Nehemiah - The Old Testament

¹ When Sanballat, Tobiah, Geshem the Arab and our other enemies heard that I had rebuilt the wall and that not a single gap was left -- though at that time I had not fixed the doors to the gates-

² Sanballat and Geshem sent me this message, 'Come and meet us at Ha-Chephirim in the Vale of Ono.' But they had evil designs on me.

³ So I sent messengers to them to say, 'I am engaged in a great undertaking, so I cannot come down. Why should the work stop while I leave it and come down to you?'

⁴ Four times they sent me the same invitation and I made them the same reply.

⁵ The fifth time, with the same purpose in mind, Sanballat sent me his servant bearing an open letter.

⁶ It ran, 'There is a rumour among the nations -- and Gashmu confirms it -- that you and the Jews are thinking of rebelling, which is why you are rebuilding the wall, and you intend to become their king;

⁷ and that you have even briefed prophets to acclaim you in Jerusalem with the cry, "There is a king in Judah!" Now, these rumours are going to reach the king; so you had better come and discuss them with us.'

⁸ To this I sent him the following reply, 'As regards what you say, nothing of the sort has occurred; it is a figment of your own imagination.'

⁹ For they were all trying to terrorise us, thinking, 'They will become demoralised over the work and it will not get finished.' But my morale rose even higher.

¹⁰ Then, when I went to visit Shemaiah son of Delaiah, son of Mehetabel, since he was prevented from coming to me, he said: We must gather at the Temple of God, inside the sanctuary itself; we must shut the sanctuary doors, for they are coming to kill you, they are coming to kill you tonight!

¹¹ But I retorted, 'Should a man like me run away? Would a man like me go into the Temple to save his life? I shall not go in!'

¹² I realised that God had not sent him to say this, but that he had produced this prophecy for me because Tobiah was paying him

¹³ to terrorise me into doing as he said and committing a sin, so that they would have grounds for blackening my reputation and blaming me.

¹⁴ Remember Tobiah, my God, for what he did; and Noadiah the prophetess, and the other prophets who tried to terrorise me.

¹⁵ The wall was finished within fifty-two days, on the twenty-fifth of Elul.

¹⁶ When all our enemies heard about it and all the surrounding nations saw it, they thought it a wonderful thing, because they realised that this work had been accomplished by the power of our God.

¹⁷ During this same period, the nobles of Judah kept sending letter after letter to Tobiah, and letters from Tobiah kept arriving for them;

¹⁸ for he had many sworn to his interest in Judah, since he was son-in-law to Shecaniah son of Arah, and his son Jehohanan had married the daughter of Meshullam son of Berechiah.

¹⁹ They even cried up his good deeds in my presence, and they reported what I said back to him. And Tobiah kept sending letters to terrorise me.