Nehemiah 6:1 I had finished building the wall and had repaired every place where it was broken down, but we had not put in the doors of the gates. Some people told Sanballat, Tobiah and Geshem, the Arabian, and our other enemies this
Nehemiah 6: 2 Then Sanballat and Geshem sent me a message and asked me to meet them in the village of the Ono Valley. I knew they wanted to hurt me.
Nehemiah 6:3 I sent the messengers back to them and told them: I am doing an important work, and I cannot come. Why should I stop working? I cannot go away from here and come to you.
Nehemiah 6:4 They sent me the same message 4 times and I gave them the same answer each time.
Nehemiah 6:5 Sanballat then sent the same message for the 5th time, but this time the letter was open, and any person could have read it.
Nehemiah 6:6 The letter said: There is a rumor going around. People are talking about it everywhere. And Geshem says it is true. People are saying that you and the Jews are planning to turn rebel against the king. This is why you are building the wall of Jerusalem. People are also saying that you will be the new king of the Jews.
Nehemiah 6:7 And the rumor is that you have chosen prophets to announce this about you in Jerusalem: There is a king in Judah! Now I warn you, Nehemiah, King Artaxerxes will hear about this. So come, let’s meet and talk about this together.
Nehemiah 6:8 I told him: What you are saying is not true. You have made up this story yourself
Nehemiah 6:9 Yes, they wanted to make all of us afraid. They thought that we would be discouraged and would stop working. So, I prayed and asked God to make me strong.
Nehemiah 6:10 One day I went to the house of a man named Shemaiah son of Delaiah. Delaiah was the son of Mehetabel. Shemaiah had to stay in his house. He said, Nehemiah, let’s meet in God’s Temple. Let’s go inside the Holy Place and lock the doors. Men are coming to kill you. Tonight, they are coming to kill you.
Nehemiah 6:11 But I said to Shemaiah, should a man like me run away? You know that an ordinary man like me cannot go into the Holy Place without being put to death. I will not go
Nehemiah 6:12 I knew that God had not sent Shemaiah. I knew that he had prophesied against me because Tobiah and Sanballat had paid him to do that
Nehemiah 6:13 They hired Shemaiah to scare me and make me sin by going into that part of the Temple. They were planning those bad things against me so that they could shame me.
Nehemiah 6:14 My God, please remember Tobiah and Sanballat and the bad things they have done. Also remember the woman prophet Noadiah and the other prophets who have been trying to scare me.
Nehemiah 6:15 We finished building the wall on the 25th day of the month of Elul. We worked for 52 days.
Nehemiah 6:16 Then all our enemies heard that we had completed the wall, and all the nations around us saw that it was finished. So they lost their courage, because they understood that this work had been done with the help of our God.
Nehemiah 6:17 Also in those days after the wall had been completed, the rich people of Judah were sending many letters to Tobiah, and he was answering their letters.
Nehemiah 6:18 They sent those letters because many people in Judah had promised to be loyal to him. The reason for this is that Tobiah was son-in-law to Shecaniah son of Arah. And Tobiah’s son Jehohanan had married the daughter of Meshullam. Meshullam is the son of Berekiah.
Nehemiah 6:19 And in the past, those people had made a special promise to Tobiah. So they kept telling me how good Tobiah was. And they kept telling Tobiah what I was doing. Tobiah kept sending me letters to make me afraid.