The Enemy’s Plot

Now when it was reported to Sanballat, Tobiah, Geshem the Arab, and to the rest of our enemies that I had rebuilt the wall, and that no breach was left in it, (A)although at that time I had not installed the doors in the gates, Sanballat and Geshem sent a message to me, saying, “Come, let’s meet together [a]at Chephirim in the plain of (B)Ono.” But they were plotting to [b]harm me. So I sent messengers to them, saying, “I am doing a great work and am unable to come down. Why should the work stop while I leave it and come down to you?” Then they sent messages to me four times worded in this way, and I answered them with the same wording. Then Sanballat sent his servant to me in the same way a fifth time with an open letter in his hand. In it was written: “It is reported among the nations, and [c]Gashmu says, that (C)you and the Jews intend to rebel; for that reason you are rebuilding the wall. And you are to be their king, according to these reports. You have also appointed prophets to proclaim in Jerusalem concerning [d]you, ‘A king is in Judah!’ And now it will be reported to the king according to these reports. So come now, let’s consult together.” Then I sent a message to him saying, “Nothing like these things that you are saying has been done, but you are (D)inventing them [e]in your own mind.” For all of them were trying to frighten us, [f]thinking, “[g]They will become discouraged with the work and it will not be done.” But now, (E)God, strengthen my hands.

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Footnotes

  1. Nehemiah 6:2 LXX in the villages in
  2. Nehemiah 6:2 Lit do evil to me
  3. Nehemiah 6:6 In v 1 and elsewhere, Geshem
  4. Nehemiah 6:7 Lit you, saying
  5. Nehemiah 6:8 Lit from your heart
  6. Nehemiah 6:9 Lit saying,
  7. Nehemiah 6:9 Lit Their hands will go slack from

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