Nehemiah 6
6
Nehemiah 6
1¶ Now it came to pass when Sanballat and Tobiah and Geshem, the Arabian, and the rest of our enemies, heard that I had built the wall and that there was no breach left in it (though at that time I had not set up the doors upon the gates),
2that Sanballat and Geshem sent unto me, saying, Come, let us meet together in one of the villages in the plain of Ono. But they had thought to do me evil.
3And I sent messengers unto them, saying, I am doing a great work so that I cannot come down; why should the work cease, whilst I leave it and come down to you?
4Yet they sent unto me four times after this sort, and I answered them after the same manner.
5Then Sanballat sent his slave to say the same thing for the fifth time with an open letter in his hand,
6in which was written, It is reported among the Gentiles, and Gashmu saith it, that thou and the Jews think to rebel, for which cause thou dost build the wall, that thou may be their king, according to these words.
7And thou hast also appointed prophets to preach of thee at Jerusalem, saying, There is a king in Judah! And now these words shall be heard by the king. Come now, therefore, and let us take counsel together.
8Then I sent unto him, saying, There are no such things done as thou sayest, but thou dost feign them out of thine own heart.
9For they all made us afraid, saying, Their hands shall be weakened from the work, that it not be done. Now, therefore, O God, strengthen my hands.
10¶ Afterward I came in secret unto the house of Shemaiah, the son of Delaiah, the son of Mehetabeel, who was shut up; and he said, Let us meet together in the house of God, within the temple, and let us shut the doors of the temple; for they are coming to slay thee; yea, tonight they will come to slay thee.
11Then I said, Should such a man as I flee? And who is there as I who could go into the temple and live? I will not go in.
12And I perceived that God had not sent him, but that he pronounced this prophecy against me, for Tobiah and Sanballat had hired him.
13For he was bribed to make me be thus afraid and sin and that they might have matter for an evil report, that they might reproach me.
14My God, think thou upon Tobiah and Sanballat according to these their works and on the prophetess Noadiah and the rest of the prophets, that did things to put me in fear.
15¶ So the wall was finished the twenty-fifth of Elul, in fifty-two days.
16And it came to pass, that when all our enemies heard of it, all the Gentiles that were about us feared, and they were much cast down in their own eyes, and they knew that this work was wrought of our God.
17Likewise, in those days the principals of Judah sent many letters unto Tobiah, and the letters of Tobiah came unto them.
18For there were many in Judah sworn unto him, because he was the son-in-law of Shechaniah, the son of Arah; and his son Johanan had taken the daughter of Meshullam, the son of Berechiah.
19They also reported his good deeds before me and uttered my words to him. And Tobiah sent letters to put me in fear.
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Nehemiah 6: JUB
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The Jubilee Bible 2000 (JUB) by Ransom Press International
Nehemiah 6
6
1When Sanballat, Tobiah, Geshem the Arab, and our other enemies heard that I had rebuilt the wall and there were no gaps left—though at that time I still had not put the doors into the gates— 2they sent a message to me, saying, “Come on, let's meet in one of the villages on the plain of Ono.” But they intended to kill me.
3So I sent messengers to tell them, “I'm busy with important work and I can't come down. Why should I stop what I'm doing and leave it to come and see you?”
4They sent me the same message four times, and every time my reply was the same.
5Sanballat sent me the same message the fifth time by his servant, who brought in his hand an open letter. 6The letter read: “People around are saying, and Geshem confirms it, that you and the Jews are planning a rebellion, and that's why you're building the wall. You also plan to become their king, so they say, 7and you have even arranged for prophets in Jerusalem to announce for you, ‘There is a king in Judah.’ The king#6:7. Referring to the Persian king. will soon get to hear about this. So come, and let's talk this over.”
8I replied, telling him, “Nothing's happening like you're saying! In fact you're just making it all up!”
9They were all just trying to scare us, telling themselves, “They won't have the strength to work so it won't ever get finished.” But I prayed, now make me strong!
10Later on, I went to Shemaiah's house (he was the son of Delaiah, son of Mehetabel) who had shut himself in his house.#6:10. “Shut himself in his house”: evidently the scare tactics had worked, or Shemaiah pretended they had. He said: “Come and meet me at the house of God inside the Temple. Then we can bolt the Temple doors shut because they are coming to kill you! They're coming to kill you tonight!”
11I replied, “Should someone like me run away? Should someone like me go and hide in the Temple so I can survive?#6:11. Nehemiah could not lawfully enter the Temple as he was not a priest. I'm not going!”
12I thought about it and saw that God hadn't sent him, but that he had spoken this prophecy against me because Tobiah and Sanballat had hired him. 13They'd hired him thinking I'd be scared into doing something wrong. Then they'd be able to point the finger and ruin my reputation. 14My God, remember Tobiah and Sanballat for doing this, and Noadiah the prophetess and the other prophets too who tried to frighten me.
15The wall was finished on the twenty-fifth day of the month Elul. It took fifty-two days. 16When all our enemies found out they were frightened; all the nations around were very discouraged, for they recognized that this had been done by our God.
17At that time the nobles of Judah were exchanging many letters with Tobiah, 18because many people in Judah had sworn an oath of loyalty to him as he was a son-in-law of Shecaniah, son of Arah, and his son Jehohanan was married to the daughter of Meshullam, son of Berechiah. 19They kept on telling me all the good things Tobiah was doing, and they reported to him what I said. Tobiah also sent letters to try and scare me.
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Dr. Jonathan Gallagher. Released under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 Unported License. Version 4.3. For corrections send email to jonathangallagherfbv@gmail.com