Nehemiah 6

Berean Standard Bible

Chapter summary

Sanballat, Geshem, and Tobiah repeatedly attempted to lure Nehemiah away to the plain of Ono to harm him, but Nehemiah refused their invitations, stating he was occupied with rebuilding the Jerusalem wall. Sanballat then sent an unsealed letter accusing Nehemiah and the Jews of plotting a revolt to make Nehemiah king, yet Nehemiah dismissed these claims as fabrications intended to induce fear. Subsequently, Shemaiah attempted to frighten Nehemiah into hiding inside the temple, but Nehemiah recognized that Tobiah and Sanballat had hired Shemaiah to intimidate him into sinning. Despite these conspiracies and the correspondence between various Judahite nobles and Tobiah, the wall was successfully completed in fifty-two days on the twenty-fifth of Elul, causing the surrounding nations to lose heart.

Summary automatically generated from the Bible text.

Words of Jesus in red

¹When Sanballat, Tobiah, Geshem the Arab, and the rest of our enemies heard that I had rebuilt the wall and not a gap was left—though to that time I had not yet installed the doors in the gates— ²Sanballat and Geshem sent me this message: “Come, let us meet together in one of the villages on the plain of Ono.” But they were planning to harm me. ³So 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 to go down to you?” ⁴Four times they sent me the same message, and each time I gave the same reply. ⁵The fifth time, Sanballat sent me this same message by his young servant, who had in his hand an unsealed letter ⁶that read: “It is reported among the nations—and Geshem agrees—that you and the Jews are plotting to revolt, and this is why you are building the wall. According to these reports, you are to become their king, ⁷and you have even appointed prophets in Jerusalem to proclaim on your behalf: ‘There is a king in Judah.’ Soon these rumors will reach the ears of the king. So come, let us confer together.” ⁸Then I sent him this reply: “There is nothing to these rumors you are spreading; you are inventing them in your own mind.” ⁹For they were all trying to frighten us, saying, “Their hands will be weakened in the work, and it will never be finished.” But now, my God, strengthen my hands. ¹⁰Later, I went to the house of Shemaiah son of Delaiah, the son of Mehetabel, who was confined to his house. He said: “Let us meet at the house of God inside the temple. Let us shut the temple doors because they are coming to kill you— by night they are coming to kill you!” ¹¹But I replied, “Should a man like me run away? Should one like me go into the temple to save his own life? I will not go!” ¹²I realized that God had not sent him, but that he had uttered this prophecy against me because Tobiah and Sanballat had hired him. ¹³He had been hired to intimidate me so that I would sin by doing as he suggested, so they could give me a bad name in order to discredit me. ¹⁴O my God, remember Tobiah and Sanballat for what they have done, and also Noadiah the prophetess and the other prophets who tried to intimidate me. ¹⁵So the wall was completed in fifty-two days, on the twenty-fifth of Elul. ¹⁶When all our enemies heard about this, all the surrounding nations were afraid and disheartened, for they realized that this task had been accomplished by our God. ¹⁷Also in those days, the nobles of Judah sent many letters to Tobiah, and Tobiah’s letters kept coming to them. ¹⁸For many in Judah were bound by oath to him, since he was a son-in-law of Shecaniah son of Arah, and his son Jehohanan had married the daughter of Meshullam son of Berechiah. ¹⁹Moreover, these nobles kept reporting to me Tobiah’s good deeds, and they relayed my words to him. And Tobiah sent letters to intimidate me.

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Louis Segond 1910 and Berean Standard Bible: public domain. Cross references: open-cross-ref, Creative Commons BY 4.0.