Nehemiah 6

¹Now when Sanballat and Tobiah and Geshem the Arab and the rest of our enemies heard that I had built the wall and that there was no breach left in it ( although up to that time I had not set up the doors in the gates ),

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

³And I sent messengers to them, saying , I am doing a great work and I cannot come down . Why should the work stop while I leave it and come down to you?

⁴And they sent to me four times in this way , and I answered them in the same manner .

⁵In the same way Sanballat for the fifth time sent his servant to me with an open letter in his hand .

⁶In it was written , It is reported among the nations , and Geshem also says it, that you and the Jews intend to rebel ; that is why you are building the wall . And according to these reports you wish to become their king .

⁷And you have also set up prophets to proclaim concerning you in Jerusalem , There is a king in Judah . And now the king will hear of these reports . So now come and let us take counsel together .

⁸Then I sent to him, saying , No such things as you say have been done , for you are inventing them out of your own mind .

⁹For they all wanted to frighten us, thinking , Their hands will drop from the work , and it will not be done . But now , O God, strengthen my hands .

¹⁰Now when I went into the house of Shemaiah the son of Delaiah , son of Mehetabel , who was confined to his home , he said , Let us meet together in the house of God , within the temple . Let us close the doors of the temple , for they are coming to kill you. They are coming to kill you by night .

¹¹But I said , Should such a man as I run away ? And what man such as I could go into the temple and live ? I will not go in .

¹²And I understood and saw that God had not sent him, but he had pronounced the prophecy against me because Tobiah and Sanballat had hired him.

¹³For this purpose he was hired , that I should be afraid and act in this way and sin , and so they could give me a bad name in order to taunt me.

¹⁴Remember Tobiah and Sanballat , O my God , according to these things that they did , and also the prophetess Noadiah and the rest of the prophets who wanted to make me afraid .

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

¹⁶And when all our enemies heard of it, all the nations around us were afraid and fell greatly in their own esteem , for they perceived that this work had been accomplished with the help of our God .

¹⁷Moreover , in those days the nobles of Judah sent many letters to Tobiah , and Tobiah’s letters came to them.

¹⁸For many in Judah were bound by oath to him, because he was the son-in-law of Shecaniah the son of Arah : and his son Jehohanan had taken the daughter of Meshullam the son of Berechiah as his wife .

¹⁹Also they spoke of his good deeds in my presence and reported my words to him. And Tobiah sent letters to make me afraid .