The Enemy’s Plot
10 When I entered the house of Shemaiah the son of Delaiah, son of Mehetabel, who was confined at home, he said, “Let’s meet together in the house of God, within the temple, and let’s close the doors of the temple, for they are coming to kill you, and they are coming to kill you at night.” 11 But I said, “Should a man like me flee? And who is there like me who would go into the temple [h]to save his own life? I will not go in.” 12 Then I realized [i]that God certainly had not sent him, but he uttered his prophecy against me because Tobiah and Sanballat had hired him. 13 He was hired for this reason, that I would become frightened and act accordingly and sin, so that they might have an evil report in order that they could taunt me. 14 Remember, my God, Tobiah and Sanballat in accordance with these works of theirs, and also Noadiah the prophetess and the rest of the prophets, who were trying to frighten me.
The Wall Is Finished
15 So the wall was completed on the twenty-fifth of the month Elul, in fifty-two days. 16 When all our enemies heard about it, and all the nations surrounding us saw it, they [j]lost their confidence; for they realized that this work had been accomplished [k]with the help of our God. 17 Also in those days many letters went from the nobles of Judah to Tobiah, and [l]Tobiah’s letters came to them. 18 For 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 married the daughter of Meshullam the son of Berechiah. 19 Moreover, they were speaking about his good deeds in my presence, and were reporting my words to him. Then Tobiah sent letters to frighten me.
Footnotes
- Nehemiah 6:2 LXX in the villages in
- Nehemiah 6:2 Lit do evil to me
- Nehemiah 6:6 In v 1 and elsewhere, Geshem
- Nehemiah 6:7 Lit you, saying
- Nehemiah 6:8 Lit from your heart
- Nehemiah 6:9 Lit saying,
- Nehemiah 6:9 Lit Their hands will go slack from
- Nehemiah 6:11 Lit and live
- Nehemiah 6:12 Lit and behold God had not
- Nehemiah 6:16 Lit fell exceedingly in their own eyes
- Nehemiah 6:16 Lit from our God
- Nehemiah 6:17 Lit what was Tobiah’s came