Nehemiah
Chapter 6
1 When Sanballat, Tobiah, Geshem the Arabian, and our other enemies heard that I had built the wall with no gaps left (though I had not yet installed the doors in the gates at that time),
2 Sanballat and Geshem sent me a message, saying, “Come, let’s meet in one of the villages on the plain of Ono.” But they planned to hurt me.
3 I sent messengers to them, saying, “I’m doing important work and can’t stop to come down. Why should the work stop while I leave it to come to you?”
4 They sent me the same message four times; and I replied in the same way each time.
5 Sanballat sent his servant to me for the fifth time with an open letter in his hand.
6 The message said, “The nations are hearing, and Gashmu also says, you and the Jews plan to revolt. That’s why you’re rebuilding the wall, to become their king, they say.”
7 You have also chosen prophets to speak about you in Jerusalem, saying, “There is a king in Judah.” And now these words will be reported to the king. So come, let us talk together.
8 Then I sent a message to him, saying, “Nothing like what you are saying is happening; you are making it up in your mind.”
9 They all scared us by saying, “Their hands will be too weak to do the work, so it won’t be finished.” Now, God, give me strong hands.
10 Later, I went to the home of Shemaiah, Delaiah’s son, Mehetabeel’s grandson, who was confined inside. He suggested, “Let’s meet at God’s house, inside the temple, and close the temple doors because they are coming to kill you; indeed, at night they will come to kill you.”
11 I thought, should someone like me run away? And who like me would go into the temple to save his life? I won’t go in.
12 I realized that God had not sent him; he made this prophecy against me because Tobiah and Sanballat paid him.
13 He was paid to make me scared, so I would sin and they could discredit me with bad things to say.
14 God, remember Tobiah and Sanballat for what they have done, and also the prophetess Noadiah and the other prophets who tried to scare me.
15 The wall was completed on the twenty-fifth day of the month Elul, in fifty-two days.
16 When all our enemies and the nations around us heard about this, they felt very discouraged because they realized that our God had done this work.
17 During that time, the leaders of Judah sent many letters to Tobiah, and Tobiah’s letters came to them.
18 Many people in Judah were loyal to him because he was married to Shecaniah’s daughter, Arah’s granddaughter, and his son Johanan had married Meshullam’s daughter, Berechiah’s granddaughter.
19 They also told me about his good works and shared my words with him. Tobiah sent letters to scare me.