϊ υἱοῦ Δαλαια υἱοῦ Μεηταβηλ καὶ αὐτὸς συνεχόμενος καὶ εἶπεν συναχθῶμεν εἰς οἶκον τοῦ θεοῦ ἐν μέσῳ αὐτοῦ καὶ κλείσωμεν τὰς θύρας αὐτοῦ ὅτι ἔρχονται νυκτὸς φονεῦσαί σε
[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 καὶ εἶπα τίς ἐστιν ὁ ἀνήρ ὃς εἰσελεύσεται εἰς τὸν οἶκον καὶ ζήσεται
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 καὶ ἐπέγνων καὶ ἰδοὺ ὁ θεὸς οὐκ ἀπέστειλεν αὐτόν ὅτι ἡ προφητεία λόγος κατ’ ἐμοῦ καὶ Τωβιας καὶ Σαναβαλλατ ἐμισθώσαντο
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 ἐπ’ ἐμὲ ὄχλον ὅπως φοβηθῶ καὶ ποιήσω οὕτως καὶ ἁμάρτω καὶ γένωμαι αὐτοῖς εἰς ὄνομα πονηρόν ὅπως ὀνειδίσωσίν με
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 μνήσθητι ὁ θεός τῷ Τωβια καὶ τῷ Σαναβαλλατ ὡς τὰ ποιήματα αὐτοῦ ταῦτα καὶ τῷ Νωαδια τῷ προφήτῃ καὶ τοῖς καταλοίποις τῶν προφητῶν οἳ ἦσαν φοβερίζοντές με
[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 καὶ ἐτελέσθη τὸ τεῖχος πέμπτῃ καὶ εἰκάδι τοῦ Ελουλ εἰς πεντήκοντα καὶ δύο ἡμέρας
On October 2 we finished rebuilding the wall. We did it all in 52 days.
16 καὶ ἐγένετο ἡνίκα ἤκουσαν πάντες οἱ ἐχθροὶ ἡμῶν καὶ ἐφοβήθησαν πάντα τὰ ἔθνη τὰ κύκλῳ ἡμῶν καὶ ἐπέπεσεν φόβος σφόδρα ἐν ὀφθαλμοῖς αὐτῶν καὶ ἔγνωσαν ὅτι παρὰ τοῦ θεοῦ ἡμῶν ἐγενήθη τελειωθῆναι τὸ ἔργον τοῦτο
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 καὶ ἐν ταῖς ἡμέραις ἐκείναις ἀπὸ πολλῶν ἐντίμων Ιουδα ἐπιστολαὶ ἐπορεύοντο πρὸς Τωβιαν καὶ αἱ Τωβια ἤρχοντο πρὸς αὐτούς
During this time, the Jewish leaders had been sending many messages/letters to Tobiah, and Tobiah had been sending messages back to them.
18 ὅτι πολλοὶ ἐν Ιουδα ἔνορκοι ἦσαν αὐτῷ ὅτι γαμβρὸς ἦν τοῦ Σεχενια υἱοῦ Ηραε καὶ Ιωαναν υἱὸς αὐτοῦ ἔλαβεν τὴν θυγατέρα Μεσουλαμ υἱοῦ Βαραχια εἰς γυναῖκα
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 καὶ τοὺς λόγους αὐτοῦ ἦσαν λέγοντες πρός με καὶ λόγους μου ἦσαν ἐκφέροντες αὐτῷ καὶ ἐπιστολὰς ἀπέστειλεν Τωβιας φοβερίσαι με
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.
