Nehemiah 6:8-18

8 Then I sent to him, saying, There are no such things done as you say, but you feign them out of your own heart.

9 For they all would have made us afraid, saying, Their hands shall be weakened from the work, that it not be done. But now, [God], strengthen you my hands.

10 I went to the house of Shemayah the son of Delayah the son of Mehetav'el, 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 kill you; yes, in the night will they come to kill you.

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

12 I discerned, and, behold, God had not sent him; but he pronounced this prophecy against me: and Toviyah and Sanvallat had hired him.

13 For this cause 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.

14 Remember, my God, Toviyah and Sanvallat according to these their works, and also the prophetess No`adyah, and the rest of the prophets, that would have put me in fear.

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

16 It happened, when all our enemies heard [of it], that all the nations that were about us feared, and were much cast down in their own eyes; for they perceived that this work was worked of our God.

17 Moreover in those days the nobles of Yehudah sent many letters to Toviyah, and [the letters] of Toviyah came to them.

18 For there were many in Yehudah sworn to him, because he was the son-in-law of Shekhanyahu the son of Arach; and his son Yehochanan had taken the daughter of Meshullam the son of Berekhyah as wife.

Nehemiah 6:8-18 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.