Nehemiah 6

Sanballat, Tobiah, Geshem the Arab, and the rest of our enemies heard that I had rebuilt the wall and that no gap was left in it. At that point I had not yet hung the doors in the gateways.

1Now it came to pass, when Sanballat, and Tobiah, and Geshem the Arabian, and the rest of our enemies, heard that I had builded the wall, and that there was no breach left therein; (though at that time I had not set up the doors upon the gates;)

NoteSanballat was the governor of Samaria, the province just north of Judah; Tobiah held office in Ammon, east of the Jordan; Geshem led an Arab confederation to the south. All three were officials of the Persian empire whose own standing would shrink if Jerusalem became a fortified city again. Doors were the last stage of the work: a gateway without hung doors cannot be shut, so until then the wall could not actually keep anyone out.

2So Sanballat and Geshem sent me this message: "Come, let us meet together in one of the villages on the plain of Ono." But they were planning to harm me.

2That Sanballat and Geshem sent unto me, saying, Come, let us meet together in some one of the villages in the plain of Ono. But they thought to do me mischief.

NoteOno lay on the coastal plain about twenty-five miles northwest of Jerusalem, roughly a day's journey away, outside the territory Nehemiah governed, in a border district where neither side held clear authority.

3I sent messengers back to them with this answer: "I am doing a great work and cannot come down. Why should the work stop while I leave it to come down to you?"

3And I sent messengers unto them, saying, I am doing a great work, so that I cannot come down: why should the work cease, whilst I leave it, and come down to you?

Note"Come down" is literal geography, not a figure of speech: Jerusalem sits high in the hill country, and traveling to the plain of Ono meant descending several thousand feet.

4They sent me the same message four times, and each time I gave them the same answer.

4Yet they sent unto me four times after this sort; and I answered them after the same manner.

5The fifth time, Sanballat sent his servant to me with the same message, and this time the servant carried an unsealed letter in his hand.

5Then sent Sanballat his servant unto me in like manner the fifth time with an open letter in his hand;

NoteLetters were normally rolled, tied, and sealed with clay so that only the named recipient could read them. An unsealed letter carried by a servant could be read by anyone along the road, so its charges were effectively being published, a deliberate act of pressure rather than an oversight.

6The letter said: "It is being said among the nations, and Gashmu says it too, that you and the Jews are planning to revolt. That is why you are building the wall. These reports say you mean to become their king,

6Wherein was written, It is reported among the heathen, and Gashmu saith it, that thou and the Jews think to rebel: for which cause thou buildest the wall, that thou mayest be their king, according to these words.

NoteGashmu is another spelling of the name Geshem, closer to the Arabic form. Judah was a province of the Persian empire, and rebuilding a city wall could be presented as preparing to revolt; rebellion was a capital charge, so the accusation was not a mere insult.

7and that you have even appointed prophets to announce about you in Jerusalem, 'There is a king in Judah!' Now this report will reach the king. So come, and let us talk it over together."

7And thou hast also appointed prophets to preach of thee at Jerusalem, saying, There is a king in Judah: and now shall it be reported to the king according to these words. Come now therefore, and let us take counsel together.

NoteJudah had had no king of its own since Babylon destroyed Jerusalem about 140 years earlier. Prophets in Israel's history had publicly named and endorsed new kings, so "appointed prophets to announce there is a king in Judah" is an accusation of staging a claim to the throne, treason against Persia.

8I sent him this reply: "None of what you say is happening. You are making it up in your own mind."

8Then I sent unto him, saying, There are no such things done as thou sayest, but thou feignest them out of thine own heart.

9They were all trying to frighten us. They thought, "Their hands will give up on the work, and it will never be finished." But now, my God, strengthen my hands.

9For they all made us afraid, saying, Their hands shall be weakened from the work, that it be not done. Now therefore, O God, strengthen my hands.

Note"Strengthen my hands" and "their hands will give up" use a standard Hebrew idiom in which the hands stand for nerve and staying power. To have slack or weak hands is to lose heart; to have strengthened hands is to keep going.

10Later I went to the house of Shemaiah son of Delaiah, the son of Mehetabel, who was shut inside his house. He said, "Let us meet in the house of God, inside the temple, and shut the temple doors. They are coming to kill you. They are coming by night to kill you."

