Nehemiah 6:5-15

5 Sanballat sent his helper to me a fifth time. He brought the same message. He was carrying a letter that wasn't sealed.
6 It said, "A report is going around among the nations. Geshem says it's true. We hear that you and the other Jews are planning to turn against the Persian rulers. And that's why you are building the wall. "It's also reported that you are about to become their king.
7 People say that you have even appointed prophets to make an announcement about you. In Jerusalem they are going to say, 'Judah has a king!' That report will get back to the king of Persia. So come. Let's talk things over."
8 I sent a reply to Sanballat. I said, "What you are saying isn't really happening. You are just making it up."
9 All of them were trying to frighten us. They thought, "Their hands will get too weak to do the work. So it won't be completed." But I prayed to God. I said, "Make my hands stronger."
10 One day I went to Shemaiah's house. He was the son of Delaiah. Delaiah was the son of Mehetabel. Shemaiah had shut himself up in his home. He said, "Let's go to God's house. Let's meet inside the temple. Let's close the temple doors. Some people want to kill you. They will come at night."
11 But I said, "Should a man like me run away? Should someone like me go into the temple just to save his life? No! I won't go!"
12 I realized that God hadn't sent Shemaiah. Tobiah and Sanballat had hired him. That's why he had prophesied lies about me.
13 They had hired him to scare me. They wanted me to commit a sin by doing what he said. That would give me a bad name in the community. People would find fault with me and my work.
14 You are my God. Remember what Tobiah and Sanballat have done. Also remember the prophet Noadiah. She and the rest of the prophets have been trying to scare me.

The City Wall Is Completed

15 So the city wall was completed on the 25th day of the month of Elul. It was finished in 52 days.

Nehemiah 6:5-15 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.

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