Plots Against the Father's Work
6 1 Sanballat, Tobiah, Geshem the Arab, and our other enemies heard I had rebuilt the wall with no gap left — though I hadn't yet set the doors in the gates. 2 —Sanballat and Geshem sent word: "Come, let's meet in one of the villages on Ono's plain"—but they planned to harm me.
3 So I sent messengers back: "I'm doing a great work and can't come down. Why let the work stop while I leave it to come down to you?"
4 Four times they sent me the same message, and each time I gave them the same answer. 5 Sanballat sent his servant to me this way a fifth time, with an open letter in his hand. 6 It read: 'Word among the nations — Geshem says it too — is that you and the Jews plan to revolt; that's why you're building the wall, and you're about to become their king, so these reports say.' 7 You've even appointed prophets to proclaim about you in Jerusalem, 'A king is in Judah!' Now this will reach the king. So come, let's talk it over.
8 I replied: Nothing you're saying has happened — you're inventing it from your own mind. 9 They all tried to frighten us, saying, 'Their hands will weaken at the work, and it won't be finished.' But now, my Father, strengthen my hands.
10 I went to the house of Shemaiah son of Delaiah, son of Mehetabel, who was confined. He said, "Let's meet in God's house, inside the temple, and shut the temple doors — they're coming to kill you, coming by night to kill you."
11 But I said, "Should a man like me flee? Should someone like me enter the temple to survive? I won't go in." 12 I realized our Father hadn't sent him—he'd spoken this prophecy against me because Tobiah and Sanballat hired him. 13 He was hired to scare me into sinning, so they could give me a bad name and disgrace me. 14 Remember, my Father, Tobiah and Sanballat for these deeds, and also Noadiah the woman prophet and the rest of the prophets who tried to frighten me.
The Father Completes the Wall
15 So the wall was completed on the twenty-fifth day of Elul, in fifty-two days. a a v15 Elul is the sixth month of the Hebrew calendar, falling in late summer (around August–September). 16 When all our enemies heard, and all the nations around us saw, they were badly shaken in their own eyes, for they knew our Father had done this work. 17 Also in those days, Judah's nobles sent many letters to Tobiah, and Tobiah's letters kept coming back to them. 18 Many in Judah were bound to him by oath, for he was Shecaniah son of Arah's son-in-law, and his son Jehohanan had married Meshullam son of Berekiah's daughter. 19 They also kept telling me his good deeds, and reported my words to him. Tobiah sent letters to frighten me.
