CHAPTER 6

¹And it happened when it was heard by Sanballat and Tobiah and Geshem the Arab and the rest of our enemies that I had rebuilt the wall and no breach remained in it, though at that time I had not set up the gates, ²Sanballat and Geshem sent to me, saying, “Come, let us meet together in Kephirim in the Ono Valley,” and they were planning to do harm to me. ³And I sent messengers to them, saying, “I am doing a great task and will not be able to go down. Why should the work stop if I were to desist from it and come down to you?” ⁴And they sent to me in this fashion four times and I answered them in this fashion. ⁵And Sanballat sent to me in this fashion a fifth time by his lad, and there was an open letter in his hand. ⁶In it was written: “It has been heard among the nations and Geshem says, ‘You and the Jews are planning to rebel. Therefore do you rebuild the wall, and you are becoming their king, as these words have it. ⁷And prophets, too, you have set up to proclaim of you in Jerusalem, saying: There is a king in Judah. And now, it will be heard by the king, as these words have it, and, now, come and let us meet together.’” ⁸And I sent to him, saying, “It has not happened according to these words that you say, for you have contrived them from your own heart. ⁹For they are all trying to frighten us, saying, ‘Let your hands slacken from the task, that it not be done.’” And now, strengthen my hands! ¹⁰And I came to the house of Shemaiah son of Delaiah son of Mehetabel, and he was confined, and he said, “Let us meet at the house of God within the Temple and close the doors of the Temple, for they are coming to kill you, at night they are coming to kill you.” ¹¹And I said, “Shall a man like me flee? And can the likes of me come into the Temple and live? I will not come.” ¹²And I realized and, look, God had not sent him, but the prophecy he spoke concerning me—Tobiah and Sanballat had hired him, ¹³as he was hired so that I would be afraid and do this and offend, and it would be an evil report for them that they might disgrace me. ¹⁴Remember, O my God, of Tobiah and Sanballat their acts, and also of Naidaiah the prophetess and the rest of the prophets who are seeking to frighten me!

¹⁵And the wall was completed on the twenty-fifth of Elul, on the fifty-second day. ¹⁶And it happened when all our enemies heard, all the nations that were around us were afraid, and they fell very low in their own eyes, and they knew that this task had been done through the LORD our God. ¹⁷In those days, too, the nobles of Judah were sending many letters to Tobiah, and those of Tobiah were coming to them. ¹⁸For many in Judah were pledged to him, for he was son-in-law to Shechaniah son of Arah, and his son Jehohanan had married the daughter of Meshullam son of Berechiah. ¹⁹Of his virtues, too, they would speak before me, and my affairs they would convey to him. Tobiah had sent letters to frighten me.