Nehemiah · Updated Brenton English Septuagint
Nehemiah 6 Updated Brenton English Septuagint
Audio: World English Bible (WEB), read by Winfred W. Henson · About the recordings
Notes on this text (1)
- Same Septuagint text as Brenton, with modernised spelling.
1 Now it came to pass, when Sanballat, and Tobiah, and Geshem the Arabian, and the rest of our enemies, heard that I had built the wall, and [that] there was no opening left therein ([but] hitherto I had not set up the doors on the gates);
1 Now when it was reported to Sanballat, Tobiah, Geshem the Arabian, and to the rest of our enemies that I had built the wall, and that there was no breach left in it (though even to that time I had not set up the doors in the gates),
2 that Sanballat and Geshem sent to me, saying, Come and let us meet together in the villages in the plain of Ono. But they [were] plotting to do me mischief.
2 Sanballat and Geshem sent to me, saying, “Come! Let’s meet together in the villages in the plain of Ono.” But they intended to harm me.
3 So I sent messengers to them, saying, I am doing a great work, and I shall not be able to come down, lest the work should cease: as soon as I shall have finished it, I will come down to you.
3 I sent messengers to them, saying, “I am doing a great work, so that I can’t come down. Why should the work cease while I leave it and come down to you?”
4 And they sent to me [again] to this effect; and I sent them [word] accordingly.
4 They sent to me four times like this; and I answered them the same way.
5 Then Sanballat sent his servant to me with an open letter in his hand.
5 Then Sanballat sent his servant to me the same way the fifth time with an open letter in his hand,
6 And in it was written, It has been reported among the Gentiles that thou and the Jews are planning to revolt: therefore thou art building the wall, and thou wilt be a king to them.
6 in which was written, “It is reported among the nations, and Gashmu says it, that you and the Jews intend to rebel. Because of that, you are building the wall. You would be their king, according to these words.
7 And moreover thou hast appointed prophets to thyself, that thou mightest dwell in Jerusalem as a king over Judah: and now these words will be reported to the king. Now then, come, let us take counsel together.
7 You have also appointed prophets to proclaim of you at Jerusalem, saying, ‘There is a king in Judah!’ Now it will be reported to the king according to these words. Come now therefore, and let’s take counsel together.”
8 And I sent to him, saying, It has not happened according to these words, [even] as thou sayest, for thou framest them falsely out of thy heart.
8 Then I sent to him, saying, “There are no such things done as you say, but you imagine them out of your own heart.”
9 For all were trying to alarm us, saying, Their hands shall be weakened from this work, and it shall not be done. Now therefore I have strengthened my hands.
9 For they all would have made us afraid, saying, “Their hands will be weakened from the work, that it not be done.” But now, strengthen my hands.
10 And I came into the house of Shemaiah the son of Delaiah the son of Mehetabel, and he was shut up; and he said, Let us assemble together in the house of God, in the midst of it, and let us shut the doors of it; for they are coming by night to slay thee.
10 I went to the house of Shemaiah the son of Delaiah the son of Mehetabel, who was shut in at his home; and he said, “Let us meet together in God’s house, within the temple, and let’s shut the doors of the temple; for they will come to kill you. Yes, in the night they will come to kill you.”
11 And I said, Who is the man that shall enter into the house, that he may live?
11 I said, “Should a man like me flee? Who is there that, being such as I, would go into the temple to save his life? I will not go in.”
12 And I observed, and, behold, God had not sent him, for the prophecy was a fable [devised] against me:
12 I discerned, and behold, God had not sent him, but he pronounced this prophecy against me. Tobiah and Sanballat had hired him.
13 and Tobiah and Sanballat had hired against me a multitude, that I might be frightened, and do this, and sin, and become to them an ill name, that they might reproach me.
13 He was hired so that I would be afraid, do so, and sin, and that they might have material for an evil report, that they might reproach me.
14 Remember, O God, Tobiah and Sanballat, according to these their deeds, and the prophetess Noadiah, and the rest of the prophets who tried to alarm me.
14 “Remember, my God, Tobiah and Sanballat according to these their works, and also the prophetess Noadiah and the rest of the prophets that would have put me in fear.”
15 So the wall was finished on the twenty-fifth day of the [month] Elul, in fifty-two days.
15 So the wall was finished in the twenty-fifth day of Elul, in fifty-two days.
16 And it came to pass, when all our enemies heard [of it], that all the nations round about us feared, and great alarm fell upon them, and they knew that it was of our God that this work should be finished.
16 When all our enemies heard of it, all the nations that were around us were afraid, and they lost their confidence; for they perceived that this work was done by our God.
17 And in those days letters came to Tobiah from many nobles of Judah, and those of Tobiah came to them.
17 Moreover in those days the nobles of Judah sent many letters to Tobiah, and Tobiah’s letters came to them.
18 For many in Judah were bound to him by oath, because he was son-in-law of Shecaniah the son of Arah; and Jehohanan his son had taken the daughter of Meshullam the son of Berechiah to wife.
