Nehemiah 6:1-9

International Standard Version

A Diversion is Attempted

6 When Sanballat, Tobiah, Geshem the Arab, and the rest of our enemies heard that I had completed the wall and that no break remained in it (even though by that time I hadn’t yet installed the doors in the gates), ² Sanballat and Geshem sent word^[a] to me, saying “Come, let’s meet together at Kephirim on the Ono Plain.” But they were just trying to do me harm.

³ So I sent messengers to them, replying “I am involved in a great endeavor, so I can’t leave. Why should the work stop while I leave it to come down to you?” ⁴ They sent me this message four times, and I answered them the same way.

⁵ Then Sanballat sent his assistant to me the fifth time. But this time the letter was sent^[b] unsealed, and ⁶ in it was written:

⁸ I sent word back^[c] to him, “Nothing has happened as you’ve claimed. You’re making up these charges^[d] in your imagination.”^{[e] 9} For they all were trying to make us afraid by saying, “Their hands will become tired from laboring, so the work won’t be completed.”

“Therefore, Lord,^[f] strengthen my hands!”