Nehemiah 6:2

2 and Sanballat, and Tobiah, and Geshem of Arabia sent to me, and said, Come thou into a field, and smite we bond of peace in (one of the) villages; certainly they thought to do evil to me. (and Sanballat, and Tobiah, and Geshem the Arab sent word to me, and said, Come thou, and strike we a covenant, in one of the villages on the Plain of Ono; but truly they thought to do evil to me.)

Nehemiah 6:2 Meaning and Commentary

Nehemiah 6:2

Then Sanballat and Geshem sent unto me
Messengers:

saying, come, let us meet together in some one of the villages;
in Cephirim, which Jarchi takes to be the name of a place, perhaps the same with Cephirah, a city in the tribe of Benjamin, ( Joshua 18:26 )

in the plain of Ono;
which was in the same tribe, see ( 1 Chronicles 8:12 ) , they might pretend a friendly meeting, to accommodate differences between them, or to converse together about the general interest of the king of Persia in those parts:

but they thought to do me mischief;
to kill him, or at least to confine him; this he either conjectured from their general character and behaviour, or he had intelligence of their design.

Nehemiah 6:2 In-Context

1 Forsooth it was done, when Sanballat had heard, and Tobiah, and Geshem of Arabia, and our other enemies, that I had builded (again) the wall, and no more breaking was therein; and unto that time I had not set up the leaves of shutting of the gates; (And it was done, when Sanballat, and Tobiah, and Geshem the Arab, and all our other enemies had heard, that I had rebuilt the wall, and that there were no longer any breaks in it; although until that time I had not put up the leaves for shutting the gates;)

2 and Sanballat, and Tobiah, and Geshem of Arabia sent to me, and said, Come thou into a field, and smite we bond of peace in (one of the) villages; certainly they thought to do evil to me. (and Sanballat, and Tobiah, and Geshem the Arab sent word to me, and said, Come thou, and strike we a covenant, in one of the villages on the Plain of Ono; but truly they thought to do evil to me.)

3 Therefore I sent messengers to them, and I said, I make a great work, and I may not go down therefore (And so I sent messengers to them, and I said, I am doing important work here, and so I cannot go down there), lest peradventure it be done recklessly/lest peradventure it be done negligently, when I come, and go down to you.

4 Soothly they sent to me by this word by four times, and I answered to them by the former word. (And they sent this request to me four times, and each time I answered to them what I had said before.)

5 And Sanballat sent to me the fifth time by the former word his servant; and he had in his hand a letter, (And the fifth time, Sanballat sent his servant to me with the same request; and he had a letter in his hand,)