Nehemiah 6:9-19

9 For they all wanted to frighten us, thinking, "Their hands will drop from the work, and it will not be done." But now, O God,^[a] strengthen my hands.

10 Now when I went into the house of Shemaiah the son of Delaiah, son of Mehetabel, who was ¹confined to his home, he said, "Let us meet together in the house of God, within the temple. Let us close the doors of the temple, for they are coming to kill you. They are coming to kill you by night."

11 But I said, "Should such a man as I run away? And what man such as I could go into the temple and live?^[b] I will not go in."

12 And I understood and saw that God had not sent him, ²but he had pronounced the prophecy against me because Tobiah and Sanballat had hired him.

13 For this purpose he was hired, that I should be afraid and act in this way and sin, and so they could give me a bad name in order to taunt me.

14 ³Remember Tobiah and Sanballat, O my God, according to these things that they did, and also ⁴the prophetess Noadiah and the rest of the prophets who wanted to make me afraid.

The Wall Is Finished

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

16 And ⁵when all our enemies heard of it, all the nations around us were afraid and fell greatly in their own esteem, ⁶for they perceived that this work had been accomplished with the help of our God.

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

18 For many in Judah were bound by oath to him, because he was the son-in-law of Shecaniah the son of ⁷Arah: and his son Jehohanan had taken the daughter of ⁸Meshullam the son of Berechiah as his wife.

19 Also they spoke of his good deeds in my presence and reported my words to him. And Tobiah sent letters to make me afraid.

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Nehemiah 6:9-19 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO NEHEMIAH 6

Sanballat and his brethren, hearing the wall was finished, sent to Nehemiah, to have a meeting with him at a place named, which he refused, Ne 6:1,2, then they sent him a terrifying letter, suggesting that he, and the Jews with him, would be treated as rebels, since their intention, as reported, was to make him king, which letter he regarded not, Ne 6:3-9, then they employed some that pretended to be prophets to advise him to flee to the temple for safety, which he rejected, Ne 6:10-14 and so the work went on and was finished, though there was a secret correspondence carried on between their enemies and some false brethren among themselves, Ne 6:15-19.

Taken from John Gill's Exposition of the Bible

Cross References 8

1. [Jeremiah 36:5]
2. [Ezekiel 13:17, 22]
3. Nehemiah 13:29
4. [Ezekiel 13:17]
5. Nehemiah 2:10; Nehemiah 4:1, 7
6. [Psalms 126:2]
7. Ezra 2:5
8. Ezra 8:16

Footnotes 2

[a]. Hebrew lacks O God
[b]. Or would go into the temple to save his life

The English Standard Version is published with the permission of Good News Publishers.