Nehemiah 6:1-9

New International Reader's Version

Nehemiah’s Enemies Continue to Oppose the Rebuilding

6 Sanballat, Tobiah and Geshem, the Arab, heard about what I had done. So did the rest of our enemies. All of them heard I had rebuilt the wall. In fact, they heard there weren’t any gaps left in it. But up to that time I hadn’t put up the gates at the main entrances to the city. ² Sanballat and Geshem sent me a message. They said, “Come. Let’s talk with one another. Let’s meet in one of the villages on the plain of Ono.”

But they were planning to harm me. ³ So I sent messengers to them with my answer. I replied, “I’m working on a huge project. So I can’t get away. Why should the work stop while I leave it? Why should I go down and talk with you?” ⁴ They sent me the same message four times. And I gave them the same answer each time.

⁵ Sanballat sent his helper to me a fifth time. He brought the same message. He was carrying a letter that wasn’t sealed. ⁶ It said,

“A report is going around among the nations. Geshem says it’s true. We hear that you and the other Jews are planning to turn against the Persian rulers. And that’s why you are building the wall. It’s also reported that you are about to become their king. ⁷ People say that you have even appointed prophets to make an announcement about you. In Jerusalem they are going to say, ‘Judah has a king!’ That report will get back to the king of Persia. So come. Let’s meet together.”

⁸ I sent a reply to Sanballat. I said, “What you are saying isn’t really happening. You are just making it up.”

⁹ All of them were trying to frighten us. They thought, “Their hands will get too weak to do the work. So it won’t be completed.”

But I prayed to God. I said, “Make my hands stronger.”