Good News [1976], GOOD NEWS BIBLE WITH DEUTEROCANONICALS / APOCRYPHA Today's English Version (AMERICAN BIBLE SOCIETY, New York) [word count] [B15000].
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Plots against Nehemiah
1 Sanballat, Tobiah, Geshem, and
the rest of our enemies heard
that we had finished building the
wall and that there were no gaps left
in it, although we still had not set up
the gates in the gateways.
2 So Sanballat
and Geshem sent me a message,
suggesting that I meet with
them in one of the villages in the
Plain of Ono. This was a trick of
theirs to try to harm me.
3 I sent
messengers to say to them, “I am
doing important work and can't go
down there. I am not going to let the
work stop just to go and see you.”
4 They sent me the same message
four times, and each time I sent
them the same reply.
5 Then Sanballat sent one of his
servants to me with a fifth message,
this one in the form of an unsealed
letter. note
6 It read:
6 “Geshem tells me that a rumor
is going around among the
neighboring peoples that you
and the Jewish people intend to
revolt and that this is why you
are rebuilding the wall. He also
says you plan to make yourself
king
7 and that you have arranged
for some prophets to
proclaim in Jerusalem that you
are the king of Judah. His Majesty
is certain to hear about this,
so I suggest that you and I meet
to talk the situation over.”
8 I sent a reply to him: “Nothing
of what you are saying is true. You
have made it all up yourself.”
9 They were trying to frighten us
into stopping work. I prayed, “But
now, God, make me strong!”
10 About this time I went to visit
Shemaiah, the son of Delaiah and
grandson of Mehetabel, who was unable
to leave his house. He said to
me, “You and I must go and hide together
in the Holy Place of the Temple
and lock the doors, because they
are coming to kill you. Any night
now they will come to kill you.”
-- --
11 I answered, “I'm not the kind of
man that runs and hides. Do you
think I would try to save my life by
hiding in the Temple? I won't do it.”
12 When I thought it over, I realized
that God had not spoken to
Shemaiah, but that Tobiah and Sanballat
had bribed him to give me this
warning.
13 They hired him to
frighten me into sinning, so that they
could ruin my reputation and humiliate
me.
14 I prayed, “God, remember what
Tobiah and Sanballat have done and
punish them. Remember that
woman Nodiah and all the other
prophets who tried to frighten me.”
The Conclusion of the Work
15 After fifty-two days of work the
entire wall was finished on the
twenty-fifth day of the month of
Elul.
16 When our enemies in the surrounding
nations heard this, they realized
that they had lost face, since
everyone knew that the work had
been done with God's help.
17 During all this time the Jewish
leaders had been in correspondence
with Tobiah.
18 Many people in Judah
were on his side because of his
Jewish father-in-law, Shecaniah son
of Arah. In addition, his son Jehohanan
had married the daughter of
Meshullam son of Berechiah.
19 People
would talk in front of me about
all the good deeds Tobiah had done
and would tell him everything I said.
And he kept sending me letters to
try to frighten me.
Good News [1976], GOOD NEWS BIBLE WITH DEUTEROCANONICALS / APOCRYPHA Today's English Version (AMERICAN BIBLE SOCIETY, New York) [word count] [B15000].
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