Fluent Translation · Read & Reflect
Nehemiah 6
Attempts to Draw Nehemiah Away
When it was reported to Sanballat, Tobiah, Geshem the Arabian, and the rest of our enemies that I had rebuilt the wall and no breach remained in it—though at that time I had not set the doors in the gates— Sanballat and Geshem sent to me, saying, “Come, let us meet together at one of the villages in the plain of Ono.” But they were planning to do me harm. I sent messengers to them, saying, “I am doing a great work and cannot come down. Why should the work stop while I leave it and come down to you?” They sent to me four times in this way, and I answered them in the same way.
The Open Letter
Then Sanballat sent his servant to me in the same way a fifth time, with an open letter in his hand. In it was written, “It is reported among the nations, and Gashmu says, that you and the Jews are planning to rebel, and for this reason you are rebuilding the wall. According to these reports, you are to become their king. You have also appointed prophets to proclaim about you in Jerusalem, saying, ‘There is a king in Judah!’ Now these things will be reported to the king. So come, let us take counsel together.” Then I sent to him, saying, “No such things as you say have happened; you are inventing them from your own heart.” For they all wanted to frighten us, saying, “Their hands will become weak from the work, and it will not be completed.” But now, strengthen my hands.
Shemaiah’s False Prophecy
I went to the house of Shemaiah son of Delaiah, son of Mehetabel, who was shut in. He said, “Let us meet in the house of God, inside the temple, and let us shut the temple doors, for they are coming to kill you. They are coming to kill you by night.” Yet I said, “Should a man like me flee? And could someone like me enter the temple and live? I will not go in.” I recognized that God had not sent him; he had spoken this prophecy against me because Tobiah and Sanballat had hired him. He was hired so that I would become afraid, act in this way, and sin, so that they would have an evil report with which to reproach me. Remember, my God, Tobiah and Sanballat according to these deeds of theirs, and also Noadiah the prophetess and the rest of the prophets who were trying to make me afraid.
The Wall Is Finished
The wall was finished on the twenty-fifth day of Elul, in fifty-two days. When all our enemies heard, all the nations around us became afraid and fell greatly in their own estimation, for they recognized that this work had been done by our God. Also in those days the nobles of Judah sent many letters to Tobiah, and Tobiah’s letters came to them. For many in Judah were bound to him by oath, because he was son-in-law to Shecaniah son of Arah, and his son Jehohanan had married the daughter of Meshullam son of Berechiah. They also spoke of his good deeds before me and reported my words to him. And Tobiah sent letters to make me afraid.