10Afterward I came unto the house of Shemaiah the son of Delaiah the son of Mehetabeel, who was shut up; and he said, Let us meet together in the house of God, within the temple, and let us shut the doors of the temple: for they will come to slay thee; yea, in the night will they come to slay thee.

NoteThe Hebrew phrase behind "shut inside his house" is unclear. It may mean Shemaiah was confined by some ritual restriction, or under some other form of seclusion, or that the detail is meant to explain why Nehemiah had to come to him. The text does not say.

11But I said, "Should a man like me run away? And who in my position would go into the temple to save his own life? I will not go in."

11And I said, Should such a man as I flee? and who is there, that, being as I am, would go into the temple to save his life? I will not go in.

NoteThe temple building itself was open only to priests; an ordinary Israelite who went inside broke the law and could be put to death. Nehemiah was not a priest, so taking the advice would have been a public offense, which is why it was offered.

12I realized that God had not sent him. He had spoken this prophecy against me because Tobiah and Sanballat had paid him to do it.

12And, lo, I perceived that God had not sent him; but that he pronounced this prophecy against me: for Tobiah and Sanballat had hired him.

NoteA prophet was understood to be speaking a message received from God, and speaking on commission from a paying client was a recognized abuse of the role. Nehemiah's point is about who was paying Shemaiah, not about whether the danger was real.

13He was paid to make me afraid, so that I would do what he said and sin. Then they would have something bad to report about me, and could shame me with it.

13Therefore was he hired, that I should be afraid, and do so, and sin, and that they might have matter for an evil report, that they might reproach me.

14My God, remember Tobiah and Sanballat for what they have done, and also Noadiah the prophetess and the other prophets who tried to make me afraid.

14My God, think thou upon Tobiah and Sanballat according to these their works, and on the prophetess Noadiah, and the rest of the prophets, that would have put me in fear.

Note"Prophetess" is not an odd term: women served as prophets in Israel alongside men, Miriam, Deborah and Huldah are named as such in earlier books. These prayers asking God to "remember" people for what they did are a recurring feature of Nehemiah's first-person account.

15So the wall was finished on the twenty-fifth day of the month Elul, in fifty-two days.

15So the wall was finished in the twenty and fifth day of the month Elul, in fifty and two days.

NoteElul was the sixth month of the Hebrew year, falling in late August and September. The twenty-fifth of Elul here corresponds to early October, around 445 BC.

16When all our enemies heard about it, and all the nations around us saw it, they lost their confidence, because they realized that this work had been done by our God.

16And it came to pass, that when all our enemies heard thereof, and all the heathen that were about us saw these things, they were much cast down in their own eyes: for they perceived that this work was wrought of our God.

NoteThe Hebrew says the surrounding nations "fell greatly in their own eyes", an idiom for a collapse in self-assurance and standing, not for sorrow.

17Also in those days the leading men of Judah sent many letters to Tobiah, and letters from Tobiah came back to them.

17Moreover in those days the nobles of Judah sent many letters unto Tobiah, and the letters of Tobiah came unto them.

NoteThe "leading men" were Judah's landowning aristocracy, the families with wealth and local influence. Their private correspondence with Tobiah ran alongside, and against, Nehemiah's official position.

18Many people in Judah had sworn loyalty to him, because he was the son-in-law of Shecaniah son of Arah, and because his son Jehohanan had married the daughter of Meshullam son of Berechiah.

18For there were many in Judah sworn unto him, because he was the son in law of Shechaniah the son of Arah; and his son Johanan had taken the daughter of Meshullam the son of Berechiah.

NoteMarriage between families created binding legal obligations, often sealed by oath, and those obligations outlasted the wedding. Tobiah had married into one prominent Judean family and married his son into another, so a network of men in Judah were formally bound to act in his interest. His name and his son's are both Hebrew names containing the name of Israel's God.

19They kept telling me about the good things Tobiah did, and they repeated my words back to him. And Tobiah sent letters to make me afraid.

19Also they reported his good deeds before me, and uttered my words to him. And Tobiah sent letters to put me in fear.