18 For there were many in Judah sworn to him because he was the son-in-law of Shecaniah the son of Arah; and his son Jehohanan had taken the daughter of Meshullam the son of Berechiah as wife.
19 And they reported his words to me, and carried out my words to him: and Tobiah sent letters to terrify me.
19 Also they spoke of his good deeds before me, and reported my words to him. Tobiah sent letters to put me in fear.
People & places in this chapter
From this site's family tree and Bible maps, only where those guides cite this chapter.
People
Arah
Named as the father of Shecaniah, Tobiah’s father-in-law.
Cited in the guide: Nehemiah 6:18
Delaiah
Named as the father of Shemaiah and son of Mehetabel.
Cited in the guide: Nehemiah 6:10
Geshem
Geshem the Arab joined Sanballat and Tobiah in mocking the builders and sent messages to lure Nehemiah to Ono.
Cited in the guide: Nehemiah 2:19; Nehemiah 6:1; Nehemiah 6:2
Jehohanan
Tobiah’s son who married the daughter of Meshullam son of Berechiah.
Cited in the guide: Nehemiah 6:18
Mehetabel
Named as the father of Delaiah (a man, not the Edomite woman of Genesis 36).
Cited in the guide: Nehemiah 6:10
Meshullam
Son of Berechiah who repaired two sections of the wall; his daughter married Jehohanan, Tobiah’s son.
Cited in the guide: Nehemiah 3:4; Nehemiah 3:30; Nehemiah 6:18
Noadiah
Prophetess named with Tobiah and Sanballat among those Nehemiah asked God to remember for trying to intimidate him.
Cited in the guide: Nehemiah 6:14
Shecaniah
Son of Arah; Tobiah was his son-in-law, which bound many in Judah to him by oath.
Cited in the guide: Nehemiah 6:18
Shemaiah
Son of Delaiah who urged Nehemiah to hide in the temple; Nehemiah realized God had not sent him and that Tobiah and Sanballat had hired him.
Cited in the guide: Nehemiah 6:10
Tobiah
Ammonite official who jeered at the wall, sent intimidating letters, had ties of marriage and oath among Judah’s nobles, and was given a temple storeroom by Eliashib until…
Cited in the guide: Nehemiah 2:10; Nehemiah 4:3; Nehemiah 6:17
Cross references (19)
Related passages for each verse, from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge as collected and ranked by readers at OpenBible.info.
- 1 Nehemiah 2:10; Nehemiah 2:19; Nehemiah 4:1; Nehemiah 3:1; Nehemiah 4:6–7
- 2 1 Chronicles 8:12; Psalm 37:12; Nehemiah 11:35; Psalm 37:32; Proverbs 26:24–26
- 3 Matthew 10:16; John 9:4; 1 Timothy 4:15–16; Proverbs 14:15; Luke 14:30
- 4 Luke 18:5; Judges 16:15–20; Proverbs 7:21; Proverbs 14:15; Judges 16:10
- 5 2 Thessalonians 2:10; 2 Corinthians 11:13–15; 2 Corinthians 2:11; 2 Kings 18:26–28; Ephesians 6:11
- 6 Nehemiah 2:19; 1 Peter 3:16; Ezra 4:12; Romans 3:8; John 19:13
- 7 Proverbs 26:24–26; 2 Samuel 15:10–12; 1 Kings 1:7; 1 Kings 1:34; 1 Kings 1:18
- 8 Psalm 52:2; Job 13:4; Acts 25:10; Psalm 38:12; Daniel 11:27
- 9 Psalm 138:3; 1 Peter 5:10; Ephesians 3:16; Nehemiah 4:10–14; Hebrews 12:12
- 10 Jeremiah 36:5; Matthew 7:15; Psalm 37:12; Ezra 10:31; Psalm 120:2–3
- 11 Proverbs 28:1; Psalm 11:1–2; Acts 21:13; Philippians 2:17; Acts 20:24
- 12 Ezekiel 13:22; 1 Corinthians 12:10; 2 Peter 2:3; Jeremiah 28:15; 1 Timothy 3:3
- 13 Jeremiah 20:10; Proverbs 29:5; Nehemiah 6:6; 2 Corinthians 11:12; 2 Timothy 1:7
- 14 Nehemiah 13:29; 2 Timothy 4:14–15; Psalm 140:5–11; 1 John 5:16; Revelation 19:20
- 15 Psalm 1:3; Nehemiah 4:1–2; Daniel 9:25; Ezra 6:15
- 16 Psalm 126:2; Joshua 5:1; Nehemiah 4:7; Nehemiah 2:10; Nehemiah 4:1
- 17 Nehemiah 13:28; Nehemiah 3:5; Micah 7:1–6; Matthew 24:10–12; Nehemiah 5:7
- 18 Ezra 2:5; Nehemiah 7:10; Nehemiah 3:4; Nehemiah 3:30
- 19 Acts 4:18–21; Nehemiah 6:9; Isaiah 37:10–14; Proverbs 28:4; Nehemiah 6:13
Cross references: OpenBible.info (CC BY), drawn mainly from the public-domain Treasury of Scripture Knowledge. · Sources & licences