NEHEMIAH

 

Nehemiah Chapter 6

1 ¶ Now when Sanballat, Tobiah, Geshem the Arabian, and the rest of our enemies, heard that I had repaired the wall, and that there were no gaps left in it; (though at that time I had not placed the doors in the gates;)

2 Sanballat and Geshem sent to me, saying, Come, let us meet together in one of the villages in the plain of Ono. But they planned to do me harm.

3 So I sent messengers to them, saying, I am doing an important job, and cannot come down: why should the work stop, while I leave it, and come down to you?

4 Yet they sent the same proposal to me four times; and I answered them the same way.

5 Then Sanballat sent his servant to me again the fifth time with an open letter in his hand;

6 In which was written, The nations have heard, and Gashmu has said, that you and the Jews are planning to rebel: and that is why you are building the wall, so that you may be their king, according to the report.

7 And you have also appointed prophets to preach of you at Jerusalem, saying, There is a king in Judah. And now the king is going to be told of these things. Therefore come, and let us talk this over.

8 Then I sent to him, saying, There are no such things going on as you claim, but you dreamed them up out of your own imagination.

9 For they all wanted to frighten us, thinking, Their hands will be so weak, that the work will not be done. Now therefore, O God, strengthen my hands.

10 ¶ Afterward I went to the house of Shemaiah the son of Delaiah the son of Mehetabeel, who was shut in; and he said, Let us gather in the house of God, inside the temple, and let us shut the doors of the temple: for they are coming to kill you; yea, they are coming to kill you tonight.

11 But I said, Should a man in my position run away? and who in my position would go into the temple to save his life? I will not go in.

12 Then I realized that God had not sent him; but he spoke this prophecy against me: because Tobiah and Sanballat had hired him.

13 He was hired, in order to frighten me into doing this, so that I would sin, so that they might have something to accuse me of, in order to discredit me.

14 My God, remember Tobiah and Sanballat for what they have done, and the prophetess Noadiah, and the rest of the false prophets, who wanted to make me afraid.

15 ¶ So the wall was completed in fifty-two days, on the twenty-fifth day of the month Elul.

16 And when all our enemies heard of it, and all the heathen that were around us saw these things, they were intimidated and lost their confidence: for they realized that this work had been accomplished by our God.

17 Moreover in those days the nobles of Judah were sending many letters to Tobiah, and receiving letters from Tobiah.

18 For many in Judah were bound to him by an oath, because he was the son in law of Shechaniah the son of Arah; and his son Johanan had married the daughter of Meshullam the son of Berechiah.

19 They were also telling me of the good things he had done, and telling him what I said. And Tobiah sent letters intended to make me afraid.